TTC whilst breastfeeding support thread - join me to share your ups and downs!

[smallblackflowers]

Hi!
A little about me - I'm pushing 34, have a 10 month old DD that I'm still breastfeeding and really want to conceive no.2 asap!
I am on my second cycle since AF returned and am temp / CM / CP charting using fertility friend and have OPKs!
I ovulated on day 29 of my last cycle, and am on day 21 at the moment.
Have been having fun and games with very fertile signs over the past week, so lots of BD, but no ovulation, poor DH is full of a cold and not feeling very energetic but I keep insisting that he perform until my temps go up

So anyway - hoping that there are others out there in a similar boat who can help to keep me sane and hopefully share some good news in the coming months.

First of, thanks for sharing your experiences, the reassurance and the wealth of information on here! O,and I am Dutch, so apologies in advance for Possible Difficulties in Understanding What It is I am Trying to Say. I could write great and witty works of literature in Dutch, but apparently not so much in English. It took me 20 months to gather the courage to actually join the conversation here.

So, can I join? I am 26 and have a DS (20 months). I'd like for him to have a brother or sister in the near future, say, in a year from now. However, i am still breastfeeding. A lot. Early morning, very late at night, at least three times during the day. At least.

I've figured out that i probably still have a very short luteal phase; it involves a lot of very early premenstrual spotting (as in, two, two and a half weeks into my cycle.) Common thing? Or not? Currently in fourth cycle.

I've also been feeling really tired lately (again, common?)- although that could be due to my lovely almost-two year old DS.

I'll probably mainly lurk on here, but will not hesitate to offer even tiny glimmers of hope. Thanks, you English-speaking ladies, and good luck!

Primagravida, your English is perfect. Just a missing space after a comma in line one and a lower case 'i' in lines six and eight.

Nevertheless, nice to meet you. Good luck

Thank you, that's very kind. I did hit the preview button a 'couple' of times.

And nice to meet you too.

Hello Prima Yes incredibly good English!

Several people on this thread have had problems with a short luteal phase, so if you read back through then you should find some good tips on how to hopefully increase it.

Well, still no AF. I have tested. There is a faint pink line after the 3 minutes. What does that mean?

OOoh Ali, how long did it take the line to appear?
Primagravida - your English is a lot better than my Dutch.... (non-existent)

It was there after about 30 seconds and got very slightly darker during the 3 minutes.

I am going to go and get a digital one later to test with tomorrow just to be sure.

Welcome Primagravida - I seem to have a short LP as well. I've just started to take vitamin B6 for it and have bought some natural progesterone cream to use after ovulation. There's quite a lot of info if you get time to read back on the thread. p.s. We're off to the Netherlands for our summer holiday in a couple of weeks!

Ali - You poor thing, this must be sending you completely mad! Did the line appear within the timeframe?

Coconut - it did, came up really quickly and then got a little darker before the timeframe was over.

I think I can get excited!

But I will be testing again tomorrow just to be sure

Can I join this thread, please, too? My DS is 2 and a bit. Was breastfeeding on demand and periods came back when he was about 20 months I think. I have (mostly) stopped feeding him during the day now - just the odd one on a weekend to get him to nap. He has milk before bed and in the morning and multiple times through the night. Tried to night wean him a few weeks ago but caved quite quickly, he was so upset bless him. I think I would like to cut down a lot now if not stop but have no clue how to go about it without causing him lasting emotional trauma! Any strategies welcome.

Would also like to conceive - this is cycle 2 and I have started charting to try and work out what going on but due to the co-sleeping not sure how reliable my temps will be!

Cycles were 28 days when first came back but then I had a massive long cycle of 40 days which I think was due to running a marathon when ov was due. Since then they've been 34 and 33 days. Looking forward to hearing ideas and support on the ttc malarkey!

Alibaba - sounds like congrats are due - all sounds very promising to me!

Hello LGG

Night-weaning is so hard! If you read back a bit on this thread you will see that several of us have either done it or are trying to!

Our strategy was, DH. He did all the night wakings and cuddled DS while he howled for me. The hell lasted a few nights only and now DS pretty much sleeps through (9.30pm-8am last night without a peep).

I hope it is promising. There is a pg test in the bathroom burning a hole in my pocket so to speak. I think I am going to test again in a bit.

Alibaba, that would be great news!

Coconutfeet, thank you. I will consider this vitamin B6. I have also started drinking grapefruit juice to speed up conception, because someone on here mentioned it and hey, it is easy. And if it's easy, I'll try it.
( And enjoy your summer holiday. Zeeland perhaps? I live in the Carribean and it is unbearably hot over here, but we'll be moving back to the Netherlands in a couple of weeks from now.)

I have tested, it is definitely a BFP

Now comes the nervous bit, it is going to be a long couple of months I think.

Alibaba, congratulations! It's funny how you know before you know, isn't it? Was just scrolling this thread to see how you did it...

Hope all goes well in the coming months!

Prima - the night-weaning has been the key. I've had 4 cycles now which have been exactly 28 days with OV on day 14, and that has only happened since we night-weaned DS.

