TTC whilst breastfeeding - cycle 4

[ThatNimbleOP]

Hello,

Is there anyone who’d like to join me…

Currently on cycle 4, CD11. Still breastfeeding my nearly 2 year old and co-sleeping, wondering if it’s having an effect on fertility as we conceived in a blink of an eye the first time…trying not to overthink it all.

Anyone welcome to join, don’t have to be breastfeeding, just any support welcome!

Thought last month was the month but here we are again… :/

@BabyBorn Thank you will do!

@G0ldfinch thanks, they are my ultimate comfort treat! How are you? Sounds like you have a bit of time before your fertile window?

I’m 8dpo today and caved with testing with FMU at 5am when DD woke me. There is the faintest of faint lines. DH isn’t convinced it is there. So, probably an evaporation line because I went back to bed and missed the window to check. I hugely regret doing this because despite feeling certain my period is about to start, I’ve given myself hope.

@Cinnamonbunn mine too, just had one this morning! Yummy.

Yes there is more time for DH to recover from illness hopefully before fertile window. Wishing AF would hurry up and go so I can start ovulation testing! Keen to see what it shows.

Your morning sounds exciting, sometimes a bit of hope is needed albeit difficult. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you x

Ooo exciting @Cinnamonbunn have you tested again?
I had all the feelings of AF arriving just before I got the BFP for DD so you never know 😊

Hi everyone may I please join? Ive been meaning to post on this thread for a few days now
Before I got here I was utterly convinced that getting pregnant will take me ages as I too bf on demand and cosleep my 14 month old. Im still not convinced it wont be the case as my cycles are just so irregular and my luteal phase is short.

Its cycle #2 ttc for me and im on DPO 8 making my cycle 35 days so far which is the longest one since they returned. Just wish AF would hurry up so we could try again

Im doing the LH strips, BBTing and tracking my RHR. Im definitely ovulating, albeit very late in my cycle

How are we all doing? @Strongbrewplease hope you had a nice birthday @ThatNimbleOP how are you getting on? @AudreyJL @BGxxx so encouraging to hear your accounts, they fill me with hope

Hi everyone!

Oh my gosh, i'm so sorry for the RADIO SILENCE! Nobody replied to this thread for a long time so i stopped checking. I can see now so many of you wonderful ladies have been going through the same thing...i'm back and here to drive the thread again haha!

Haven't read through all posts yet but thank you so much for sharing and providing advice.

We're still TTC, month 5 just gone and we DTD once because i've just not been feeling it this month....a lot of life stressors atm. Also had some weird brown bleeding mid-cycle which i've never had before, lasted for a couple of hours! So CD18 i believe now.

I ended up going to the docs to get blood tests, day 5 were good except for weird kidney functioning, got my day 21 on Monday to check i'm ovulating...so even more perplexing :(

How are you all!! So happy to have some replies now and we can all support each other through this crazy journey....still breastfeeding/co-sleeping with with little one!!

@NorthernGirl1981 this story is inspirational (if that's the right word!)

I do really wonder...with having no issues TTC number 1 and blood tests looking good, the only factor i can think is the breastfeeding. The night time feeds are very much still in full swing which i heard can be more impactful?

She loves the boobie so much, it does make me thing she loves it more then a sibling (which i guess could be on hold due the BF!) so perhaps she'll make the decision to stop when she wants a fellow pal haha

I was just so thankful for an explanation.

I’d always been told that BF prevents conception as it causes issues with ovulation etc, but I knew that wasn’t true as my regular periods had been back for WELL over a year. So yeah, it was finally good to have another explanation which made sense.

The child I was breastfeeding when I decided to stop (after seeing the GP) was almost 3 years old so I felt I’d done my time and that it was time to stop for the sake of having another baby. He wasn’t happy about it and going cold turkey was tough but it was absolutely worth it.

I think I would have found it harder to stop if he was a lot younger though, say under 18 months for example 😬 I suppose it has to be taken into consideration what age gap you want.

The age gap we ended up having was 3.5 years which was bigger than I had wanted, but that’s just how life turned out and thankfully they still adore each other despite that age difference.

I had no hope of conceiving if I’m honest🤣 my luteal phase was soo short so I’m not sure what changed, I was still feeding as much if not more

@NorthernGirl1981 i'd read this on here too!! I know deep down there's nothing wrong and my body is consciously making the decision that it can't handle two children right now...i really trust in our bodies to make this decision for us. Potentially a bit woo woo but there we go 😞

My daughter is just turned 2 so also feel like we've done our time...however now got to deal with potty training...apparently you shouldn't stop breastfeeding during this time as it can unsettle them, it never ends haha!

