Breastfeeding and return of periods

[catlike1979]

DS has just turned one and was EBF for first 6 months, now still BF alongside solids. He has a feed first thing on waking, last thing before bed and usually one mid afternoon feed (I tend to feed him to sleep for his afternoon nap and lie with him, which I love). He tends to sleep through but on the nights that he doesn't I will usually give him the boob to settle him back to sleep, it's my only real way of settling him and I must be honest I don't have the patience to rock for ages when the boob gets him back down quickly.

My periods still haven't come back and we want to start thinking about trying for baby number 2. Does anyone have any tips on continuing BF but getting periods to return? I really don't want to stop BF completely, and I love the snuggly time it gives us (especially as I'm aware this won't last forever!) but I really would like my periods to start up again.

Can anyone offer any advice? x

Sorry no, Other than give him less boob. I was in your situation when ds1 was 9 months old. I wanted to ttc asap because it had taken a long time the first time and I was worried about running out of time because Of my age. Unfortunately, my periods didn't actually come back Until I stopped completely - they returned pretty much a month exactly after I stopped. It takes some people's periods longer to return than others I believe and there's no way of knowing which camp you fall into. I was gradually dropping each feed hoping that my periods would come back before I had to actually stop (which happened to some of my other friends) but sadly mine didn't.

Ps I believe night feeding in particular keeps periods away. Something to do with hormone levels at night.

Mine came back at 8 weeks with 24/7 breastfeeding still. So I'm not convinced it does much

My periods came back when I went down to two feeds a day (around 8-10 months for my different DC). It's different for everyone though.

OH maybe night feeding is a thing. By 8weeks I stopped feeding any time between 11pm-6am. So 7hr gaps min, they usually slept 11pm-8am so 9hr gaps normal. Then every 90mins 8am-12pm again

I mean 8am-11pm fed regularly every 90mins, then not at all 11pm-8am usually.

Mine came back at 11 months. Still breastfeeding (and more frequently than you) at 15 months. It's possible that having been on the pill for 6 of those 11months helped it to return.

I bf on demand went back to work at 8 months so after that point there were 4 days a week with no daytime feeds. My period didn't come back until 18 months! Night feeds stopped around 15months I reckon though still did it occasionally

Yeah I'm pretty sure it's different for everyone OP and if yours haven't come back yet, I'd say it means that they won't unless you do something else- e.g. Drop the night feeding or drop one more of the day feeds and see if if makes anything happen. It's frustrating though.

Same situation here, I'm wanting to TTC but my 14mo is breastfed and I don't want to wean her. This seems interesting though
http://www.thealphaparent.com/2014/12/how-to-get-pregnant-whilst-breastfeeding.html (I bet that link doesn't work now )

Mine came back around 4 months old and I'm still bf at 11 months - I was annoyed the came back so assumed the rumour wasn't true! Good luck x

I think it is possible to get pg whilst breastfeeding, but I'm guessing it's a lot harder if you have no periods as you won't know where you're up to or even if you're ovulating. I think it's often the case that ovulation doesn't return (pretty much) until periods come back.

It obvs varies individually but mine never resumed until I stopped feeding or at least was down to bedtime only.

You can still be fertile without a period. I didn't reduce feeds and got pregnant with the second v quickly. Everyone's different but I wouldn't stress massively re weaning.

I've had a massive range of experience, from getting pregnant with my first post-baby ovulation at 8 months pp, to 2.5 years pp but a shortened luteal phase so couldn't maintain a pregnancy for a good few months after periods finally returned. Not a lot of help!

Mine came back with a vengeance at 6months. I was still feeding a lot night and day so I think it varies greatly woman to woman. Sorry, no advice but maybe go see your gp for advice.

Interesting. I was about to ask the same thing. Ds is 16 months and I still don't have my period back. :(

Mine didn't come back until I stopped bf. We wanted DC2 so I stopped feeding DD1 at 2 years and got my period the following week. Sorry!

He's one year old. Nutritionally he's had all the benefit from breastfeeding that he can get. If you want to get your cycle BACK in order to conceive in the near future, it's time to wean. Trust me, you can still enjoy lots of cuddles without breastfeeding.

I don't think it's quite right to say you can be fertile/ovulate without periods. If you ovulate you will either get pregnant or have a period. If you get pregnant before your periods resume it means you got pregnant your first cycle.

I agree with apple - some people do get pregnant first cycle so don't get a period, but if you really want to ttc, I definitely wouldn't be relying on just hoping you were fertile with no period, as there's a good chance you aren't until the period comes back.

I think it varies a lot, I was still bf a lot when dd was 9 months but fell pregnant and never got the chance to have a period!

I've not had a period since dec 2014.

It is very variable. Some women will have periods return if even short time with no feeds in 24hours. Others need to stop almost completely. Some women will conceive while breastfeeding even if periods are back, others may not until they stop entirely (can likely affect endometrial thickness).

In my case I had one period at 6months (DD slept through 11-7 from 6 weeks but fed all day). Then she stopped sleeping entirely and fed all night- no more periods until 11 months. Since then they've been regular but cycle length changed when I stopped feeding completely at 2.5. I haven't started TTC number 2 so can't comment on that!

In your situation, assuming you were born in 1979(!) I would probably start by night weaning and if no luck after a few months work on stopping entirely.

My baby has just turned one. I feed as much as you do, haven't had any periods since March 2015 and have just found out I'm pregnant, so it can happen.

I've got pregnant twice while feeding all the bloody time, including at least every 2 hours at night. Periods returned at 15 months both times, and I caught within a couple of months despite being in my 40s.
I've got 2 friends who got pregnant while still feeding on demand before their periods returned - so caught the first egg.
I've also got a couple of friends who weaned after 2 years of feeding to help get pregnant - and it didn't work for one of them - they still have the one DC.

It's so variable.