When fertility returns

[craft_media_hero]

How do you know when fertility has returned after the birth of a child? If your periods have not resumed due to breastfeeding, one can still be fertile, correct?

DS is 8wks and AF is not back yet. We have dtd a few times, and I'm concerned about the return of fertility because we are not yet ready to ttc yet.

[copper.kettle]

8 weeks would be very early for your fertility to return if you are breastfeeding on demand. That being said, it's always a good idea to be aware of when fertility might return by paying attention to CM. Some women do ovulate in those first 6 months, even usuing LAM pretty perfectly. My son nursed for 2+ years, and my first ovulation happened at 17 months. BUT, my LP was 9 days long, so I don't consider that full fertility. That ovulation was the first time I had fertile mucous. And before my first "period", I know I did not ovulate. So I guess the moral of the story is watch for CM.

I don't know what BC methods you are comfortable with, but if you pay attention to your CM and use pull out or barrier if you see fertile mucous you should be OK for some time

I hope this helps!

[craft_media_hero]

Thanks, copper.kettle!

I will pay attention to the CM. I really need to learn more about FAM. I'm not comfortable with any kind of hormonal BC and we just are no good with the barrier . . .

[zjande]

I pay a little visit to my cervix every single evening in the shower. That's how I know when my fertility is returning.

After baby # 3 (the 1st one I new how to chart after), I had 3 periods before ovulating. After baby #4, I had 2 before O'ing. So I was super surprised to discover very obvious ovulation signs before seeing my 1st PPAF this time! My cervix opened over the course of a few days, EWCM increased until it was, well, a ton, and everything down there was swollen & soft. We didn't dtd during those few days because I'm not quite ready yet (all of this was just a few weeks ago, my baby is 11mos). Eight days after O'ing, I had my 1st PPAF. I was all excited at my ability to know exactly what my body was doing!

You can still be fertile before seeing a period. There are plenty of posts here on mdc from pregnant mamas that don't know how far along they are because they never had a period! Statistically speaking, they say a women is more likely to ovulate after seeing her periods return if she has her 1st PPAF before her baby is about 12 mos old. And, she's more likely to ovulate before her 1st period if she's reached 12mos PP or so. That's just statistics, & can't be relied upon obviously, but I find it interesting. It just happened to be true for me!

Anyway, go say hi to your cervix! It will tell you what's going on fertility-wise if you're paying close attention. Usually anyway.

[HulaJenn]

I agree that paying attention to CM (specifially watching for the egg white stuff) and an increase in sex drive can also be a good indicator.

[javilu]

I trusted ecological breastfeeding until my son was 13 months, which is when my period returned. Even after he started solids, BF is pretty effective, and I was comfortable with the "risk" and watched my cervical mucus - it didn't turn to EWCM until just before that first PPAF, so I knew before my fertility was returning and even that I should be expecting a period soon (so I wasn't caught off-guard by it).

[craft_media_hero]

Thanks, all!

I will be paying very close attention to all/any fertility signs.

See, I thought I was doing a pretty good job with FAM (tho I didn't temp), but maybe didn't thoroughly understand it, and that's how we ended up with our little blessing boy 8ks old.

DH does not want to ttc anytime soon, but we're not on BC, so I definitely need to be much more serious about FAM this time.

[Beppie]

For me, even when AF returned 9-12 months after the baby's birth, I still wasn't ovulating for a couple of months. I learned this by taking my BBTemp every morning. There was no shift in temps that I get when I am ovulating. But of course, other women are different and conceive a baby even before their first AF returns. For me, that was not the case. Fertility only fully returned after several "cycles" resumed.