s/o NOT getting cycle back while nursing

[BakersDozen]

Please, someone else here tell me you don't get your fertility back while nursing! I posted on the other thread but I'm one who does not ovulate until nursing/pumping is 100% done. I can't even pump/nurse one time per day and ovulate! It seems many ladies I know IRL who would love to have babies close together do not get their fertility back while those who want to have a longer space between siblings get their cycle very soon postpartum. Ironic. :glare:

[Quill]

I have heard of people not getting their periods/fertility back while nursing. I have never experienced it. The longest I would go without a return to fertility/periods was 6 months.

 

ETA: It doesn't seem to have hurt you in terms of having enough children. ;)

Edited September 8, 2012 by Quill
wisenheimer remark

[Kathryn]

I finished nursing DS2 when he was 2.5yo and started cycling the next month. I can't recall when I got it back with DS1 as he only nursed for a year.

[AndyJoy]

My cycle returned about 15 months into nursing my son; I continued nursing until he was 22 months. I was glad of the break from my period!

[dbmamaz]

I dont remember the exact numbers, but i got my period back - something like month 5 with my first, 12 with my second, and 20 with my third. Its not the nursing per se, its the amount of hormones in your body. Nursing causes that but so does physical contact with your infant, so carrying, cosleeping, and frequent nursing can all contribute.

 

also, by the time you bleed for the first time, you already ovulated 2 weeks earlier. so its not reliable b/c . ..

[melbotoast]

For me, I think it varied because of when I dropped night feedings. With DS, we dropped night feedings at about 8 months and started my period shortly after. With DD, we dropped night feedings somewhere between 15-18 months but I didn't get my period back until I was down to only one daytime feeding, around two years.

[Ruby Rose]

Mine was 17-18 months with both. That was NICE!

[mumto2]

I spent several years as a volunteer working with BF moms. The standard advice was basically feed at least 7 times a day if you do not want your cycle to return. From my experience that was definately pretty accurate-- obviously this is not absolute but more general. I always started within a month or two of this. They also need to be good feeds where things are pretty empty at end. Not just a quick drink.

[ktgrok]

My feeling is that is your body telling you when you have the reserves built back up to have another baby. If it doesn't return until later there is probably a good reason.

[JennifersLost]

You all are so lucky! With every baby I got my period exactly four weeks after giving birth, even though they were exclusively breast-fed. No breaks for me!

[Dory]

I would get my cycle back as soon as my babies started sleeping for at least 6hrs at a time.

[Walking-Iris]

With all three of my children my cycle came back around the 15-16 month mark. My oldest weaned at 3.5, second at 2.5, and third still nurses at 2.

 

I was told by midwifes that for breastfeeding to be birth control one would need to nurse exclusively (no bottles, pumping, formula, solids) for the first 6- 8 months at very regular intervals of 2-3 hours. I was also told not to let a baby sleep longer than 5 hours without nursing (pre solid food baby). After you start to introduce solids it's not a guarantee. It's not even a guarantee if you nurse exclusively. It has more to do with a woman's genetic makeup than anything else I think. I've known exclusive breastfeeders who started cycling within months of birth. My ex SIL nursed with pumping and giving breastmilk in a bottle and got pregnant when the baby was 4 months old and never noticed a period.

[Mommyfaithe]

Please, someone else here tell me you don't get your fertility back while nursing! I posted on the other thread but I'm one who does not ovulate until nursing/pumping is 100% done. I can't even pump/nurse one time per day and ovulate! It seems many ladies I know IRL who would love to have babies close together do not get their fertility back while those who want to have a longer space between siblings get their cycle very soon postpartum. Ironic. :glare:

 

I did not start cycles....but did get pg at 11 mos pp 3 times, had one m/c. Guess I ovulated and didn't know it....

[petepie2]

My cycles started back at 13 months postpartum with all four of my kids.

[jenangelcat]

Mine got shorter with each pregnancy. The first took 15 months of no period bliss. The second 2 months and the third 6 weeks.

[LMD]

For me it took until near the 12month PP mark - whether I was still BF or not...

ETA - my cycles take a good 12 more months to regulate themselves into some semblance of regularity!

Edited September 9, 2012 by LMD

[IsabelC]

Of three babies, the shortest time I had until my cycle returned was 14 months.

[plath]

I don't get my cycle back until 18-19 months pp. And I don't ovulate until night weaning. It stinks as we'd prefer our children closer together (and we're getting older...).

[Garga]

Please, someone else here tell me you don't get your fertility back while nursing! I posted on the other thread but I'm one who does not ovulate until nursing/pumping is 100% done. I can't even pump/nurse one time per day and ovulate! It seems many ladies I know IRL who would love to have babies close together do not get their fertility back while those who want to have a longer space between siblings get their cycle very soon postpartum. Ironic. :glare:

 

Out of curiousity--how do you know you're not ovulating? Is it just that you haven't had a period until the nursing was entirely done, so that's how you knew? Or can you tell when you ovulate or something? (I never know when I ovulate. It would be SO COOL to know when I ovulate!!)

