extended nursing and regular cycles

[transylvania_mom]

I'm posting this here because it's the main place where I can find moms of 4 or 5 y/o nurslings, I hope it doesn't get moved.
My question is: how soon in your nursing relationship did your cycles get back to normal?
My son will be 4 y/o in February, and although he nurses once a day now, and my cycles went somewhat back to normal, I still have anovulatory cycles now and then.
I googled extended nursing & TTC, and all I get is sites about how to wean 1 y/o babies in order to get pregnant
Any advice or BTDT stories are very welcome.
Thanks

[CaraboosMama]

Ok - not a 4/5 year old nursling BUT - I had no problem getting pregnant w/ ds when I was still nursing 20 mth old dd (and she continued to nurse throughout most of the pregnancy). With both of my kids, my cycles went back to normal within a month of starting solids. We did not actively try to conceive until DD was 18 mths because we didn't want her to wean that early.

So, I guess what I am saying is....since you are nursing such a small amt. I would think that the anovulatory cycles might not be related to the nursing? Maybe someone else knows things you can do to boost fertility that won't interfere w/ nursing? Zinc is the first thing that came to mind, but then I think that may be related to male fertility

[JamieCatheryn]

My cycles returned, regular except a couple odd cycles early on, at 14 months just a bit after he started going through the night without nursing. I always noticed signs of ovulation having occurred. I too would suspect if you're down to once a day, nursing isn't the cause of the anovulatory cycles. Low body fat, stress, exertion, change of routine, anything like that around time to O might prevent it. Any other causes you can think of in your life, especially those particular months?

[Sharlla]

My periods were normal at 12 weeks PP.

[broodymama]

Around a year for me, then pregnant again by the time the younger nursling was 14-16 months.

[Eman'smom]

6 months
4 months
6 months

[SereneBabe]

I got my period back at around 3 years, maybe closer to 2.5. I wasn't charting, though, so I don't know if I was ovulating then. I do know it took the next several years for me to get really regular and have any sign of fertile cervical fluid. We tried off and on getting pregnant since my daughter was 2.5 ish (when I got my period back) and she's 5.5 now and I'm due in May.

Never in a million years would I force my child to stop nursing, though, just because I wanted to get pregnant.

[transylvania_mom]

Thanks for replying.
SereneBaby, did your first stop nursing when you got your period back?

[~PurityLake~]

I voted soon after birth. Unfortunately, my cycle returned within exactly 8 weeks of birth with both of my daughters. They both still nurse now. The oldest doesn't nurse daily, but my youngest nurses throughout the day and a few times during the night still.

[menomena]

The first time, it came back at 9m but didn't get ovulatory until 12ish months. I didn't get a "good" ovulation w/a long enough LP until 16ish months. We concieved once I got a "good" O with a 12 day LP. I was taking Cal/Mg and a B-complex to help my LP lengthen. (It seems to have worked, but it could have been hormones?) I was nursing throughout the day and several times at night at that point. With DD1, though, I used a pacifier until I got pregnant (and she started rejecting me in favor of the binkie, even though she only used it at night, so I took away binkie and now I've been tandeming for 19m lol).

The second time, it hasn't come back, at all yet. We're at just over 19m. No pacifiers at all. Nursing several times day & night, plus nursing DD1 once or twice a day. I've also lost about 35lbs (below pre-preg weight), so I'm assuming that has something to do with it. This time we are in no hurry to TTC at the moment, so I'm okay with it. The only part is that it's sort of a pita to CTA with just CM & CP.

Is it possible that you aren't getting anov cycles, but just really loooong cycles - like delayed O? Do you know what your LP is like? If you had a few more details about exactly what was going on during both your "regular" and "irregular" cycles, maybe you could see what the difference was (more stress? more nursing? less sleep? etc) and try to "correct" the irregular cycles by mimicing the regular ones.

I agree with PP, though, that I would have a really hard time weaning just to get pregnant again. Besides the fact that it would probably be difficult & traumatic if the child wasn't ready, I think it would just invite stress into the pregnancy and new-baby period if there was that jealousy about *having* to wean *because* of the baby. (I'm not saying you're doing this or thinking this way, OP, just clarifying my position I guess. )

[transylvania_mom]

Thanks all for replying. Keep them coming!
PurityLake, my af came back soon after birth too, but I had super long cycles (sometimes 4-6 months). If you don't mind my asking, were your cycles regular from the very beginning?

Menomena, I'm charting now and using OPKs. My cycles are around 40 days and I know that my September and October cycles were ovulatory (with a 7 day LP), but this one is clearly not. I had a lot of stress this month, we bought our first house (trips to the bank, moving etc.) and I'm eating a lot of junk (mostly sweets) although I have a good BMI. I just can't believe that stress and eating can have such a great influence on my cycles, I always believed I handle stress well.

