Charting to TTA while nursing a 1 year old...still inconsistent?

[mrs.t]

I have used FAM to TTA in the past, I did it for 18 cycles prepregnancy and was very successful. I had very textbook charts so it was easy. Since having DS, I got my first PPAF at 5 months PP, despite EBF. I'm still nursing at 13 months PP, and DS nurses anywhere from 5-8 times in a 24 hour period. If he is teething, he can wake up every hour or 2 to comfort nurse, but for the most part he only wakes 1-2 times a night to nurse. So I'm getting pretty good sleep, and I'm taking temps at roughly the same time every morning.

So my PP charts have been pretty hard to figure out. I have all kinds of CF throughout the cycle, sometimes it seems like I'm gearing up to O, but there won't be a thermal shift. My temps are kind of all over the place, so it's difficult to determine a thermal shift unless the temps stay up for about 5 days. My LP has been super short, maybe 5-7 days at most.

Is all of this typical? I thought once DS was on solids and I was getting better sleep things would settle back to "normal" with my cycles, but they seem just as wacky as when he was nursing exclusively 12 times a day and waking up 4 times a night. I'm getting really annoyed with my super long cycles (roughly 40 days) where I never know if I'm going to O, and then when I do my LP is over in a matter of days and I didn't even get to have unprotected sex (sorry if TMI). Will this continue for as long as I'm nursing?

[Jaimee]

I had a very similar situation after my first. PPAF returned after about 8 months, but I had longish cycles and short LP's. Dd didn't wean until she was 28 months, but she started STTN at 2 years old and I accidentally got pg 2 months later b/c I had no idea my cycle was fertile again.  My LP had been between 3 and 9 days.  I ended up m/c but all my cycles after that had normal length LP's.  So it took about 2 years for me.  With my second I didn't get a PPAF until ds was a year old and my LP was 3-4 days long.  Ds still night nursed at that point and I figured it would take a while to regulate like last time....  Accidental pregnancy one cycle later. 

So I guess the moral of my story is that it may take you a while longer to regulate, your dc may need to nightwean to make it happen or it could happen at any time, and pregnancy could happen accidentally without the use of protection!  It's just been my experience that CTA pp is not at all as reliable as CTA pre-pregnancy or post weaning.  So it goes for me, which is why we have to figure out more reliable birth control after I'm done with this pregnancy!  I'm thinking charting with liberal condom use.

[mrs.t]

Thank you so much for the reply! It's so frustrating because there is no way I am going back on the pill, and DH is not too reliable with the condoms...sigh. I loved CTA, I miss it! Thanks for the input.

[JMJ]

How many cycles have you had since your son's birth? If you have had 6 cycles, the Doering rule might give you more days pre-ovulation. You take the earliest day of thermal shift in your past 6-12 cycles (don't go back more than 2 years) minus 7 = your last day of pre-ovulation infertility. I've always had long cycles with "delayed" ovulation, and this has been even more true postpartum. Dr. Doering tested this rule with 99% effectiveness without any attention to CM, but CCL recommends using it in the presence of less fertile mucus only if you have a history of long cycles with at least 5 days of "more fertile" CM in a row.

[mrs.t]

Thanks! I never heard that rule before. All of the sudden DS has decided to STTN, so this cycle was very typical of what I was used to prepregnancy, only lasting 33 days. I guess we'll see what the next one brings!