Almost 27 months w/o fertility

[newcastlemama]

Hello mamas,

I have offically gone 3 years without a peroid but now I would like to get pregnant again. DD is almost 27 months old. She has been nightweaned since about 3-4 months ago (except when she was sick).

Anyway, what is the upper limit for nursing and infertility? Any stories/experiences?

Thanks!

[tinybutterfly]

I found this. Hope it helps.

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/normal/fertility.html

[Bald_Bull's_Mama]

Hey Newcastle, I am in the exact same boat as you are! DS is 27 months, but he hasn't night weaned yet. In fact, he still nurses numerous times each night. I was feeling a little freakish, honestly, and contacted someone from my AP group who teaches NFP. She shared this info with me:

The Couple to Couple League conducted two studies of women practicing what they would call ecological breastfeeding (this is basically no pacifiers, no limiting nursing, nursing on demand, no introduction of other substance before six months of age, cosleeping, no bottles). Here are the results:

Months of Ammenorrhea Number of Women Percent of experiences
1-6 7 7%
7-12 36 37%
13-18 32 33%
19-24 15 15%
25-30 8 8%

Another thing to note, after twelve months or month of lactational ammenorhea, the chances of you ovulating BEFORE AF returns increase as time goes on. You will be able to tell if you ovulate by observing your cervical mucus and your cervical position.

This made me feel a lot better, actually. And a few weeks ago, I got some spotting. I may also have felt myself ovulate. So, we're actively trying now.

I hope that this at least help you feel less alone.

[monica3674]

I went 28 months without a period with DD1. I started taking Vitex (chastetree berry extract) to try to get it back and to improve my egg quality. My period finally returned in December 2007, but my cycle was quite irregular. I kept with the vitex and took pregnancy prep (a supplement.) (All the while nursing.)

I had a chemical pregnancy in March of 09 and then got pregnant in August of 08. DD2 was born in April 09.

Good Luck!

[Elecampane]

I didn't get my period back until DD1 was 23 months and it took exactly a year after that to get pregnant. My cycles were super short that whole year--like 21-23 days. I took vitex, B6, and evening primrose oil the last few months before I finally conceived. Honestly I think what did it was being apart from my (avid three year old) nursling for a weekend. I don't think I would have ovulated otherwise.
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[SAHMinHawaii]

I got my period back after 8 years I have 3 children, i've also been breastfeeding 8.5 years straight. The second conception my dd was 15 months old and nursing. we wanted to conceive so I started taking vitex and I got pregnant that month! Third pregnancy my second dd was over 2 years of age and nursing still and we caught the first egg. It is very rare it seems but it is very possible to go a very long time without having a period and still conceive!
Good luck mama.

[newcastlemama]

Thanks for the replies

We are down to nursing just for bedtime so we will see what happens. I have had 2 scant spottings in the past month and my midwife thinks my body is just trying to get back into the swing of things. I feel at peace now with waiting to get pregnant because I realized need some recovery sleep after getting dd through babyhood.

[JMJ]

I'd agree with your midwife that your body is trying. The CCL study (Shiela Kippley, actually, who is no longer with CCL but NFP international), they took out a couple of outliers close to 3 and 4 years before first postpartum bleeding. In traditional cultures, births are usually about 3-4 years apart.

[boatbaby]

I went 33 months without a cycle. And then it was all crazy from then on anyhow (really short, really long, skipping months). DS weaned himself completely at age 5 (we never night weaned) and I got pregnant 6 months later.

[SeekingSerenity]

Just chiming in to say my youngest is going to be 25 months next week and I still have had no sign of PP AF. I'm not trying to conceive, though, so I am not particularly worried about it. I have thought about it from time to time, since with my other children, 18 months was as long as I went before AF arrived, even with nursing. But this baby nurses more during the night, and also during the day, at this age than any of my others - and he's nursed the longest too, come to think of it. DS2 weaned just before age 2 (because I was already 4 months pregnant) and DD3 weaned at 18 months (because I went back to work). So if AF wants to wait another whole year, hey, that's fine with me!

[annettemarie]

Moving to Fertility.

[LaurieG]

With DS2 I went 24 months, until he night weaned. With DD it was 30 months and she was nursing inconsistently in the night. But I do think I might have ovulated a time or 2 before that. Not sure how that works but I did notice clear O symptoms a few times and was surprised not to being a period.