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Toddlers: 24 Months+
BF with no AF but wanting to conceive
So I have been exclusively BF for 12 months now and I still haven't gotten AF yet. We are ready to start trying for #2 but my question is do you think it's likely I could conceive without weaning completely? I do not want to wean my DD yet if possible but am concerned that I won't be able to get pregnant if I haven't gotten my period yet. Does anyone know if it's likely I could conceive? Also, anyone know a way to see if I'm ovulating without having AF? I am tracking my CM but not sure if that is still a good indicator if you are BF. I used CBEFM while trying to pregnant with #1 but don't know if I can use this while BF since I'm not sure when a "cycle" would start to use it. Anyone have any insight or suggestions? TIA
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Re: BF with no AF but wanting to conceive
I can't answer all your other questions
but I got pregnant while breastfeeding
and we weren't even trying!!
good luck!
I'm confused by all of the short forms....
What I wonder is, if you're still exclusively BFing your baby, what will you do when #2 comes around? Are you planning on breastfeeding them both? If not, you'll have to wean her anyways... wouldn't you?
I don't think you can ovulate without getting your period. So no, I don't think you've been ovulating this whole time and just don't know it. But you theoretically could ovulate today, tomorrow, whenever. So it's always a possibility.
My period came back when I started cutting back on pumping, when DS was 8 mos. But I didn't actually wean him until after I was pg with #2. So I don't think you have to quit BFing entirely.
Ovulation is triggered differently for different women. Some women start when their DC sleeps through the night and others don't start until they wean.
For me, I started to ovulate when DD weaned herself down to 3-4 nursing sessions a day. Apparently, that lowered my milk production enough to trigger ovulation.
I know a few women IRL and lots of women I've met online (in BFing forums) who have conceived while BFing. It will be hard to time it, and your cycles may be irregular at first, but it is certainly possible as soon as you start ovulating.
If it is possible to wean your daughter off of a couple of nursing sessions a day, that might help. You might also find that she starts drinking less as she eats more table food, like my DD did, and you start ovulating without having to do anything. Good luck!
And to answer the PP, you don't have to wean when you get pregnant. It is possible to nurse a newborn and a toddler. It is called tandem nursing.
Re: getting PG while BF'ing - even exclusively - yes, you can, it's possible to get PG while BF'ing...that's why if you don't want to get PG, even when BF'ing, doctor's recommend a back-up method such as the mini-pill.
I don't know what the likelihood is...
Hmmm, I have no idea. You CAN ovulate and then get your first PP AF. Can you ask your OB?
I got PG while nursing, BUT I get my AF back at 6.5 months PP (BOTH times so far) and am EXCLUSIVELY BFing. In fact, I was nursing both girls EVERY 3 hours at 6 months old and still got AF. And on top of that, my cycle went back to normal - every 30 days. It's no wonder I'm having my 3rd kid in 3 years! LOL! I also nurse for a year weaned while PG..........DD#2 was 13.5 months old when I finally stopped BFing, and I was in 2nd trimester with this PG - you don't have to stop BFing.
GL to you!?
I think that since you must necessarily ovulate prior to having AF for the first time, you technically can get pg before AF would come and then the pregnancy would prevent AF from appearing at all.
Maybe you want to get an O predictor? Do they work well when a person is bf? Maybe talk to your obgyn about this?
It totally depends on your body. pp's have given their experiences. Mine is that DD will be 16 months on Saturday and I still have not had a pp AF. We've been down to two nursing sessions/day for almost five months now, but apparently, that's enough to suppress my fertility.
We have been ready to try for #2 for months, and we're not avoiding. I know I could get pregnant at any time. One of my friends recently got pregnant while nursing, without having a pp AF.
Is it "likely?" Well, yes -- you will ovulate again at some point, before you get AF, and if you have sex around that time, it is likely that you will get pregnant. It just might not be anytime soon
It's highly unlikely that you are ovulating without having AF, but you can track CM and temp if you want to know for sure. My temps have been consistently in the high 96's/low 97's and I'm consistently either sticky or dry, so I'm pretty darn sure I'm not ovulating.
You could use CBEFM if you wanted. Again, you will ovulate at some point, and CBEFM should be able to catch that. You may just waste a lot of test strips before you get that positive. I'm at 100+ days of temping right now with no signs of ovulation.
My strategy? We have sex when we feel like it. We don't when we don't. I temp reasonably regularly, but I don't care if I skip some days (or weeks) here and there. I am prepared for it to take a while longer to get AF back, but I also think every morning, "Maybe this will be the morning that I finally see that high temp." I just try to be relaxed about it -- easier said than done!
Good luck!
Oh, and to answer the previous poster's question - Your milk supply goes down and changes taste when you get pregnant, so it's very common for older babies in particular to self-wean once mom gets pregnant. I am hoping that happens
If not, MrsAmers is right that you can tandem nurse.
Mommy to DD1 (June 2007), DS (January 2010), DD2 (July 2012), and The Next One (EDD 3/31/2015)
Most people get their period when they're BFing at some point. I got mine 4 weeks after delivering DD!
I don't know anyway to track ovulation, never did it.