TTC for 'extended' breastfeeders...

ckk8584

My sweet, sweet boy is 19 months old & still nursing....he nurses on demand throughout the night (we cosleep).  He takes a bottle at naptime at daycare still & he loves to nurse when we get home from work & school.  He certainly isn't showing any signs of weaning yet.  My AF returned at 14 months pp.  My husband & I would like to start TTC again but I'm not sure I'm ovulating.  I haven't had any eggwhite cervical fluid in my cycles since they've returned.  Last month I used OPKs and they were positive like 8 or 9 days in a row, indicating maybe that my body is trying and trying to ovulate, but isn't??  It seems like maybe the continued nursing is still too much hormonal interference to allow my body to ovulate?  Has anyone here had to make the choice between continuing to breastfeed or stopping to TTC another baby?  I was hoping it would be a decision I didn't have to make....Any advice, suggestions welcomed!!  

aylafsu88

I was charting when AF returned as we were thinking about TTC.  I used OPKs and temped. I will say the first few cycles were really weird.  I ovulated late (like 22 days) and had really short luteal phases. Over time I began to ovulate earlier and my luteal phase lengthened again.  I would say around 4 months I was back to my pre-baby cycle. 8 or 9 days of positives seems like a lot with OKPs. Are you reading them correctly? If you are using Wondofros then a line is not necessarily a positive. The test line has to be darker than the control line for it to be positive.  I see double lines for days but only have 1 day of real positives.
If you are not doing so already I would add temping into the mix. It will let you know if you actually ovulated or if your body was just gearing up to ovulate.
 It seems like your body is gearing up/is ovulating so I would think there is no reason why you have to wean to TTC. 
GL!

camedowncrushing

At 18 months I thought I was ovulating because my nipples felt really tender while nursing.  I had not had a period yet at that point.  I confirmed with an OPK.  I ended up getting a positive HPT two weeks later, but it must have been a missed miscarriage because the next day when I tested again the line was barely there...and then it was gone.  Then I got my period.  About 30 days later my nipples were tender again, and I once again confirmed with an OPK.  I got pregnant, and I am now 10 days away from my DD. 

ncbelle

Definitely possible you aren't ovulating - temping would tell you for sure so I'd recommend doing that.  If it turns out you aren't, it may just be a matter of time.  Another option would be to partially wean (say night wean) - for many women, going a long time between nursing sessions will trigger ovulation (did for me).   I night weaned my oldest when I was TTC and that did the trick - caught the first egg.  With my second, I was still night nursing some when my cycle came back around 22 months.

natalie202

Completely agree that temping would be a good next step. It took me 5-6 cycles to get back to "normal". Two were anovulatory, and then I has a pattern of late ovulation and short luteal phases for a few months.

erin_asay

We are trying to conceive #2 also and I haven't had my first postpartum AF yet. DS is 20 months old and i still BF 3 times a day, but i'll be weaning him from the mid-day feeding at the end of this month so maybe that will trigger AF for me. I don't want to wean him just to get pregnant though. It'll happen when it happens. Good luck to you