Bleeding again postpartum?

[mamapigeon]

I finished with my postpartum flow a couple of days ago and today I'm bleeding again, now red after finishing with the yellowy/brown stuff. I'm breastfeeding a rapidly growing baby (plus today was only 5 weeks pp), so I don't think my period could be here yet... I also haven't done anything strenuous lately.

Has anyone had this happen/know what's going on?

[hannybanany]

Sometimes it comes and goes. According to my NFP book if you bleed at all before 42 days (or 49?) pp it's not condsidered AF.

[motherhendoula]

Were you walking a great distance?  Because the shade is light - i would assume that your version of 'nothing strenuous'  is not on par with your uteruses version of the same....  sit down more this week!

[mamapigeon]

Thank you both! I'm glad to know that menstrual cycles can't start up again so soon! Yes, I have been doing some walking (not terribly far, but you're right, my uterus might not agree). I think I'll take your advice and rest up some more.

[hannybanany]

I feel comfortable saying that you're not cycling again at 5 weeks, but there's always somebody whose body doesn't follow the 42 day rule. I know somebody who starts cycling again at 6 weeks pp even though she breastfeeds on demand, cosleeps, no paci, etc. But that's definitely unusual.

[mamapigeon]

I relaxed today and the bleeding seems to have stopped, so I'd say you were definitely right about overdoing it. So strange though! I felt like I wasn't doing much of anything. Thank you so much for suggesting that I take it easy, it's really helped.

[elisheva]

With ds1 I got my period at 4 wks pp. I know it was my period because it came again 4 weeks later...

With ds2 and dd, I got my period at 8 wks. I'm in the freak 2% whose bodies don't follow the rulez in spite of BF on demand, cosleeping, no pacis...in fact, with ds2 and dd, I was tandem nursing so was *really* nursing a lot...

I'm just saying don't rule it out. My fertility basically also returns right away (as I found out when I got pg when ds2 was only 5 months odl).

[mamapigeon]

I had my 6 week postpartum doctor's appointment today and all is well. No more bleeding, and I'm feeling better. Hopefully the next time I try to go for a walk the bleeding won't start back up.

Since it ended up lasting for just one day I really don't think it was my period. I'm somewhat glad since I don't want to have to deal with pads again for a while.

[Skippy918]

I'm 7 weeks PP and just started bleeding again.  Wondering if it's AF. 

[mamapigeon]

I'm not bleeding anymore but I do have some crampy feelings in my uterus now, sort of like when my fertility was returning after being on birth control...  I'm just going to wait and see what happens in a few weeks.   My husband and I still haven't dtd postpartum so getting pregnant again isn't an issue here. I kind of hope it's not returning fertility already because I desperately want another baby and my OB said to try for a VBAC I need to have 18 months between the births... so much easier if I HAD to wait a while to get pregnant again. sigh...

Skippy- are you crampy too? How long did your bleeding last? Mine was light and stopped for a day, but came back for 4 even when I wasn't doing much of anything.

[Skippy918]

Mine only lasted a day.  I still have the occasional spot when I wipe.

[SuperGojiMama]

I just stopped spotting and I'm almost 10 weeks pp. I stopped right around 9 weeks, but it had been off and on since 3.5 weeks pp. Each time something seemed to have caused it, so I finally started consuming my encapsulated placenta last week and that's right when I pretty much stopped spotting. Now I'm hoping the spotting and my moon stay away for a while....

[mamapigeon]

Well, I am bleeding again.  36 days but I imagine that's fairly normal when periods are starting up again?  I'm somewhat puzzled as to why my period returned so quickly. If it hadn't happened a month ago, I would say it's because my ds has been having some trouble eating lately...

Wow, I'm kind of in shock here.    I really thought the bleeding last month was from over exertion.

[Oregonicmama]

I just got my first PP AF yesterday.  I'm a little in shock considering I didn't get it until DD1 was 16 months old and till DD2 was 13 months!  Why!?  Oh, Why!?  So not fair!  :(

[EricaRN]

Yea to this... PPAF returned at 2 months to the day... Grr! Exclusively BF-ing, no paci (not co-sleeping unfortunately) but she is going longer stretches at night (6 hrs consistently) so I somewhat expected it. Was hoping it would stay away though. Just started the Creighton Model for TTA and loving it so far! :-)

[Skippy918]

I just had what I think was AF for about 3 days last week.  I just started spotting again yesterday and have a light flow today.  I ran on the treadmill earlier this week and did some mall walking yesterday.  Could that have contributed to the bleeding?  With DS, I got 2 periods from when he was born till 9 months and then it was monthly.  I wonder if it's cause DD sleeps 7-8 hour stretches?  She is almost 12 weeks old.