What were your cycles like when they came back while BFing?

[BunnyN]

I got my period back in January when LO was 8 months old and we are TTC but my cycles have been long and irregular and it seems I have a short luteal phase. LO still feeds frequently so I'm wondering if I just need a few cycles to get back to normal or if it's not going to happen until she feeds less.

I know they say anything is normal when it comes to cycles and BFing but I wondered what experience you ladies have had? How long did you have irregular cycles for and how much was LO feeding etc?

 

[ScotchEgg]

I've only had one so far at 4 months whilst ebf, nothing since ( now almost 6 months). Sorry I can't help beyond that

 

[SaraLouise]

I ebfed for 9 weeks & combi fed from then til 6 months. I got the odd day of bleeding here & there but my first proper period didn't come til a month after I stopped feeding completely, even though at the end I was only doing 1 feed a day. Think everyone is just different hun, sorry I cant be more helpful!

 

[Goat]

I ebf'd for 13 months. Periods came back at 8 months and we started ttc'ing at 11 months.
I started tracking my cycles from around 9 months and they were really odd. They started off around 40 days and got shorter each month. My luteal phase started off as two days and then went to 6 and then to 10 where it remained. I was also temping and it seemed I would get a temp surge every other month so I wasn't ovulating every month.
So at 11 months in Jan we started ttc and I didn't ovulate that month. Then Feb I ovulated and got a bfp but that soon turned into an early miscarriage. The nurse said it had nothing to do with breastfeeding but I had a gut feeling it had. So the bleeding lasted a couple of weeks and I was still bf'ing. At then end of Feb I was returning to work from mat leave and wanted to stop breastfeeding anyway so I slowly weaned her off. Then in March I ovulated much earlier in my cycle and got pregnant. I'm almost 9 weeks on and fingers crossed it's ok though I've had lots to worry about so far.

I guess everyone's different but I do think breastfeeding slows things down and is natures way of telling you when your older baby is ready to share you with a new sibling. It's bloody frustrating though!

 

[BunnyN]

I ebf'd for 13 months. Periods came back at 8 months and we started ttc'ing at 11 months.
I started tracking my cycles from around 9 months and they were really odd. They started off around 40 days and got shorter each month. My luteal phase started off as two days and then went to 6 and then to 10 where it remained. I was also temping and it seemed I would get a temp surge every other month so I wasn't ovulating every month.
So at 11 months in Jan we started ttc and I didn't ovulate that month. Then Feb I ovulated and got a bfp but that soon turned into an early miscarriage. The nurse said it had nothing to do with breastfeeding but I had a gut feeling it had. So the bleeding lasted a couple of weeks and I was still bf'ing. At then end of Feb I was returning to work from mat leave and wanted to stop breastfeeding anyway so I slowly weaned her off. Then in March I ovulated much earlier in my cycle and got pregnant. I'm almost 9 weeks on and fingers crossed it's ok though I've had lots to worry about so far.

I guess everyone's different but I do think breastfeeding slows things down and is natures way of telling you when your older baby is ready to share you with a new sibling. It's bloody frustrating though!

That sounds very like the pattern I'm following. My first cycle was 39 days and last month was a bit shorter but going by OPKs my LP was only 6 days. I do worry a bit about the posiblility of BFing causing early MC. I know they say BFing is safe but I am convinced that the BFing is playing with my progesterone levels and I wonder how that might effect things until the pregnancy has a chance to establish. Chemical pregnancies are very common though and it's impossible to know what has caused them most of the time. Lots of women have healthy pregnancies while bfing. I was playing with the idea of trying a natural progesterone cream to help lengthen my LP but maybe I should let it take it's own time to sort out. I'm almost 35 and i'd love two more so I feel the presure of time.

 

[Goat]

The only advice I can share with you from experience is don't completley trust those OPKs whilst you're still breastfeeding. They can come up with a dark line or smiley face but that only represents the LH surge. Theres a hormone that breastfeeding gives off that will stop or prevent ovulation from occurring, I can't remember what it's called now, but I found that I would get a strong line for a whole week because my lh would keep surging but the other hormone was preventing the egg from being released. The best way of really tracking it was temping. I knew with certainty whether I had ovulated and when that way.
I felt the same regarding progesterone levels so I'd be really interested to know how the cream helps you? Good luck and keep us posted!!xxx

 

[Nutsyputs]

It took 5 months after feeding for my cycles yo return to normal. They were all over the place.

 

[BunnyN]

It took 5 months after feeding for my cycles yo return to normal. They were all over the place.

Is that 5 months after you stopped feeding, or 5 months after your cycles returned. My cycles have not been back for that long so maybe I'm just being impatient.

 

[BunnyN]

Sorry, double post

 

[BunnyN]

The only advice I can share with you from experience is don't completley trust those OPKs whilst you're still breastfeeding. They can come up with a dark line or smiley face but that only represents the LH surge. Theres a hormone that breastfeeding gives off that will stop or prevent ovulation from occurring, I can't remember what it's called now, but I found that I would get a strong line for a whole week because my lh would keep surging but the other hormone was preventing the egg from being released. The best way of really tracking it was temping. I knew with certainty whether I had ovulated and when that way.
I felt the same regarding progesterone levels so I'd be really interested to know how the cream helps you? Good luck and keep us posted!!xxx

I have noticed I tend to get a couple of almost or could be positive OPKs that are not O. The first month it fooled me but now I keep testing and when I get a darker line I test 3x a day. Doing that I got a really glaringly dark positive last cycle so I counted that one. I'm thinking about temping next cycle but because I don't have a regular sleep scedule I'm not sure how well it will work for me.

 

[Becky1]

My periods returned when lo was 7 mths and still ebf but down to about 4 feeds a day. They are exactly the same as pre pregnancy - 29day cycle, last 6 days and heavy! x

 

[missyeovil]

Mine came back at 8 weeks despite feeding all the time! Think my first cycle was 36 days then 2 in a row that were 28/29 days and then another 30 something day one which is the one I fell pregnant on. So a bit irregular! I was rubbish at doing opk's so no idea when I ovulated! Xx