[plath]

I chart and use opks so I know when I do :)

[dbmamaz]

I would get my cycle back as soon as my babies started sleeping for at least 6hrs at a time.

 

Hmm, that took 3 years for all of my kids . . .

[IsabelC]

Out of curiousity--how do you know you're not ovulating? Is it just that you haven't had a period until the nursing was entirely done, so that's how you knew? Or can you tell when you ovulate or something? (I never know when I ovulate. It would be SO COOL to know when I ovulate!!)

 

Some woman can actually physically feel when they ovulate. Some women can tell by their psychological state (feel more attractive, more interested in partner / men, more in the mood to be sexual). Failing this, most women can pick up the changes in cervical mucous and/or temperature if they take the time to check these things. Alternatively if you are ttc and want to be sure of the best best days, you can get an ovulation testing kit.

[BakersDozen]

Out of curiousity--how do you know you're not ovulating? Is it just that you haven't had a period until the nursing was entirely done, so that's how you knew? Or can you tell when you ovulate or something? (I never know when I ovulate. It would be SO COOL to know when I ovulate!!)

 

Some woman can actually physically feel when they ovulate. Some women can tell by their psychological state (feel more attractive, more interested in partner / men, more in the mood to be sexual). Failing this, most women can pick up the changes in cervical mucous and/or temperature if they take the time to check these things. Alternatively if you are ttc and want to be sure of the best best days, you can get an ovulation testing kit.

Here's my answer. :) I can tell which side, when it's about to happen and when it has happened. Nothing 'wakes up' at all in my body until baby/babies are fully weaned. Crazy, huh? I went from 11pm-5am without pumping from day 1 yet no cycle. No pacifiers, no formula, early sttn...but no cycle.

[Mrs Mungo]

I didn't ovulate or get my period back until baby was around 15 months old. They nursed (but not exclusively and not at night) until they were over 2.

 

I know when I ovulate due to the Billings method/painful ovulation.

[Farmgirl70]

Well, I never got a period after my first, but I did get pregnant with #2 4 months after the birth of #1. My periods resumed while breastfeeding--and my kids didn't eat anything until they were 6 months old, and even then I started with just a little cereal in the evening.

[Georgiana Daniels]

Please, someone else here tell me you don't get your fertility back while nursing! I posted on the other thread but I'm one who does not ovulate until nursing/pumping is 100% done. I can't even pump/nurse one time per day and ovulate! It seems many ladies I know IRL who would love to have babies close together do not get their fertility back while those who want to have a longer space between siblings get their cycle very soon postpartum. Ironic. :glare:

 

Wellllll.......our little ones are 15 months apart. I was nursing full-time.

[Ewe Mama]

Mine started 4 months after with one and 3 months after with the other, even though we exclusively breast-fed.

[TravelingChris]

You certainly can and you can get pregnant before you get that first period. Use precautions, if you don't want to get pregnant. I was friends with a woman who had two kids in like 11 months and yes, she breastfed exclusively.

[xixstar]

I have a couple good friends that don't start until nursing is done done. Even just a couple times a day and child is almost 3. They were also getting antsy about closer spacing. My body wants to torture me and is ready to start again at less than 5 months in, maybe it knows something I do or doesn't communicate well with my brain that would be very emotionally overwhelmed with that spacing.

[GAPeachie]

6 months after Solomon before AF arrived. It started 6 weeks exactly from the day we weaned.

[JenC3]

#1 & #2 back at 7 months, both of these children nursed until over 3.

#3 back at 8 months, nursed until 2.3 yrs.

 

I nursed for 7 years with no breaks.

[sillymommy]

My cycles always start 17-18 months pp. At that point I'm still nursing frequently day & night. We co-sleep, so that helps with amennorhea. I don't wean early to make ready for the next baby, instead go with child-led weaning.

 

For the poster who was asking about how to know when you ovulate:

 

http://nfp.marquette.edu/

http://www.tcoyf.com/

[stripe]

I went about 9 months for 3 kids, and I have one friend who told me hers didn't return for more than a year. (She has four kids and doesn't seem to use another form birth control, and her kids are not very close together.) I have been able to tell when fertility is returning because of "egg white" cervical fluid prior to the first post-partum period. My kids nursed constantly.

 

I don't mean to ask too many questions, but the idea of getting my period back 4 weeks after the birth -- an older relative who didn't breastfeed told me the same thing. I was still having post partum bleeding of varying degrees at that point. I guess the length of this is more variable than I thought. Most people I know seem to be a month or more of postpartum bleeding.

[LittleIzumi]

*cough* It always took months to come back (fertility) even after starting my period with the first two. I've nursed until 17 months before a period and then months before fertility (super short luteal phases initially). Then I nursed until 22 months with no period and found out I was pregnant. So... yeah.... :lol:

[sbgrace]

We were only blessed with one term pregnancy but my fertility didn't return until I had stopped 100% and actually it took a while even then. As someone with just two looking at your signature--maybe try hard to focus on your blessings? :grouphug: