really, does breastfeeding help with not getting pregnant?

[jrabbit]

I ask this with the utmost sincerity. I keep reading/hearing friends/others who "get" pregnant "unintentionally" within the first 4-8 months of their baby's birth. (or sooner)

Me, personally, I nurse round the clock, on demand, cosleep, child led weaning some time after 6 months - and cycle didn't return til 15-18 months post partum after first 2 babies. Currently, DD3 is 7 months old, we don't know if we want another baby, but due to ppd, we're currently abstinent. But I have no intention of taking birth control, so we will eventually be pretty much counting on a long infertility - we "counted" days of my very regular cycles, and my daughters are 4-5 years apart.

Just trying to wrap my brain around "how" nursing moms are ALREADY pregnant again!

--janis

[Heba]

Breastfeeding can, if certain conditions are met, prevent conception (98% contraceptive cover) . These conditions are:

- the mother is fully breastfeeding her child (with no supplements or with no more than 1-2 mouthfuls of any other food/drink per day).
- no more than 4 hours during the day, and 6 hours at night, elapses between feeds
- the baby is younger than 6 months old
- the mother has not started menstruating again

In addition, various studies have found that:

- expression of milk is not as effective as actual breastfeeding at preventing conception (95% percent effective) (Valdes; Labbok; both reported in The Breastfeeding Answer Book).
- contraception is extended past 6 months to 9 months if criteria 2-4 above are met, and if solids are only offered to the baby after his/hunger has been satiated by breastmilk (Cooney, also in The Breastfeeding Answer Book).
- night-feeding can slow the return to fertility (Kelly Bonyata, on the Kellymom website).

Check out http://kellymom.com/store/handouts/newborn/LAM.pdf for more info.

[Youngfrankenstein]

I got pregnant with my second when my first was 6 months old. I was EBF him. He just slept long stretches at night by that time.

If you don't want to get pregnant, you must take precautions not to. If you "aren't worried about it" then you may see delayed fertility from bf and that's normal.

[zoebugsmom]

Depends on the woman. My mom got pregnant while breastfeeding 3 times. My older sisters and brothers are each a year apart in age. A buddy of mine got pregnant unexpectedly while breastfeeding, too, so her oldest are only a year or so apart.

On the other hand, my fertility doesn't seem to come back until my babes are @ 15 months. We're still careful just in case because you never really know.

[fruitfulmomma]

Just trying to wrap my brain around "how" nursing moms are ALREADY pregnant again!

Because just like every other method of birth control, breastfeeding is not a 100% guarantee.

One of my friends has always exclusively bf'ed around the clock, no pacifiers, no supplements, done everything 'right' and she still gets her cycle back within a month or two of giving birth. Her children are pretty closely spaced together.

I got my cycle back after my first one around 6 months. After my last three girls it was all closer to a year or more, probably because I was nursing two at a time by then. It still takes me several months after the return of menses for me to become pregnant.

Everyone is different.

[100%mom]

I thought it was funny but I had just read "Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing" and then found out that I was pg with my third child. During the day my baby was nursing every hour and at night at least once or twice. I didn't give him any pacifiers or bottles and he wasn't eating solids yet. He was nine months when I got pg again. I also didn't get my period back.

[bender]

Of the women in the LLL meeting I went to who had multiple kids, all of them got pregnant while breastfeeding. It's not a scientific study, but if you don't want anohter baby, use a condom or other birth control.

[Sharlla]

I got AF back at 8 weeks (so did my SIL) so no in my case it would not help with not getting PG.

[jrabbit]

just to clarify - I'm not worried about my own fertility - just trying to understand how so many women are able to get pregnant using a premise that breastfeeding will prevent it.

It *does* work for me. But obviously does *not* work for others. It's a good thing it works for me because I've been really happy with the child-spacing we've got.

Again, this question is not meant to criticize anyone.

--janis

[Youngfrankenstein]

I didn't think you were being critical. I know there are scientific principles that may delay fertility while breastfeeding. Sometimes I think women get this idea that it's way more of a guarantee and it's not. I just don't anyone to make any "life altering" decisions based on hoping they are one of the ones who has "immunity".

[mamazee]

There is no guarantee, and since every baby is different, this will be different every time. Like, my #1 nursed every hour and a half for two years. It was a long time before I started my period again with her. But #2 went a 5-hour-stretch at night almost right away, and sure enough I got my period back just after a few weeks. Also different moms are different. If your body thinks you can support another baby, you might very well start menstruating again. Or get pregnant before you start menstruating, since menstruation happens 2 weeks after ovulation so if you get pregnant that first time there's no period yet.

[seafox]

Originally Posted by Heba

Breastfeeding can, if certain conditions are met, prevent conception (98% contraceptive cover) . These conditions are:

- the mother is fully breastfeeding her child (with no supplements or with no more than 1-2 mouthfuls of any other food/drink per day).
- no more than 4 hours during the day, and 6 hours at night, elapses between feeds
- the baby is younger than 6 months old
- the mother has not started menstruating again

In addition, various studies have found that:

- expression of milk is not as effective as actual breastfeeding at preventing conception (95% percent effective) (Valdes; Labbok; both reported in The Breastfeeding Answer Book).
- contraception is extended past 6 months to 9 months if criteria 2-4 above are met, and if solids are only offered to the baby after his/hunger has been satiated by breastmilk (Cooney, also in The Breastfeeding Answer Book).
- night-feeding can slow the return to fertility (Kelly Bonyata, on the Kellymom website).

Check out http://kellymom.com/store/handouts/newborn/LAM.pdf for more info.

well dude, 98%? I'd like to know how in all hell I got my period at 6 weeks after birth!!!! I am nursing round the clock, DS has at most maybe given me three 4 hour stretches since he was born, its usually 3 hours at the max, and only one in a 24 hour period, I nurse usually every two hours or less like clockwork. I'm cosleeping, he's not eating anything else, I'm even pumping some since I am trying to build up a freezer stash to go back to work. (so it was an extra 2oz a day for the last few weeks)

I certainly am not going to take a chance, im going on the minipill. my ob/gyn said i must be "super fertile" given that I have all the other signs of super low estrogen (thin walled vagina, etc)

ah well. at least it was short (three days)

[jrabbit]

DD1 nursed constantly around the clock for a year, started dabbling in "food" at about 11 months, nursed til she was 3
DD2 nursed for 5-15 minutes every 3-4 hours from day one! she was starving for "food" at 5 months, and started eating at 6 months. she was so voracious that we actually gave in with jarred baby food. she nursed til she was nearly 3.
period started about 15-18 months with each.

DD3 is 7 months old now - and shows no interest in foods. I'm 42, and we haven't decided if we want another baby - but if we do, it will need to be sooner than I really "want". And it will likely be an "accident". We'll discuss it eventually.

[Heba]

Originally Posted by seafox

well dude, 98%? I'd like to know how in all hell I got my period at 6 weeks after birth!!!!

Note that one of the conditions for 98% contraceptive cover is mum not yet menstruating again. The 98% is not the likelihood of your period not returning (and even it was, there's always that 2%...some people have to fall in this category...). So, err, I don't know why you got your period after 6 weeks; should I?

[seafox]

Originally Posted by Heba

Note that one of the conditions for 98% contraceptive cover is mum not yet menstruating again. The 98% is not the likelihood of your period not returning (and even it was, there's always that 2%...some people have to fall in this category...). So, err, I don't know why you got your period after 6 weeks; should I?

yeah I reread that and saw that - but that seems like a weird copout for a statistic I guess - sure its unlikely you'll conceive if you aren't menstruating - whether its cause you are breastfeeding or because you aren't eating enough or because you are ammenorrheic for whatever reason - its not surprising that its 98%. Although I guess you could get it back at any time.

I guess I was just wondering why so many folks didn't get their periods for 15 months when I got mine right away! I only stopped PP bleeding 2 weeks ago. Kind of a bummer.

[Limabean1975]

Seafox, you may actually not have your period back. There is something called a "sixth week bleed" that seems like a period, but is not, that some women get. I think any bleeding within 56? or 60? (can't recall) days post-partum is still considered pp bleeding (even if bleeding stopped then re-started).

I googled a bunch when I had what sure seemed like a period at 6 weeks (fresh blood, 4-5 days, heavy), and that's what I read.

It COULD be your period, but it might not be! I'm thinking mine wasn't since I'm now 11 weeks pp and no sign of another period.

[BMG580]

Originally Posted by fruitfulmomma

Because just like every other method of birth control, breastfeeding is not a 100% guarantee.

One of my friends has always exclusively bf'ed around the clock, no pacifiers, no supplements, done everything 'right' and she still gets her cycle back within a month or two of giving birth. Her children are pretty closely spaced together.

This is me. I've gotten pregnant twice (3x actually counting a chemical) while breastfeeding. My only non-bfing conception was my first pregnancy!

[hdeering]

I don't have too much personal experience, but my siblings and I were spaced using BF. We are all 3 years apart. My mom's AF didn't return till the kids were 2 or so. It's all about how your body does things, I guess. My grandmother (on dad's side) had 18 kids and I'm sure she BF, but I think the spacing was a bit closer with them!

[pollyanna123]

I got my period back when DD was 10 months old after a very brief nightweaning attempt.

DS is almost 16 months old and I have no sign of my fertility. He still nurses quite a bit, night and day, but I'm also tandem nursing.

It's a good thing we wanted to put more space between #2 and #3 because at this point I may not have a choice!

[tireesix]

From what I have read, when done correctly, using breast feeding as a contraceptive is 98% effective but only for the first 6-9 months.

I have to agree with someone I spoke too ages ago about NFP and LAM. It is 98% effective, you do have women who truly accidentally get pregnant while using this method but then you also get women who have the oooops, accidental but not accidental pregnancy who say they accidentally got pregnant on such a method but actually did it on purpose.

You get this with ALL contraception though, the true accidents and the fake accidents, its just a bit harder to have a fake accident when you are using hormone tablets.

I always say DD2 was an accident but I kinda wanted to get pregnant and may have been more lax than usual that month with regards to my NFP.