Exclusively breastfeeding, could I be pregnant?

[Sarahvd2522]

Hi there,

im new to all of this so I am not sure that this is the right place to post but I have an almost 5 month old daughter who is exclusively breastfed. No dummies etc. She is still feeding during the night and I have not had a period and did start off using contraception but i had horrible side affects and it affected my supply. When I spoke to doctor, she advised that as long as I was exclusively breastfeeding, it would be very unlikely that I would get pregnant, that breastfeeding 98% effective rate as contraceptive and then only a 5% chance of getting pregnant before my first period. So we figured that we would figure out contraception when I got a period as and if this was nearish our girl being a year then no need for contraception as we are planning/hoping for a 2 ish year gap. So we have been having unprotected sex (not often as I'm knackered lol) The last few weeks though I have been feeling very tired, emotional, PMT like. Cramps at night, night sweat type things, a bit faint and just a bit off. These are some of the symptoms I have had in pregnancy (I have had 2 previous pregnancies, first one was angel baby). I suppose my question is has anyone/know anyone got pregnant whilst breastfeeding and before having first period?

I should test but I don't have any. I would consider another baby a blessing but a shock!

just looking for any advice

Sara xx

That doctor is woefully way out of date. EBF is not a reliable or recommended form of contraception. It can make conception less likely but this still depends on the woman. And the fact is that you'll have a first period at some point but you won't know you're cycling again until you already are. I think the discharge debrief at our local hospital goes on about this specifically for five full minutes. Only way you're going to know is POAS. Hope it all works out for you x

I don't know about the "before the first period" part but w/r/t to breastfeeding, it's entirely possible to fall pregnant, yes. Our NCT co-ordinator drilled into us not to rely on breastfeeding as contraception - I think she said it was because you can still ovulate between feeds.

My friend exclusively bf (continued for over a year) she got a surprise bfp when her baby was 3 months! Agree with pps, bf is certainly not a guaranteed contraception and I've just been learning on here you could potentially be at your most fertile within a year of birth!

Even if it is 98% effective (and I'm not sure that's right), that means it doesn't work for 2% of the time. POAS.

I have a sister who is the result of using EBF as a method of contraception. As other people have said it's less likely but it's not by any means a method to rely on!

I disagree with pp, EBF is an effective method of contraception if baby is feeding round the clock and under 6 months. It's not THE most effective method but it's 98% and up to 99.5% with perfect use, which is similar to other methods. Any method can fail of course so yes you could be pregnant.

I got pregnant with my 5th will exclusively breastfeeding a 4 month old AND taking the pill- so yes it's always possible no matter how unlikely!

I hadn't had any periods in between , I just started feeling sick and turned out I was pregnant again .

I think I won the pregnancy lottery!

Of course you could be pregnant.

That doctor is very irresponsible throwing around statistics like that.

People actively try and avoid pregnancy by using hormonal contraceptives and condoms, and still manage to fall pregnant. No method is fool proof, least of all relying on breastfeeding and waiting for periods to return.

The bottom line is, you have sex, especially unprotected sex, you could fall pregnant.

That is not the advice I was given by my doctor at all - and I really struggle with the stats on that, plus my midwife NCT course leader and HV all, separately, were at pains to stress that ebf was in no way reliable contraception. As one of our NCT group then kindly demonstrated when our babies were about 5/6 months she was like you - shocked but a blessing.

Got a test! It's relatively reliable but not brilliant as it relies on pesky hormones which are not reliable!
Large families many years ago often had kids two years apart because of no contraception a year ebf a year pregnant /getting pregnant etc post ebf
If you're not pregnant if probably be inclined to use condoms as well

There's 13 months between me and my brother. I'm concerned a doctor is advocating bf as an effective contraceptive. Not good.

Your doctor is very out of date. Every hcp I encountered after DD was born was at pains to make clear that feeding her would not prevent pregnancy.

Look up lactational ammenorrhoea, if you got the criteria it's 98% or so effective as contraception, so similar to most other forms. Nothing is 100%, even tubal locations and vasectomies fail. So your DR is right in that you have a low chance of being pregnant but totally not impossible. Has worked very well for me in the past.

Breastfeeding's reliability as an effective means of contraceptive depends on maternal nutrition and the number of children the mother has already borne (the fewer, the less effective), as well as length, regularity and intensity of feeding.

It's a lottery, particularly in developed countries. I know of half a dozen mothers who thought it was reliable and ended up with surprise pregnancies. One even had a new baby when the first wasn't yet 12 months old.

Apparently twins are more likely when breastfeeding, because of the irregular ovulation.

You could be pregnant. I'm fairly involved in my local breastfeeding organisations etc and yup see it loads.

Most responsible HCPs take that 98% figure with a pinch of salt from what I've seen. Because it just doesn't seem to tally with what actually happens