Getting pregnant whilst breastfeeding

[meadowkoa]

Hi all,

I am wanting to start trying for a baby again soon. My little one is 8.5months, we want a small age gap and only want two children.

I am currently still exclusively breastfeeding, have only had one period over a month ago (have done a load of tests but negative)!

I hear periods can be more irregular when EBF due to hormones. Has anybody else tried to conceive when breastfeeding? How did you track your ovulation with irregular periods?

TIA xxx

Interested in this post as in a similar situation. Baby is 7 months and want another and also ebf. Period returned after 4 months then skipped a month. I've been using clearblue to track ovulation and dtd when we can but it's much harder this time with a baby who doesn't sleep well! Hoping it'll happen sooner as took over a year for the first. Good luck.

There's a year between my brother and I as my Mum was told you can't get pregnant whilst bf...
She said she never had a period...

I’m yet to have my period back but decided to not prevent from now. No signs of ovulation yet though and it’s been 13 months!

DD was conceived by surprise whilst I was still breastfeeding DS - he’d just turned 1 and I’d had no period, but I guess I would soon have been having one…
DD was about 15 months and still BF when I had my first period after her, although they’ve been quite irregular (she’s 22 months and still has a BF before bed). Not looking to have any more so we take extra care now 😂

I’d suggest using OPK’s to track and time your efforts, but since BF does all sorts to hormones you might not have a regular pattern or might get a surge without ovulating. It’s absolutely possible to get pregnant, but just less predictable and maybe a little more tricky if you don’t ovulate as often.

We have a 21 month age gap - it was hard going but we were still in the baby zone and now finally starting to enjoy the benefits as they play together and mostly can be entertained with similar activities. Good luck!

@Emmzo did you get any of your typical ovulation signs before you concieved?

@Chloeeb not that I noticed, or I doubt DD would be here 😂 we didn’t plan a second so quickly (wouldn’t change a thing now tho!) but I wasn’t really looking out for them, it had been so long and since DS took a while to conceive I didn’t give it too much thought without having had a period.
We knew BF wasn’t reliable for contraception and mostly used protection. Just one time we didn’t. DD is certainly a very determined child!

@Emmzo I’m on edge wondering when that first period will arrive 🤣

ovulation kit didn't work for me, we had intercourse straight after my period finished then every 2nd or 3rd day, we got pregnant within 2 months

Deliberately conceived DC2 when DC1 was 14 months. I was still BF but not round the clock as DC1 was eating a good amount of food and was at nursery. I think it gets a bit easier to conceive between 9 and 12 months as feeds become less frequent but it’s not guaranteed. I have friends who have conceived DC2 when DC1 is 3 months (accidental) and who have struggled for many months approaching 2 years. Everyone is different

Some people can. Three of my close friends all conceived while EBF young babies.

It wasn’t an option for me, my periods didn’t return for nearly two years regardless.