Friends of mine have got pregnant while still BFing a lot and when they haven't really known when or even whether they were ovulating, but I think instances like that seem to be rare.
As Dita said a few comments back, BFing really seems to have a huge impact on implantation unfortunately

I will definitely not be leaving the thread yet - I think I will almost feel like I am still in ttc mode until we get past the first scan.

alibaba congratulations!!! Am so pleased to see another graduate

Well, I've made it to 11 weeks now, have my scan next tuesday, so in a bit of limbo until then, but all being well I'll be able to start relaxing about the whole thing. DD seems to want more bm now that I am pg too I thought they were supposed to go off it due to the hormones causing a funny flavour....nips are very sore too, but am grinning and bearing it for the moment.

Crossing my fingers for you all x

Ali Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!! So pleased that you finally got an answer and that it was such a good one What great news to come home to

Welcome Primagravida and LadyGG Lady, we are nightweaning at the moment and have gone for the DH settling DD back to sleep approach while I sleep on the floor! (we are cosleeping). The first night was horrific - none of us got any sleep and DD and I both spent a bit of time crying - but things did improve very quickly and I think she might actually now be sleeping through. I would say though that this is our third or fourth attempt - all the other times it's been too hard so we've given up to reapproach at a later date.

Bit of a WTF?? from me - I'm on CD7 I think but have had sensitive nipples for the past 4 or so days. WTF is that all about? Also have been a bit ratty the past couple of days and spotted a bit of CM earlier - I can't possibly be OVing this early can I? We've only been night weaning since AF arrived so wondering if that's done something drastic to my cycle. Feel like we should SWI just in case but have been house renovating all day and not even eaten yet so not sure whether we're actually capable. Argh.

Thanks ladies

sbf - cannot believe you are 11 weeks!! Fingers crossed for scan.

Dita - that sounds like OV to me, get SWIING girl! If you've suddenly put big gaps inbetween feeds where there were none then that's going to do something to your cycle.

Ali and Strawberries Well done and congratulations!

Good to hear your scan is in sight SBF, less than a week to go!

STILL no hint of AF here, and to add insult to injury, I went to give blood today. As has been the case for the last 5 years or so, my iron/haemaglobin levels were a fraction below the preferred levels for donation so I couldn't give.

But I'm thinking if I haven't got enough iron after having no periods for almost 2 years, then I don't think I'll ever bother going again!

DD is having a bad time of it with teeth and is feeding much more in the day as well as at night. The other night she woke at 1am, but she must have cried for a while because I was so sound asleep it wasn't waking me(I was dreaming about a crying baby though!).

Am really tired and desperate for a bit of a lie -in, and when I do get a chance for a nap when DH is home I end up zonking out for hours and I take ages to come to, I feel almost drugged.'This too shall pass' and all that...

LadyGG I'm interested in hearing how your charting goes, am toying with the idea but don't know if there's any point with no AFs whatsoever.

Ali congratulations!

Night-weaning of DD is going to be a challenge. The only place she will sleep is vltching my breasts. Gonna take it gently...

Beveridge It's a bit of a faff but I can see has the potential to be strabgely satisfying. If nothing else my cycles are a little bit irregular so might stop me from tying self up in knots about when period due. Or not.

Dita Bit of a complicated home life here but basically me and the boy on our own during the week so if I do night wean I have to be able to do it myself. Me and his actual Dad split up when he was 10 months. He's pushing for overnights which we have so far resisted due to the BF (we're pretty amicable so stay at each others houses and manage it taht way). But we may just have to suck it and see - hey presto, night weaning (could it be that easy?)!

Keep me posted with the adventures in night weaning. DS has slept through once in his life! I'd love some sleep!!!

Congratulations Ali! Fantastic news, I'm so pleased for you!!!!!

Welcome Ladygonegaga.

Got to dash, I'm late for work.

yay Ali!

Aaaagh, FF now says I ovulated on day 8! And did no BD as DP away . Not sure about this. Although when I conceived DS it was very early in cycle despite never having shorter than a 28 day cycle. But my cycles lately have been at least 33 days long! What does it mean? Could I have a super long luteal phase?

Does bf just make you completely random?

Crikey, I've only been offline for a couple of days and come back to a thread full of news!

Congratulations Ali!!

sbf - Good luck for your scan, it will be such a relief for you, the first 3 months are the worst!

Welcome to the thread, Breastmilk, Primagravida (great english!) and LadyGG

It's funny how the thread keeps 'refilling' once we have a few graduates

Breastmilk - it seems we are in the same boat, my DS is 7.5 months old and I haven't had AF yet either, so no idea if I'm ovulating or not. Another couple of months and I think I may look into purchasing some OPKs to see what is going on. I might need talking through it though, I'm a bit new to this whole TTC malarkey, with DS it was 'ooo, we'll just stop using condoms and see what happens... BAM '

LifeofKate What a gorgeous little smile your DS has! Yes, like you I'm so new to this... DD was conceived the week we started trying. So I'm still hoping we'll be one of those random 'accidents' that happen in the first pre-AF ovulation... but I think the stats say it happens to about 6% of those who BF past 6mo (anyone know?) and I suspect those 6% aren't still feeding at night...?