Return to fertility when breastfeeding

[mummy2jess]

Sorry this will probably sound obsessive!
My baby is 12 weeks old, she is exclusively breastfed.
My bleeding stopped at 5 weeks old, at 7 weeks i had a day where i bled ( not heavily) but it stopped by the next day and nothing since. However, the last week i have had a few things which are starting to lay on my mind, the main being a funny taste in my mouth, smelling things strongly and cramps in my lower stomach. I am starting to worry about it because these are symptoms i have had in early pregnancy each time before ( i have four children already).
We have had sex only a handful of times and we have used protection although i am embarsssed to admit not that carefully as tbh I assumed that breastfeeding would make a pregnancy unlikely in any case.

Is there anyone who can shed light on this realistically what are the chances that with all of these circumstances i am pregnant? Could the day of bleeding i had really have been my first period - it was very short?

My baby is still feeding every 2 hours day and night if that makes any difference.

Sorry to sound so pathetic i am embarrassed even reading this back!

Hope it's ok to post here I didn't want to post in the trying to concieve area in case upset someone.

[CoopersMommy0308]

Your fertility can absolutely return that early, even with an EBF newborn. And remember, you ovulate before you have a period. So to say that you're not fertile until AFTER you've had your first period is not true.

I'm 7.5 weeks post partum, lochia stopped before 2 weeks, and I'm on day 5 of what I am assuming is my first PP period. I am totally bummed if that's what it is, but I don't know what else it could be. I've asked my midwife and she says it sounds like my period. dangit!!

As for your chances of being pregnant... well it's always possible.

And CONGRATS for having sex with 3 other children and a newborn!! We have a 2.5yo and a 7wk old and haven't had sex yet... we talk about it a lot but by the time they are both in bed we are dead to the world! LOL

[mamadelbosque]

Yeah, some of us don't luck out with no-af for months and months. I had a period at exactly 8wks pp, and then nothing for 2 or 3 months and then a period and then nothing for 6 wks and then nothing for 5 wks and then nothing for 7 wks. It was/is freaking horrible. DS2 is now 14.5 months and I'm currently... well, lets see. Technically 3 days 'late' (so day 31) of this cycle. After having 2 28 day cycles and then a 27 day cycle. And yes, we're using protection religiously (we're 'done'). So yeah.

[JMJ]

Look up LAM (Lactation Amenorrhea Method). You can disregard any bleeding in the first 56 days postpartum, but if you bleed on day 57, count it as coming out of amenorrhea. If you don't bleed past day 56, you can consider yourself infertile until your baby is 6 months old or you introduce solids, whichever comes first with 98% effectiveness, and you can continue beyond 6 months if you remain in amenorrhea with reduced effectiveness.