Pregnant again 4 months after giving birth

[claudette]

I have a 4-month old baby and have just discoverd I'm pregnant again! I'm happy but shocked, as exclusively breastfeeding... Has this happened to anyone else, and does being pregnant affect your milk supply?

Congratulations. Plenty of people breast feed whilst pregnant. Good Luck

Didn't you use contraception then?

um, no... apparently exclusive breastfeeding is an effective contraceptive? (99.5% effective according to some!)

Happened to a friend of mine. 2nd dd born 4 days before 1st one's 1st birthday.

Being pregnant can affect your milk supply, but not often in first trimester. Lots more info on this on kellymom.

Er,no it isn't (as you found out)!

Rubbish! Breastfeeding is not contraception!

congratulations!

congratulations claudette,

glad you are happy about the surprise. Don't worry, I merrily thought withdrawal method was effective contraception until mumsnet put me right

Congratualtions bet that is a shock

I was also told about it being a contraceptive so you won't be the 1st or the last to think that !

Thanks all. Bit shellshocked, and just wondering what to expect. Breastfeeding does normally suppress ovulation for the first 6 months - but obviously it's not foolproof!!

Congratulations claudette.

Breastfeeding is a pretty good contraceptive - about 98-99.5% reliable (there is plenty of research on this if anyone wants to look for it). Of course there will always be people who become pregnant whilst breastfeeding, because it's 98% effective not 100% effective, roughly the same as condoms.

Congratulations Claudette. I pretty much thought it was contraception too although you do have to exclusively breastfeed and on demand, rather than trying to restrict feeds to, say, every 3 hours. I pretty much relied on this for first six months or so after my first so you are definitely not alone here!! Also, there was 14 months between myself and my brother, my Mum says it was a bit mad but she loved the gap as we always played very well together and she got the sleepless nights over and done with much quicker than most! It's a blessing! Good luck.

Congratulations! Ignore the tutting from the patronising minority on this thread.

I had ds2 when ds1 was just over 11 months old. It was very very hard to begin with but I'm so so glad we did it that way.

Good luck.