Irregular Cycling?

[@llli*stina884]

Hi Gals! My first time posting!
I'm hoping someone else has experienced something similar to my situation- I am EBFing (no pump), my 4.5 month old. He recently started sleeping longer stretches at night, so last month I had a period, which didn't 100% surprise me. Well, I "should've" had another already, and I haven't.

Could I be pregnant, or is this to be considered normal? Thanks ladies!

[@llli*mommal]

You could be pregnant, or this could be a normal variation- breastfeeding can cause your cycles to be longer/shorter/heavier/lighter than your pre-pregnancy norm, especially for the first few cycles you have. I'd take a test, though.

Have you been using contraception, or are you okay with the idea of your children being very closely spaced? One reason I ask is that most women either lose their milk supply completely or see a drastic supply reduction during pregnancy. If you're not pregnant and don't want to take the chance of losing supply for your current baby, contraception is a good idea at this point! We're always happy to talk about what contraceptives work for breastfeeding moms, and which ones to avoid.

[@llli*stina884]

Thanks! We decided we want to just "let things happen".... I recently got TCOYF, but I hear its hard to NFP while nursing. I don't mind babies being close in age, but I don't want to compromise any of their nursing relationships. I'm starting to wonder if I should start pumping to build supply "just in case"?

[@llli*mommal]

If you're already pregnant, pumping is unlikely to do anything for you. If pregnancy makes your supply tank, all the pumping and/or nursing in the world isn't going to solve that problem. You just have to make your peace with using some amount of donor milk (if you're really lucky and can get your hands on it) or formula.

If you're not pregnant, I personally think that the best thing you can do is to use birth control until your baby is a lot closer to a year, and less dependent on your milk. Fertility awareness methods can be a bit unreliable when a mom is breastfeeding and waking up at unpredictable times, because those wake-ups can affect your basal body temp. But FAM is still usable and works pretty well for a lot of nursing moms. If you decide on a more conventional type of birth control, all the barrier methods (male condom, female condom, diaphragm, cervical cap, sponge, spermicide) work well for nursing moms, since they don't impact supply.

If birth control just isn't in your plan right now, then you certainly could pump and build up a stash just in case you got pregnant and lost supply. But that's a HUGE amount of work for something that might or might not happen. I personally wouldn't want to go down that road- I'd rather use birth control! But that's me, and you're you.

[@llli*stina884]

Thanks! Got a test last night and it was negative. So, I'm kind of hoping that may also mean I'm not ovulating. I was considering getting an ovulation predictor test so we knew for sure, but I think we will just be a little careful for now. If this were happening after he was 6 mths, I'd feel muuuuuch better. So, hopefully it doesn't happen until then. Lol.

[@llli*bfwmomof3]

Hi mama, my LO is 13.5 months and my periods are still irregular. Like you, I resumed menstruating fairly early after each of my pregnancies (totally unfair, in my opinion! but that's life), but each time my cycles have been irregular while still breastfeeding. I would assume that you ARE ovulating if you've had a period, the difficult thing is that if your periods are going to be irregular for the time being, all bets are off as to when you will next ovulate, you know? I mean, you could ovulate any time now... or in two weeks... or in a month.

[@llli*mommal]

I would assume that you ARE ovulating if you've had a period, the difficult thing is that if your periods are going to be irregular for the time being, all bets are off as to when you will next ovulate, you know?

I'd read through TCOYF now. While breastfeeding and night-waking can throw off basal body temp, they don't alter your other fertility signs (e.g. cervical position, mucus, and openness). Watching out for those fertility signs could help you figure out whether or not you're very likely to be ovulating, or just likely.

[@llli*stina884]

Makes sense. Thanks gals!