Birth Control Options?

[AmandaBreanne]

I am exclusively breastfeeding and do not want to take the pill or any kind of hormones. Also not a fan of the barrier methods. We used the FAM to get pregnant, but without a period, I cannot chart to avoid getting pregnant.
My baby is sleeping 6-9 hours at night so I know that breastfeeding alone is not going to protect us from getting preggo again.
Any ideas or advice on the options?!

THANK YOU!

[jumpmama]

I am on mirena and love love love it!!! Its been about 3 months now and I have had some bleeding throughout but, after awhile its supposed to level out. Insertion was fine, just like getting a pap done. Some women have a horrible time with mirena but, I think its a small percentage.

I really couldnt be happier (and DP too LOL) we arent paranoid of another pregnancy too soon, anymore.

If anything I have more milk than before. It is estrogen based and so far they say its 100% safe with breastfeeding


**so i must be really tired because I really missed the first line in your post. mirena is slow release estrogen. sorry for waisting your reading time lol**

[funfunkyfantastic]

Well there's always the paragard. It works for some, but not for others. If you have insurance it's great to try it. If not you kinda have to weigh your options cus it is pricey. I didn't have issues with it in the beginning but I have been having increasing low back pain with it, so i'm having mine removed. But as a non hormonal birth control option it works great.

Other than that... i'm still tryin to figure out what i'm gonna do once I have mine removed!

[Smokering]

What's your BIP like? If it's dry, would you be comfortable observing your CM and maybe cervical position to detect the impending return of your fertility? Taking Charge of Your Fertility has a chapter on charting after childbirth, I believe; it's tricky, but not (at least for some women) impossible. After all, if there's no fertile-quality cervical fluid present to sustain and carry the sperm, they can't cause any mischief...

Barring hormonal and barrier methods I'm not sure you have a whole lot of options, other than FAM or some pretty alternative stuff like your husband taking neem (which I don't know much about, and am not recommending!).

[jodi5]

You can chart cm as your body is likely to make several attempts prior to ovulation. There is a book on charting cm after childbirth put out by couple to couple leaugue. It actually is quite good. You can also use a fertility monitor like clear blue easy to do the Marquette method. The website has a lot of good info there. I am charting and using the monitor. I was able to get my monitor on ebay and the test strips a lot cheaper than locally. I still get nervous but less so as I continue to see the signs my body is giving me.

[mommyin2008]

Originally Posted by Smokering

What's your BIP like? If it's dry, would you be comfortable observing your CM and maybe cervical position to detect the impending return of your fertility? Taking Charge of Your Fertility has a chapter on charting after childbirth, I believe; it's tricky, but not (at least for some women) impossible. After all, if there's no fertile-quality cervical fluid present to sustain and carry the sperm, they can't cause any mischief...

Barring hormonal and barrier methods I'm not sure you have a whole lot of options, other than FAM or some pretty alternative stuff like your husband taking neem (which I don't know much about, and am not recommending!).

what the heck is this? i've never heard of it before? enlighten me please...

to the OP...would your husband care to pull out/withdraw? Would you be OK with relying on that? Trusting him to get out in time, etc? I know its not as reliable as birth control and some men dont prefer to pull out, but my hubby doesnt mind it at all. In fact, he would rather pull out than not..lol. and thats all we have used for the past 2.5 years since we had DS even during peak fertile times, breastfeeding and not breastfeeding. I have MORE fertile EWCM NOW than I did before I got pg with DS and still havent gotten pg from him pulling out. HOWEVER, my hubby never ever slips up or gets too close for comfort he pulls out and then masturbates to ejaculation within seconds. but, still has been effective for us!

Just another thought! good luck with your decision!

[Smokering]

The neem thing? I read about it here.... something to do with a study on rats that showed daily neem pills caused the male rats to be sterile after a while. I'm not sure it's been tested scientifically on humans, or if it has any effect on surviving sperm (ie, if it fails, will the baby have two heads?)... so as I say, I'm not recommending it. But if the PP's desperate she might want to look it up?

My sister was telling me the other day about another wacky method, that of the man suspending his delicate parts in hot water for twenty minutes at a time. She swore if it was done correctly it guaranteed three months of sterility, but I didn't dare Google that one.