Been TTC for over a year & confused about nursing

[crunchy_mommy]

I'm sorry if this is a really dumb question...

DH & I have been TTC since I got AF back when DS was 8 or 9mos old. He is now about to turn 2, and still no BFP. I am not charting because I can't get proper temps (still waking up 292939223 times a night with DS and had somewhat irregular temps even before DS) but I do keep track of mucous & how I feel. It seems like my cycles are weird -- almost every other month, it seems like I don't ovulate, and I get AF at around 26-28 days (very short cycles for me) and it's much less painful then usual. Then the opposite months I have longer, more irregular cycles (up to 37 days but usually less) but it does seem like I'm ovulating those months & AF is more painful those months. I feel like I'm just imagining things though. Anyway, I guess what I'm asking is if you are nursing on demand (which I am, 10-20 times a day) but you are getting monthly AF's then does that mean you're ovulating??? I know nursing CAN suppress ovulation but I was under the impression that I wouldn't be getting AF if that was the case for me... and also can it go back & forth month to month, ovulate then not ovulate but still get AF???? Am I even making sense?????

It took us a year to conceive DS so I guess I'm not surprised it's taking us a while this time around (especially because some months DS seems determined not to ever let us give him a sibling, if you get my drift!) but something feels 'off' to me. I'm also going to get some bloodwork done because I seem to have cycle-related fatigue (really debilitating during the first ~2 weeks of my cycle & dramatically improves the day after [I think] I ovulated) but I couldn't get it done last month because as far as I could tell, I didn't ovulate. So maybe this is getting complicated. *Sigh*

[mariacm]

I don't know a whole lot about it, but wanted to reply anyway so you'd have something. =)

From what I know, nursing CAN suppress ovulation, but does not necessarily do so.  (I, for example, nursed on demand for 5 months, exclusively w/o solids til 9 months, and still had cycles with AF started around 3 months postpartum).  It is possible to sometimes ovulate and sometimes not.  It is also possible to get AF with no ovulation (quite common, actually, even in women who aren't nursing.)  Basically, nursing can affect hormones enough to not cycle at all, enough to cycle but not ovulate, enough to cycle and sometimes ovulate, or not enough to really affect it at all.  The older the babe is, the more likely you will ovulate, generally speaking, but it's different for everyone.  I think this is basically bc the older babe is,  the more solids they eat, the less they rely on nursing for nutrition, and therefore the less it screws with your cycles.

I hope that helps. 

It still would be good to get your hormones tested, but do a whole hormone panel if money/insurance allows for it, bc there are several hormones at play.  Thyroid is one that's NOT commonly tested but is quite often a problem that's overlooked (in addition to the more obvious reproductive hormones).  BTW, thyroid issues can account for erratic or abnormally low/high temps.  I think this all is especially important for you, since you had trouble conceiving the first time around, too.

Also, why not chart what you're observing now, even w/o temps?  That would help you know if you're reading things right as far as ovulation, and it would help docs know what's going on, and give them a head start as to what the problem could be.

I hope that helps, and I hope that you get some answers and a BFP quickly!!  =)