TTC while breastfeeding - anyone else?

[letsaddtothechaos]

I'm probably insane for this, but is anyone else TTC while breastfeeding?

I have a 16 month old, and got my cycle back properly last month after returning to work. I'm down to 2 feeds in the evening, but I don't plan to wean for another few months. Except suddenly I'm craving another baby so badly - despite thinking I was done. I felt finished immediately after birth, but DC2 is such a trap baby! We're not going out of our way to conceive (yet) but I would be delighted if it happened.

Anyone else in a similar boat for 2026?

Not in that boat for 2026 but I was in the late 90s and I don’t understand at all why you would think it insane!

I breastfed my first until she was 18 months. It was how I realised that I was pregnant. Feeding suddenly became very painful and I had to stop overnight, which I felt very guilty about. I know some women are able to keep on feeding while pregnant. Unfortunately I was not able to do that.

We had been trying for some time (by which I just mean that we didn’t use contraception) because by then I was 37 and I didn’t want to leave it too late to have the second.

I’m still breastfeeding my son who’s 2 and a half. I’m also 7 months pregnant. It’s fine. As long as your cycles have come back you don’t need to stop breastfeeding to try and get pregnant.

Hello. Still breastfeeding my 18 month old here whilst trying to conceive. Only had 3 periods so far but 28 days cycles each time which I feel is a good sign all is back up and running ok. Was worried they weren’t going to come back and I didn’t want to stop breastfeeding really.fingers crossed for you

Yeah you don’t need to stop breastfeeding. It’s not contraception.

i got pregnant while feeding and tandem fed for about 9 months. Worst bit was actually aversion when I was about4 months but got past it

I got pregnant whilst breastfeeding and carried on breastfeeding throughout. Only had 2 or 3 cycles before pregnancy, which was a shock as it took nearly 2 years TTC the first time.

@BakedAl @Strawberrycheesecake7 thanks for sharing the positive stories, giving me lots of hope for the new year!

Just wanted to share as am STILL breastfeeding my 20 month old (and more than I’d like at this point) but just got a positive test! I think I may have conceived last month without knowing and had a chemical as I had very odd mid cycle bleeding, hopefully this one continues. My periods only came back in October…feeling very stunned and cautiously excited!

Congratulations @TheMauveHedgehog !!

Realised I never came back to update this thread. I took got a positive test while feeding my 10 month old daughter x3 per day (occasionally once overnight). Currently 8 weeks 😊

Congratulations!

I’d like TTC one last time - baby is 11 months and still feeds about four times in 24h, mainly overnight. I stopped feeding my first two at about 14/15m in order TTC, as I haven’t had a period since before I got pregnant with the eldest. But baby three is not going to be keen to stop and I don’t want to evict him.

I’m kind of hoping I might not have to stop this time as I’m obviously a bit older and maybe my body will start ovulating in some desperate last hurrah?!

I’ll be 14 weeks pregnant tomorrow whilst still breastfeeding my 7 month-old 😬
Baby number 3 was clearly meant to be 😂

Oh girls this gives me such hope. We are ttc since Sept and I’m breastfeeding an almost 2.5 yo, mainly over night, could be once could be 6 times, every night is different! I had decided today that I needed to stop but now I’m reconsidering 😅

This is very much my breastfeeding situation. And I was also on the brink of thinking I’d need to stop. Hopefully now I can let my milk fiend end when he’s ready…it’s so hard to know what to prioritise!

I fell pregnant BF my daughter and she was a year old

I conceived fine and my toddler was way more of a boob monster than yours, she fed multiple times a day and still no issues. If your periods are back then you’re clearly ovulating so should be fine.

Hi all, just wondering for anyone who stopped breastfeeding while TTC did you find your ovulation was earlier in the next cycle? I’m only cycle day 8 and already getting some signs. I stopped BFing my 2.5 yo a week ago now.

I.got my cycle back when DC1 was 17 months, got pregnant at 18 months and continue to feed him until 23 months.

I will say the pain, nausea a d aversion feeding whilst pregnant was absolutely horrific around the 4 month mark. I was vomiting and crying every night after the feed. Thankfully my DC1 dropped the feeds natural the time I was 5 months pregnant.

@BudgetBuster can I ask what that looked like? Did you stop offering and he wasn't fussed or did he just not feed for long?

I'm 3 months pregnant and nausea has reared it's ugly head. It's particularly bad in the afternoon/evening which coincides with feeding timea.

Of course.

So my boy only fed to sleep and a few times through the night, we hadn't had any day feeds since he was about 13 months unless he was sick or something.

I spent probably 6-8 weeks reducing the length of the overnight fees. So let's say he fed to sleep, then would normally wake maybe 3 or 4 times and was fed back to sleep. For 1 of the overnight feeds I unlatched after 4 mins, and patted him to sleep. Then a few days later dropped it to 3mins, then down to 2 mins. Then I tried to do this for 2 overnight feeds. Eventually he dropped one overnight feed completely and did a longer sleep stretch. I did this with all the overnight feeds until he was just happy with a shush and pat during the night. I never altered to feed to sleep.

I think my milk probably started to change (they say around 16-20w the composition changes and starts to dry a bit). I had to gift someone a lift somewhere one evening and I was delayed coming home and when I got home, about 30m after usual bedtime I ran in thinking he'd be fuming but funnily enough my DH had gotten him to sleep by rocking him. The next day I left the house before bedtime to see if it'd work again and whilst he was a bit upset, he went to sleep. The next night I just kept him up a little later than normal so he would be more tired and cuddled him to sleep with a book. He's about 6 weeks fully warned now and has barely asked for it tbh.