Periods haven’t returned 12 weeks post birth - formula feeding

[Bath2020]

Hi all. I had a CSection 12 weeks ago. I bled for around 5 weeks on and off, nothing very heavy.

Fully formula feeding, and still haven't had a period... Was fully expecting it to have shown up by now.

When did your periods return?
Has anyone had long run after birth with no period? I spoke to my GP and she said everyone is different and it will come back in time but I am keen to start trying again for a sibling due to my age so I really want it to come back (I know it is poss to get pregnant before it returns but I don’t ovulate every month and am likely to need help which I can’t get until my cycle is regular again) :(

It's very individual to each woman. Mine came back at 6 weeks despite breastfeeding 🤷🏼‍♀️

I would caution you to wait a full year after your c section before getting pregnant again. Having another pregnancy so soon before your c section has fully healed could be dangerous for both you and baby.

Thanks @Twizbe yes absolutely I’ll be waiting a while yet and have agreed a next trying date with my obgyn. I have a poor obstetrics history with multiple second trimester losses before my rainbow arrived so preparing for another very long road for our sibling.

just v interested to see what the story is with the period returning so I can start tracking and get my hormone panel checked again. Ohhhhh fun!

thank you anyway for your input x

I'm sorry for your losses.

I had a 2.5 year journey to get my eldest. His sibling was much quicker at 6 months. I also thought I'd be in for a long journey so tried sooner than I'd have chosen other wise ....

12 weeks isnt that long really, I also exclusively formula fed and mine returned after 11 weeks and that was a vaginal birth as well... so you could have a while to wait before I would be concerned about it! Seems normal enough to me, but I'm no expert 😊 hope that was a bit reassuring.

Thanks Mountain and Twizbe that is reassuring. All these websites like if exclusively formula feeding period will be back as early as 6 weeks and I’m like huhhhhh?!?! Panicking here as a result. I’ll just wait the long wait and hope it comes soon so I can get back to tracking and planning. Gosh the whole baby business I wish it was as easy for me as it is for the majority. Maybe I’ll get lucky Twizbe although one baby is hard I can only begin to imagine how it must be with 2 under 15 months. Good on you. Thanks again ladies x

I had a C-section 18 weeks ago. Period arrived after 13 weeks but bottle fed since birth. It was insanely heavy. Second period arrived 28 days later and was half the flow.

Thanks winging. That’s good to know that the whole 6/8 weeks thing doesn’t apply to everyone! I generally have light periods so interested to see what happens! Congratulations also!! Hope all is going well for you :)

I was just about to post this! I have pcos but with metformin and myo inositol they became regular 30 day cycles. Since having my baby they have been very irregular. They didn’t come back at all until 4 months after he was born, and since then they’ve been about 40-45 days and this time I only had a tiny bit of blood and that was it after 40 days… it’s weird. No one talks about this! Pretty much everything online says your periods come back 6 weeks after birth. I formula feed too so I know it’s not to do with breastfeeding.

do you or could you have pcos?

im back on metformin but have ordered some myo inositol as it worked for me last time in the hope it’ll help kickstart things. I’m not keen to have another baby right now, but it’s quite unnerving to not have regular periods and my baby is now 9 months old.. we would like a sibling for him one day.

hope your periods come back soon. X

Thanks Cafe. Hmmm so I don’t have pcos as I was tested for this 4 years ago when I came off the pill as periods didn’t return. Turns out I had a severely underactive thyroid. It was well managed then up to and including the pregnancy and then my dose changed after baby was born as it became overmanaged. More bloods in a week and then I’ll be seeing my endocrinologist consultant so it could be that but my periods had been v regular.

You’re so right it should be spoken about more. Every article I read says 6-8 weeks and it’s freaking me out as I turn 39 in a couple of months and need to get my skates on (purely due to age and poor obstetrics history) as I definitely don’t ovulate every month either in normal times…

Hopefully it comes soon and thanks so much for your response x

I breast fed for 6 weeks so slightly different but mine only returned last week. DD is 4.5m old now. I had spoken to the dr who said she wouldn't be concerned unless it had been 6m- then she would want to do some tests but even then she said it would probably be nothing

Ah yes in that case it’s probably your thyroid.

so many ‘womens problems’ are severely under researched, I haven’t even bothered going to my gp about this as I know they won’t have a clue!

I did read somewhere having a baby can mess periods up for a year, so I’m not going to panic yet and as I also had a c section I want to make sure I’ve healed but we do want a second and I’m 35. It took us 2 years to conceive last time x

Update for anyone who may stumble on this board wondering about period returning time - mine arrived today at 18 weeks 4 days post birth. If it hadn’t arrived by 6 months I was going to get a scan to see what’s happening in there but no need now. Thanks all for your feedback x

Does anyone know if it’s normal or has anyone else experienced missing a period 6 months postpartum? I had my first period 6 weeks after giving birth and my periods have been every 32-34 days but this month I’m on day 39 and still no sign of period… I’ve taken about 8 different pregnancy tests and all coming back negative???? I’ve spoken to my doctor and he’s just said there’s nothing to worry about until 12 months but I also have never heard of anyone missing a period unless pregnant after pregnancy and now I’m really worried that something is wrong x