Don't want to use contraception after I give birth

[bhs652]

Hi all

I am currently 7 months pregnant and myself and my partner are overjoyed - it is our first child. We would like more children in the near future also.

I'm just curious to know other people's experiences with sex/conceiving soon after giving birth.

I'm wondering what everyone else has done after birth because my body reacts terribly to all contraception.. pill, injection, implant.. everything... and we despise condoms. I understand doing this, I am going to get pregnant again, probably soon after I have my first child. Ideally I'd like to wait a year, but I just cannot bare to take contraception again.

But has anyone gotten pregnant soon after having a child? I read most women wait 18 months plus as your body needs to recover, but if you've had another child soon after another, how did you feel? How was the pregnancy? Did your body cope better or worse? I know all pregnancies are different I'm just extremely curious.

I think you're supposed to wait at least a year or ideally 18 months as there is an increased risk of mc if too early (and then trouble getting pregnant!)

Tbh it'll probably be a few months before you want to dtd anyway and then I'd look at using condoms.

Errr forgive me if I'm being thick but what are you going to do after the 2nd is born?

I'm still on my first and on the mini pill, I had a period at 8 weeks postpartum even though I'm breastfeeding but not sure if I'd actually get pregnant if I wanted to because of the breastfeeding but it's still a possibility.

Not me personally as there was no chance I had the energy or will to go back there but my SIL has 10 months between her youngest two, her eldest was 2.5 years when #3 came along too!

Her pregnancies were all pretty straightforward but understandably she was utterly exhausted and ended up with antenatal depression during her third.

Congratulations OP.

If you plan to breastfeed, this will confer some contraceptive benefit for the first six months but you need to be meeting all your babies needs at the breast (responsive feeding day and night) and any bleeding should be the sign to not continue to rely on this.

It sounds like it won't be a disaster if it does fail (it does!) as you plan to conceive again.

DH and I used this and the withdrawal method as like you I did not want to use hormonal contraceptives (health advice is to avoid these pre conception anyway). We have a two year spacing.

We used withdrawal method (alongside tracking and avoiding fertile days) successfully for 6 years, when we deliberately stopped I got pregnant.
If getting pregnant is ok then I'd do that.

I had sex 3 weeks after ds was born it depends on how you feel I suppose,is the copper coil an option?

Don't count on breastfeeding for contraception. I bf my ds but had a period just 4 weeks after he was born and that was me fertile again and back to normal periods. It works for some people but should not be relied on.

As with KateTTC's experience, any bleeding is the indicator not to continue to rely on breastfeeding. No form of contraception is failsafe, well except abstinence!

I had sex 2 weeks after birth (csection) and fell pregnant when DS1 was about 4 months old. Everything was fine, I did have a second c section as DS1 was 10lb 8oz and they were concerned about another big baby do soon after first c section.

Have you tried the copper coil? Or the diaphragm with spermicide? These are both non hormonal alternatives to the condom.

Fwiw we have been through every single option of contraception and are at the point that none of them work for us for various reasons. After this dc is born dh will be getting the snip.

Having had a baby a week ago, the thought of going through that again within the next year is just not ok. I did have a traumatic labour & birth however. But yeah. I'll either be abstaining altogether or using 14 condoms on top of each other.

There's no increased risk of miscarriage if you get pregnant back to back. If you have a C-section this time they recommend you wait at least a year or you have an increased chance of scar rupture. Other than that there is no medical reason to delay pregnancy if you don't want to.

While bleeding is an indication that your fertility has returned while breastfeeding, don't forget that in the first cycle you will have ovulated around two weeks before your period and unless you are very vigilant for signs of that, could get pregnant

Perhaps use condoms until your hormones return to their usual levels?

Breastfeeding does not work as a contraceptive

Speak to GP about other options?

I used condoms and fell pregnant on first month (first child) and two months with second child. We used condoms as I gave up the pill when decided to try for a baby 🍼

While bleeding is an indication that your fertility has returned while breastfeeding, don't forget that in the first cycle you will have ovulated around two weeks before your period and unless you are very vigilant for signs of that, could get pregnant

The evidence shows that the first cycle is usually anovulatory (e.g . incomplete ovulation). Though the sample sizes in the research are small, it is effective for some women. I discuss it as a option with women who wish to use it for birth spacing and it would not be a complete disaster if they were to fall pregnant again. As I said up thread, no contraceptive is 100% reliable.

Why not have your first baby and then decide how keen you are (or not) to do it again, especially potentially very soon.

Not me but a friend of mine fell pregnant 6 months after the birth of her first (planned). Whilst she felt ok having 2 pregnancies so close together did take its toll on her body and she developed a hernia on her stomach as her body just hadn’t had enough time to recover from the first pregnancy. She needed an operation in the end to remove it. However this is just one story, plenty of women have multiple pregnancies close together with no issues.

I'd read the NHS website or contact midwife for why they say it's best to wait.

You might want to consider using a Fertility Awareness Method. It’s only reliable if you use it properly, but even if you don’t use it 100% correctly it’s still more reliable than no contraception!

You could try reading “Taking charge of your fertility”, and see if there are any Fertility Friday podcasts which talk about contraception as a starting point

We never used contraceptives after dd was born, she is now 10 months old and I am 7 months pregnant (both planned).

Was induced with dd early for pre-eclampsia, birth was straight forward, some complications after but soon sorted themselves out.

This pregnancy is far easier than with dd, with much less pregnancy symptoms. But all women are different of course. The first trimester was so much easier while looking after a little baby who slept all the time as opposed to having a toddler running about!

I asked my midwife about the whole increased risk of mc, thin lining of the womb and having to wait over a year between pregnancies. She told me its nonsense. I am consultant led (for health reasons) and they both also confirmed having to wait between pregnancies is nonsense.

Well, I didn't bother with contraception after DS was born because a) it had taken ages to conceive him, and b) I was ebf. Also, I didn't mind at all if I got pregnant, but didn't expect it to happen quickly. Guess what? I got pregnant again when DS was 7 months old, so I have a 16 month age gap. Aaarrgh! It was a bit of a shock, to put it mildly. But the next pregnancy & birth were really easy, and my body bounced back just fine, so no regrets.

I know 2 people who both ended up with unexpected surprises..one has two children ten and a half months apart and the other1 months. Clearly the breast feeding myth is tosh. A lot of literature states that and the midwive I had stated that. I had a copper coil. No problems to either put in or remove but it didn't agree with me. Whilst I have enormous problems with hormonal drugs due yo a medical condition I found the mirenal is actually rather good for me, am assuming the hormone it emits is a mid to dose as it also relies on its disruptive properties. If you haven't tried maybe give it a go. If it's no good after a couple of months whip it out.

My body’s reaction to hormonal contraception is completely different after having had DCs so don’t assume that because they don’t suit you now they won’t later.

Any side effect of BC is more reversible than a baby.

Easy don’t have sex again until you are ready to have a child or take contraception

Given your feelings about contraception, I'd be planning at least 2 months of celibacy. At least set that expectation with your DH, you can change your mind later if you feel ready.