@NorthernGirl1981 glad it worked out for you in the end, 3.5 years is a lovely gap IMO...think nature intended there to be 4 years between children apparently. 2 under 2 is biologically unstable 👱

@BGxxx hmmm interesting. Our bodies are a minefield...! Like i said, i truly believe they know what they're doing.

Maybe our eggs are just too darn fussy....

https://www.manchester.ac.uk/about/news/human-eggs-prefer-some-mens-sperm-over-others-research-shows/

I found this really useful www.carolsmyth.co.uk/breastfeeding-resources/posts/2017/june/breastfeeding-fertility-and-subfertility-2/

It's apparently more 'sub fertile' than infertile while breastfeeding. I know with my daughter, I fell pregnant the month after stopping breastfeeding. My son was just over one. My period has returned and been regular while ebf at four months for both, so I think the what a PP said about a thinner lining from hormones might be the case for me.

Regardless we've not been careful this month, I think it's unlikely to happen as I'm still feeding an 11 month old. But joining for some support

@ThatNimbleOP I noticed it had been like a month since your post and getting a reply! but we're here now, in force and in solidarity
It took me 9 months to conceive my first and the thought of it taking a similar amount of time already drains me. So I understand going into the 5 cycle mark doesnt attract the same energy. But there is hope! With your bloodwork, are your cycles regular? or did you adjust the date so it concides with when you usually ovulate as opposed to day 21 of your cycle? I hope it goes well x

Thank you ! reading now x

@BloomingOrchidea oh not sure tbh! They just said they do the bloods days 2-5 and day 21, so I just counted from the day of my period…cycles are pretty regular tbh varies between 28-32 days, I was more regular pre-baby. Periods also took 14 months to come back and really only regular since August!

Also weirdly I haven’t been able to tell when I’m ovulating last few months, the signals just aren’t there…not sure if stress related.

Oh gosh 9 months is so hard but guess we have to think of it as “9 goes” which is nothing in theory haha…

Just hard to tell if it is the BF or whether you’d have this struggle regardless!

Also I had seen that article too and it really does put your mind at ease 😀 thank you for sharing

Hi everyone, it’s been a few days this I updated on here. It’s so lovely to see so many of us in this, supporting one another.

It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster. I kept testing on the cheapies I got from Amazon, I kept getting the faint line which weren’t progressing. So I read reviews of the tests and found that unfortunately lots of women were getting false positives from these tests, mine looked exactly the same. I bought a CB digital which came back ‘not pregnant’. However, my luteal phase is usually very short and my period is a few days late. I tested with a first response and have a very clear positive! My emotions have been all over. But at the moment, I think I am pregnant. My plan is to go to the GP next week and ask for a blood test. But still very much BF a thousand times a night!

@Cinnamonbunn how many dpo are you? Tentative congratulations! I'd probably use the boots early response or first response and just track every two days to see if the line gets darker

@Cinnamonbunn oh exciting! Congratulations, yes how many DPO?

I came on here to look about ovulation while BF abs this thread was at the top. I'm EBF my 8 month old, I've had 2 periods post pregnancy, cycle length 47 days. My periods have always been irregular and in currently on day 16.
I just did an ovulation test and the ratio was 0 48 and before pregnancy my baseline was 0.1, so I was wondering if I'm around my peak or if LH is generally higher when breastfeeding.

I'd like a second baby as time is ticking but I had 2 miscarriages before my baby and each pregnancy took a number of months to conceive so I don't expect it to happen quickly.

@january1244 I think I’m now 11 dpo. Tracking the line progression seems like a sensible idea. I have two more first responses so will test Sunday and probably again on Tuesday.

@ThatNimbleOP thank you, I think 11 dpo.

@Cinnamonbunn 11 dpo makes sense for it not to show on a digital yet but to have a line on sensitive tested Sounds so promising, very exciting!

@Mountainview8 I'm not sure sorry, I don't ovulation check. I do think ovulation tests are not meant to be reliable when breastfeeding as hormones are all over the place and you can get some false starts before it finally happens

@january1244 oh that’s interesting! I should really start temping to confirm it, just can never remember to do it 😆

@cinnamonbunn oh such excellent, excellent news I'm so excited for you and hopeful for us all! Please keep us updated on how you get on? Xx