Breastfeeding and wanting to get pregnant

[lauralyn]

Well, sooner rather than later at least. My son will be 2 in a few weeks and still nurses ALL the time. He still hasn't taken to solids yet- probably averages 10 bites a day total of anything. So, my cycle hasn't returned yet which I'm assuming is because he nurses so frequently and I am providing nearly his sole nutrition. He nurses every couple hours, or maybe hourly during the day depending on what we are doing and every couple hours through the night.

So, I'm looking for a few things here- other gals have little ones still not into food?? AND still no period??  I'm totally happy with our nursing relationship, the frequency, the frequent waking etc. I just want to be able to get pregnant in a few-ish months. If anyone has a 2 1/2 year old that JUST decided food is awesome would make me feel better. Knowing that it's likely he will suddenly like food in a few months and I will get my period back and we won't have to be miserable with any forced weaning situations would be ideal :-)  I have no timetable for nursing and just want him to nurse as long as he wants (and also I definitely don't want him to stop nursing because I got pregnant and lost my supply- I think I would feel guilty forever!)

Thanks!

Laura

[konayossie]

I can sympathize with having an almost 2-year old who still isn't in to food. My DS eats very few solids still at this point and loves to nurse anytime he can get it (I stopped pumping for him at one year though).

As for getting your fertility back--here's what I discovered in my TTC while breastfeeding journey:

I got my period back at 5 weeks PP. Little did I know that although I was ovulating, I was still infertile due to progesterone insufficiency caused by the prolactin from bfing. So, when I started TTC when DS was around 14 mos, I couldn't get pregnant--well, I couldn't stay pregnant. I had a couple of chemical pregnancies. DH and I gave up for the time being with the idea that we'd wait till DS was around 2 years and start trying again, weaning if necessary at that point. I continued charting, and was consistently having 3-5 day LPs (nowhere near long enough to enable  a pregnancy). Well, at Christmas, we drove across the country, and DS went for 18 hours in a row with no nursing twice in about a week. Apparently just that much of a shift (and a very temporary one) in our nursing habit enabled me to become fertile, as I fell pregnant a few days after the trip. My cycle before that I had a 4-day LP, and nothing else changed in the next cycle aside from the very long (but temporary) stretch of no nursing.

So, my advice would be to try an abrupt shift in your nursing pattern if you don't want to wean/cut back. I had heard drastic changes (like abrupt nightweaning) can bring back fertility, but my situation seems to suggest that it doesn't even have to be long-term.

Good luck---I know it can be really frustrating!

[Asiago]

There's a lot of information on the following site regarding the timing of when fertility returns:

http://stevenandersonfamily.blogspot.com/2007/12/natural-child-spacing-through_5731.html