TTC while breastfeeding - no period yet

[OneKookyPinkShaker]

Hi there,

Not sure if this is the right area to post. My DC is approaching 7 months old and I'm still breastfeeding. I have never exclusively breastfed. He was put on a feeding plan at birth with formula top ups. We weaned this down to one a day and kept it as the health visitor advised to keep a bottle to give options - I have never been able to produce much pumping even with hospital grade loan. Occasionally he will have an extra small bottle if I need to be away for an hour or so.

However, he wakes often in the night to feed and feeds regularly in the day. We started introducing solids 4 weeks ago but he hasn't taken to it really and just had small tastes.

My periods has not yet returned.

It took over a year to conceive DC so I would like to begin sooner rather than later but unsure if there is anything else I can to to help period return in the new year. I'm not ready to stop breastfeeding yet.

Is there anything diet or supplement wise I could introduce? I take breastfeeding vitamins.

My periods only returned once my little one stopped feeding through the night. I believe this is quite common. As your baby is still so young and wanting the feeds you might have to wait until he’s ready to cut down the night feeding.

I’ve just got my first period and my baby is 16 months, I was beginning to wonder where it was 🤣 I feed once in the day and 2-3 times overnight. It hasn’t lessened at all lately so I didn’t expect my period. I don’t think there’s really anything you can do sadly rather than wait it out!

My first one became a nipper, so by mutual agreement night feed was dropped at 7+ months…pregnant again at their nine month anniversary, so our pigeon pair were 17 months apart.

It's such a mix! My friend who has a baby a month younger than me, is ebf with still plenty of overnight feeds got hers back last month. There seems to be so much variation

Our bodies are all different and many of the mums I support as a peer supporter in the bf service find their periods returned at some point within the first year so you're just a bit early maybe and need to wait. How long it took to conceive your first has nothing to do with how long it'll take for number two. So don't worry about that.

Many of us tandem feed (including getting pregnant whilst nursing babies that feed through the night) so it really is just a case of your body being ready. My periods returned at 8 weeks pp with every baby personally. Some mums it's closer to 2 regardless of when they bf.

https://llli.org/breastfeeding-info/fertility/#:~:text=Can%20I%20get%20pregnant%20while,Method%20(LAM)%20of%20contraception.

This has some useful info too.
https://patient.info/news-and-features/how-long-to-wait-before-your-second-baby

OP@OneKookyPinkShaker you don’t say how old you are? In the great scheme of things, taking a bit more than a year to conceive your first isn’t that long at all, so unless you are lateish 30’s or older then I would just give your body some time. My first pregnancy took the longest to conceive (20 mths) , my third the least ( 12 wks) ,but as my third pregnancy tipped me straight into perimenopause , as an older mum, if I’m speaking to an older mum, I would consider aiming to reduce BF once your baby is 1, in order to give your periods a chance to return. But if you are youngish then I would really just embrace this time and try not to worry as it will come back sooner or later!

It took me 15 months to get my first period, so I’m pretty sure I wasn’t ovulating for the entire 15 months. Prolactin does suppress ovulation.

Hi @OneKookyPinkShaker, I hope your cycle will return soon!

I was in exactly the same situation, not willing to wean but extremely keen to start TTC #2.

In the end I night weaned my little one at 18 months and had my first period postpartum 6 weeks later. It was a radical solution and I still have some regret over it, even though I continued to nurse mornings and evenings for a few more months.

However, after the weaning, I encountered some research into metabolic load hypothesis; You may want to look into that if you're not eager to wean yet. According to research it may be possible to bring back ovulation and menstrual cycle by achieving calorie surplus and minimal sustained weight gain. If I was in the same situation again I'd give it a try.

Best of luck to you!

I'm 31 so I know I have time whereas my husband is older in 40's. But I think the time taken to conceive has me worried it will get worse as he gets older - sorry for TMI but he isn't able to ejaculate everytime we have sex. Sometimes he does in minutes other times we could be going for nearly an hour and then would stop as he couldn't or would lose his erection. He refused to go to the doctors about this at the time. So I'm just worried it's going to really delay things.

@Happibara thanks I just came across a blog on this!

@OneKookyPinkShaker I can certainly see your dilemma…he really could do with seeing his GP, as there can be health issues that affect male ejaculation…he would be best to look into it now rather than later, as I’m sure you both want to have a healthy sex life in your 50’s and well beyond! He’s probably a typical man who puts his head in the sand, but my husband was also in his 40’s when we started trying and tests showed issues with sperm quality, which isn’t uncommon amongst more mature men,and he did have to take steps to improve our chances…..it sounds like your OH is the one that may compromise your future fertility rather than yourself! Would he consider looking into other techniques that he could at least research online eg. abstinence from masturbation when you do both start trying to conceive?

I've breastfed my last two sons until 3 and a little past 3. I did ovulate a few times with each between 2.5 and 3 but no period until I fully weaned.

I did find I had to nightwean and go a good 12 hours between feeds to ovulate. For me it was having symptoms (migraine and back ache) that lead me to testing with ovulation strips.

A lot of my friends have got theirs back much earlier though even if they have breastfeed for a while.

My friend is ebf and she’s only just got her first period at 16 months without changing anything and continuing to feed through the night (co-sleep). They wanted to try from 12 months but she also didn’t want to reduce/stop bf so just continued as they were. She did go back to work 3 days a week a few months ago so maybe that was enough to eventually send a signal it had reduced a bit.

I have another friend who feeds through the night (co-sleeps) and got hers back at 8/9 months although she did go back to work then so dropped day feeds for several hours at that point.

I guess the pattern for both of them is going back to work where they were away between 8-5pm three days a week. But both were still night feeding.

I think it varies so much. My LO is 15 months and I got my first period 14 months pp. she is EBF and feeds 3 times a day and anything up to 8 times a night (co-sleeping). I’m tracking my cycle as we hope to start trying in the new year and ovulation was two weeks later than natural cycles predicted. I think it may still take some time for my cycles to be regular again. I have read that even when your period returns the luteal phase can be short when still breast feeding which can make conception hard.

At 12 months I did return to work 2 evenings a week so perhaps the 8 hour stretches of no feeding in the evening was what sent the message to my body.

My period returned at 9 months, however I didn’t actually ovulate until my daughter was 21 months! Still ttc now, but it took nearly 2 years for us the first time, and I’ve only recently realised I don’t think I’ve actually been ovulating since we started ttc when my periods come back! Good luck though