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492921 tn?1321289896

TTC while breastfeeding

We are talking about starting to TTC #2 in July or Aug. I am still breastfeeding and plan on going as long as she will nurse. Hope to make it to 2 years.

I have only had one cycle in December. When I went from pumping full time to BF. I'm just looking for advice on how do I TTC while nursing if I don't have a cycle? How do I get my cycle to start again with out quitting breastfeeding?  Does your supply drop while your pregnant? I figured it's gonna be a challenge to nurse 2 babies if I go to 2 years old with Kaelynn.

How do I figure out if I'm cycling or start to cycle?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
8 Responses
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287246 tn?1318570063
The more often you BF, the less likely you are to conceive.  As your baby gets older and needs to nurse less, your fertility will probably return.  That's how it is with most women and how it was for me.  I am currently 18 weeks pregnant.  I charted my temps and knew my progesterone levels were lower because I was BFing.  I could tell by my temps.  (I had charted with my previous child when I was not BFing, so I knew what was normal for my body.)  Once I got to her nursing only once daily and at night, I was able to conceive.

Since you have only had one cycle, it may mean that your fertility hasn't fully returned.  My first cycles were like 58-60 days.  Once they became closer together, I knew my fertility was slowly returning.  If your fertility hasn't fully returned, the only thing you can really do is to just nurse less frequently but I don't know how old your baby is either.  That may not be an option for you yet.  But as she gets older, she will nurse less and less, as she eats solids,  and your fertility will likely return.

Good luck!  I wouldn't want to nurse more than one child at a time, but many women do it :)
Helpful - 0
287246 tn?1318570063
I just saw another post from you.  Looks like Kaelynn is only 7 months old.  It may be a little while before you can conceive again.  My DH and I are extremely fertile but I wasn't able to conceive until my baby was 15 months old.  I had only been trying for a couple of months but like I said, I could tell by my temps.  My progesterone was just too low.  And I don't have any progesterone problems whatsoever.  Everyone is different.  I know someone who got pregnant when their baby was only 8 months old and she BFed.  But that is rare.  Our fertility being MIA while nursing, is the body's natural way of spacing out children.  I read up on this a lot when I decided to do it.

Don't worry.  It will happen when the time is right.  Good luck though!  I have an article I can probably PM you.  It will probably star it out on here.
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676143 tn?1312941771
Well, I will tell you how it worked out for me.  I breastfed my son until he was 10 months old - my goal was one year.  At 4 months old, we started him on rice cereal, then 5 months with the various fruits/veggies, 7-8 months w/meats, and so forth.  At 9 months old, I got pregnant, and of course didn't know until he was 10 months old - a month later, when I didn't get my period back!  
Oh, I forgot to mention, I had a period each month from when he was 6 months old.  That was when we started giving him "food" and nursing slightly less.  I got a period each month for 4 months in a row, and then no period and took a pregnancy test when it was late.  I'm now almost 30 weeks pregnant.
By that point, my milk had almost dried up, I think, because I wasn't taking in enough calories to support breast feeding AND pregnancy.  I have read you need an extra 300 calories for each of those, so 600 total in a day!  I certainly wasn't eating near that much extra - if any extra at all.  I never had made A LOT of milk, certainly never made extra, so we did supplement with formula pretty much from 6 weeks old and on - some days he'd get an extra feeding or two of formula.  This was mainly because I had to pump when I went back to teaching when he was 6 weeks old and I didn't get a lot of milk when I did that.  Also, since by that point, he was only down to nursing once a day at night, I didn't make a lot anymore anyways.
I guess my point is, every woman is different - for me, I was nursing and got my period back and it stayed regular until I got pregnant by surprise (we weren't trying, but weren't preventing very well either - lol).  As the other women have said, sometimes it takes longer to get your cycles back, especially if you are mainly breastfeeding still.  I read that usually once you cut back on the feedings, and are feeding the baby  real "food", that's usually when your periods will come back regularly.  
Helpful - 0
1536705 tn?1324329047
am sorry i dont know anything about this lol but i noticed your daughters name :)
our name for a boy is caelan which is very similar, love it x
Helpful - 0
287246 tn?1318570063
With regard to what angela said....My comments were really about exclusively BFing.  If you are supplementing, that would be different and your fertility would return more quickly.
Helpful - 0
492921 tn?1321289896
I'm exclusively BFing, She has been getting solids for about 2 months now. Just the last 2 weeks we upped it to 2 times a day instead of just breakfast.

I guess I will have to just wait and see what happens and how she is doing with night time feedings by then.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I think it's different for every woman.  When I was breastfeeding my daughter my cycles didn't return until she was about 9 months.  My sister in law was breastfeeding her 8 month old when she got pregnant unexpectedly.  The taste of the milk can change while you are pregnant and some babies/toddlers don't like it.  My SIL's daughter weaned herself a few weeks ago (at 15 months).  My SIL is due next month.     Good luck!!
Helpful - 0
676143 tn?1312941771
That is true what Michele said, that since I supplemented and he was on solids for most of the day by the time he weaned himself off breast milk, it was a little different for me.  But I figured I'd throw my story out there anyways, in case it helped. :-)
Helpful - 0
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