My ds would definitely not be stressed by a new baby, he's almost 4 and sometimes talks about a brother or sister.

I would really like to avoid going to my GP; last time he said he can't help me until I wean.

Thanks for reading, I've never written so much about myself on a forum before.

Happy new year to you:

[crystleyz42]

Same question --- how long does it take?

I was just lurking in the Message Boards with the same question. We're TTC #2 in Spring but my cycles aren't regular yet and I'm wondering if it's gonna happen.

I'm really not nursing DD (2.5 yo) that much -- we're down to about 5 minutes before nap and 5 minutes before bedtime. Maybe once every two weeks we'll add a morning nurse if Mommy wants to sleep in. I really don't want to wean DD -- she's not ready to give up the ritual of nursing before bed, and neither am I.

I really didn't think that nursing so little would be affecting my cycles -- but since I had my IUD removed in July, I've only ovulated 3x and my cycles are LOOONG. Changes in cervical fluid don't sync up with the ovulations (or lack thereof) either. Things are so irregular that I can't establish a pattern.

I'm trying to sort out if this irregularity is due to nursing or some other medical problem that needs attention. PCOS runs in the family and symptoms are similar.

Peace,
--- Elise

[3pink1blue]

DD2 self weaned at 37 months. AF returned at 10 weeks pp, and cycles appeared to be regular, but all the bleeding was anovulatory (we were ttc.) I didn't start O'ing until DD was around 2.

[SereneBabe]

Originally Posted by transylvania_mom

Thanks for replying.
SereneBaby, did your first stop nursing when you got your period back?

Oh, no. I didn't stop nursing until last week (she's almost 5.5).

:-)

[mammal_mama]

With dd1, my cycles resumed when she was 21 months old, but I don't think they got regular 'til sometime after she was 3. Also, when she was 3 I had this really weird, crazy-heavy period (after not having one for about 3 months) that started out like an avalanche -- it was so similar to the miscarriage I had last March (when dd 2 was just turning 3) that I've realized it was actually a miscarriage, even though my pregnancy tests that previous time had been negative.

Anyhow, I got pregnant with dd2 shortly after dd1's 4th birthday. By the time this happened, dd1's nursing sessions had become very far apart -- basically just 1-2 times a day and sometimes she wouldn't nurse for a whole 24 hours.

My cycles resumed with dd2 when she was 30 months old, and seemed pretty regular right away. However, I've never tested to see if I was/am ovulating, so I don't know about that.

Since I've had 2 miscarriages, and they both happened when I had a 3yo nursling, I'm guessing that there's a period of time during which I'm fertile enough to ovulate and conceive, but not to sustain a pregnancy. So, while the suckling itself never triggered contractions or bleeding or anything, I guess a certian frequency of nursing creates a hormonal-balance (and uterine climate?) that's not conducive to pregnancy.

That said, I nursed my older dd for as long as she wanted to nurse, and I'll do the same with my younger dd. Best wishes to you, I know it's so hard to wait when you want to be pregnant!

[~PurityLake~]

Originally Posted by transylvania_mom

PurityLake, my af came back soon after birth too, but I had super long cycles (sometimes 4-6 months). If you don't mind my asking, were your cycles regular from the very beginning?

My cycles were only slightly longer, and heavier post pregnancy. Instead of being an avg of 28 days, they were 31. I became pregnant with my second daughter while on two forms of birth control when my first daughter was only 5 months old.

After my second was born, I chose to go with the non-hormonal IUD for birth control. Ever since then, my cycles have stayed around every 29-30 days and are still as heavy as they ever were. (it has always been an uncomfortable time of the month for me when my uterus cleans house, ever since I started at the age of 11).

[Danidama]

My period came back when dd was 29 months old (last June) and my cycles are regular now, as of November. It's like clockwork now! Right in the midst of period week atm, urg.

[Bensmommy]

Like clock-work since 6-8wk postpartum (both times), though good cervical mucous didn't come until around 3months/6months with each, so I think the ovulation may have been goofy (wasn't charting), but the periods were always regular.

I have had a couple of long cycles with DD (still nursing), but none required intervention. I just always chalked it up to stress, etc.

[milkybean]

I had regular cycles from about 6 months (first period was at around 4 months), and from charting and a monitor I know I've been ovulating, but there's been no pregnancy (despite trying from 9 months on), so that's my full answer.

[Biscuits & Gravy]

My cycles came back just after a year when I dropped pumping sessions at work. They were pretty regular right away. I got pregnant when DS was 21 months old, miscarried, then got pg again 2 cycles later. I nursed DS until he was 26.5 months when he self weaned.