Sex 3 weeks PP.. Would you be worried?

[Dixielane]

Would you be overly worried about pregnancy if you...

- Were 3 weeks post partum from vaginal birth, with very minimal bleeding still

- Used the withdrawal method, DH did not ejaculate "inside"

- And are exclusively breastfeeding day/night with no bottles


I know BFing is not reliable 100% and neither is withdrawal, but considering I am only 3 wks PP, and all the above, would you be super concerned about pregnancy?

Me and DH had a nice spa resort get away that resulted in a minor whoops, lol. I am looking for reassurance......

[2sweetboysmom]

No worries. Your risk of pregnancy is VERY low. Glad you had a nice get away!

[sarahn4639]

nope, i wouldn't be worried

[Dixielane]

Originally Posted by 2sweetboysmom

No worries. Your risk of pregnancy is VERY low. Glad you had a nice get away!

Can you explain why you think that? Sorry to sound paranoid. It just would help to know what makes you feel this way, maybe I can repeat it to myself to make myself chill out! LOL

DH keeps telling me it would be soooooo unlikely. But you know, he's a man!! LOL

[Dixielane]

Originally Posted by sarahn4639

nope, i wouldn't be worried

Really? Like I asked the other poster, can you tell me why you feel that way?

Thanks ladies.. reassurance helps.. lol I got so worried thinking, oh my gosh, pregnant with a newborn!!?

The resort was nice anyhow.. I hadnt planned on DTD so quick but what do you do when your hubby is being totally romantic at a SPA RESORT? LOL...

[sarahn4639]

Because the odds of you having ovulated yet are extremely, extremely low and coupled with withdrawl (which, with adults who practice it regularly is actually about 85% effective) it makes it even less likely. Seriously, take a deep breath, relax and take a test in 3 weeks to alleviate your worry.

[Dixielane]

Originally Posted by sarahn4639

Because the odds of you having ovulated yet are extremely, extremely low and coupled with withdrawl (which, with adults who practice it regularly is actually about 85% effective) it makes it even less likely. Seriously, take a deep breath, relax and take a test in 3 weeks to alleviate your worry.

Thank you thats exactly what I told myself at first, then of course I asked another baby board and it seemed EVERYONE had a sister, mother, friend etc who got pregnant before 6 wks PP.. LOL

We used withdrawal without fail before my DD was born.. she was not a result of a withdrawal whoopsy, we had her as SOON as we chose NOT to withdrawal!

Plus I am BFing.. which according to the lactation BC method I should be semi safe. I know its not 100%..

[Banana731]

Originally Posted by Dixielane

Plus I am BFing.. which according to the lactation BC method I should be semi safe. I know its not 100%..

if baby is fulfilling all her sucking needs at the breast, and not going longer than 4 hrs between feedings, LAM for BC is 96 or 98% effective for the 1st 6months.

[JennTheMomma]

Nope wouldn't be worried. We resumed DTD shortly after birth.

[Drummer's Wife]

I wouldn't be worried about pregnancy, myself, b/c with all four babies my fertility didn't return until they were close to a year old.

[Smokering]

Agreed. It sounds like you're following the lactational amenorrhea method, which has a pretty high success rate - coupled with withdrawal and the extreme proximity to birth I think you have less cause to be worried than, say, the average woman having sex while on the Pill.

[Jane]

No worries...withdrawl is pretty effective for adults. And LAM is also pretty effective. You get to multiply the failure rates to come up with the method effectiveness. 5% for PnP, 4% for LAM, total is 0.2% yearly failure rate. You're fine.

[Dixielane]

Originally Posted by Smokering

Agreed. It sounds like you're following the lactational amenorrhea method, which has a pretty high success rate - coupled with withdrawal and the extreme proximity to birth I think you have less cause to be worried than, say, the average woman having sex while on the Pill.

Wow you think so? I really love this board -- yall put things into realistic perspective, other baby forums are more along the lines of thinking, if a penis comes near your vagina, BAM YOUR PREGNANT. LOL!


I used the withdrawal method for a while before we TTC, and it worked well 100% until we purposely did not withdrawal - then came baby!

Everyone else keeps telling me not to rely at all on breastfeeding as BC.... but it sounds like theres alot behind why that works. It makes sense..

[Dixielane]

Originally Posted by Apricot

No worries...withdrawl is pretty effective for adults. And LAM is also pretty effective. You get to multiply the failure rates to come up with the method effectiveness. 5% for PnP, 4% for LAM, total is 0.2% yearly failure rate. You're fine.

0.2 failure rate for the two combined?

Thank you.. I am glad to know this.

So technically speaking, for now, we could just rely on PnP, withdrawal and LAM and not worry with condoms. As bad as it sounds, we hate condoms.. lol We both have a hard time using them!!!

Does anyone have more info on LAM and its effectiveness personally? It seems LAM is more of a child spacing method, though, right? I guess it could be BC if it is used with other methods.

[Dixielane]

Originally Posted by JennTheMomma

Nope wouldn't be worried. We resumed DTD shortly after birth.

Thank you.. and you didn't use any particular method?

[Dixielane]

Originally Posted by Banana731

if baby is fulfilling all her sucking needs at the breast, and not going longer than 4 hrs between feedings, LAM for BC is 96 or 98% effective for the 1st 6months.

Thanks...

Yes she is EBF, and I let her nurse just to sooth her, not necessarily just for feeding.

It would make sense BF would be a reasonable BC method - natures built in BC!

Are there are any real solid statistics on LAM? I'd like to show my DH, he would be interested, we both really hate condoms it would be good to know we could just do the combination of the two methods if we wanted without too much worry while I'm PP.

[Ackray]

I WOULD be worried. But that's just me. I had 3 babies under 3 years old.

[mizznicole]

We follow Natural Family Planning, and the first 56 days are considered infertile IF you are exclusively bf-ing. I would suggest finding an instructor or starting to chart to give you some ease of mind!

[mizznicole]

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

Here's a page with stats.

[kltroy]

Here are some peer-reviewed stats on effectiveness of LAM for contraception:

"Women who met the criteria for practicing the
lactational amenorrhea method (LAM) had cumulative
pregnancy rates of 0.9% to 1.2%, which is equivalent to
the protection provided by many nonpermanent contraception
methods."

this quote from:J Midwifery Womens Health. 2010 Jan-Feb;55(1):e1-7.
The use of lactational amenorrhea as a method of family planning in eastern Turkey and influential factors.

The statistic is attributed to this reference:
The World Health Organization multinational study of
breast-feeding and lactational amenorrhea. III. Pregnancy during
breast-feeding. World Health Organization Task Force on Methods
for the Natural Regulation of Fertility. Fertil Steril 1999;
72:431–40.

** note that LAM only works if ALL THREE of the following criteria are met:
1. Baby is less than 6 months old
2. Mother's menstrual cycles have not returned yet
3. Baby is exclusively breastfed (no supplementation or solid food of any kind)

***** ETA: You might also be interested in stats about fertility-awareness based methods for contraception. See the following links:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19264938
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17314078

In a nutshell: if you do it right, this method has a less than 2% unintended pregnancy rate. See the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility for some excellent guidance on this. We used LAM/FAM between our two kids and they were perfectly spaced at 2 years. Now that we're done for the foreseeable future, we did opt for a copper IUD instead.