What method of Birth Control do you prefer...

[BaileyB]

What method of birth control do you prefer while breastfeeding. I just had 2 back to back pregnancies and am not willing to risk it with LAM since baby sleeps 5-9 hours at a time at night. I use to do NFP but since I have not got my period back I have no idea where to begin nor have time to go take the class at my clinic. I have been on the mini-pill for a week and a half but I HATE the mood swings I am having.

Waaaa....why arent you paying attention to me?!

Husband pays extra attention to me.

Waaaa....get off of me I need some space!!

Husband leaves me alone.

Then I look over at him and say, 'We should have another baby!'

DH is pretty much over this hormonal birth control thing.

I am strongly thinking about going back to just condoms even though they tend to irritate my under carriage so much. If I go back to just condoms, how long should it take for my period to come back and be regular if I am breastfeeding but baby is sleeping through the night?

***After thought: Can you still check your cervical mucus for fertility signs when you don't have your periods back yet?

Edited by BaileyB - 3/26/11 at 6:13pm

[annettemarie]

I'm going to move this to our Family Planning forum.

[bdoody11]

I love my Mirena IUD! It's super effective birth control that I don't have to think about, plus it is instantly reversible when we decide to try again. It does have a low dose of hormones but I don't think they get into you system the way the Pill does. I'm also breastfeeding and it hasn't affected my supply at all. 

As for your period coming back, for me with DD#1 mine came back at 17 months. She wasn't sleeping through the night, but I worked full time and didn't pump during the day starting at 12 months. Mine hasn't returned yet this time (she's almost 10 months). 

[lactatinggirl]

Mirena works for some people, but personally it's "low level of hormones" effected me just as much as the pill did. Honestly, in some ways, worse. There's also a copper IUD, but those can give you heavy periods (possibly since you're EBF you won't have to deal with that though?). 

If you want to keep with NFP, read Taking Charge of Your Fertility. It has a whole section on avoiding pregnancy before your first PPAF comes. I was able to get mine from the library and it's a quick and easy read. 

[BaileyB]

Thanks! I will maybe have to pick it up this week. I was thinking about getting the Mirena originally but I didn't want to pay the money if I ended up taking it right away if I hated it.

I like your avitar superhero by the way...very funny!

[lactatinggirl]

Thanks! The super hero is actually Lactating Girl. :-P

As for money to put Mirena in and take it out, I don't know how much it cost to put in, but it was a ton to take mine out, even with insurance. Bleh!

[*MamaJen*]

I can't do hormonal methods either. If you're not liking the minipill, I would steer clear of mirena. I absolutely love my copper IUD. I had heavier periods for a few months, but they've balanced out.

You could also consider a diaphragm plus spermicide, but that has slightly higher failure rates than I'm comfortable with.

[MsFortune]

I would not trust NFP until you got your period back and had a regular schedule.  After my last baby I reread the section on postpartum protection - and it just sounded too unreliable.  

That being said, we really don't want another baby, so I only want something super reliable.  I did not want to get on mini pill after this baby since its failure rate is high, so I got on normal hormonal BC (and it dried up my milk).  I'm getting Mirena as soon as I get off my butt and do it.

If you don't want to do hormonal, I'd do condoms until my period returns then do NFP.  But it depends on how much risk you are willing to live with.

[Owen'nZoe]

I have a copper IUD (paragard) and I love it. No hormones and very effective. For me, it made for very heavy periods for the first 9 or 10 months after I got it. I went from 2 1/2 days of light bleeding and almost no cramping to 5-6 days of heavy bleeding with cramping that required advil. That was not fun. But after that initial time, my periods have gone back to normal, and I don't even notice it is there. I've had it for 4 years now. Insurance did not cover it, but I calculated my out-of-pocket expenses for the pill, and found that I'd break even after 2 years of the IUD which, I guess, means I've had free, reliable birth control for 2 years now. You can keep the Paragard in for up to 11 years.