First PP period

[icy02]

I am 13 months PP with DS2. I still haven't gotten my fertility back. Most of my friends seem so shocked that I am still BF'ing and still no period. Most of them got theirs back right away, even the ones who EBF. I'm quite happy being period free, but it kind of irritates me that they make comments about how fertile they are, basically saying that I'm not fertile. It kind of rubs me the wrong way. ANYWAYS ... When is the average time for AF to return? When should I start getting worried? One friend told me she went to almost 2 yrs PP. That sounds like a long time to me. I know kellymom says 14-16 months is average. I just only know 1 other person to go as long as I am with no period. I think she went to 14 months.

[Chloe'sMama]

Hey there (love your photo).

DD1- I had my first PPAF at 14 months but fertility did not return until 16 months and then got pregnant with DD2 the next cycle.  I noticed things gearing up when I started feeding DD1 more solids (10ish months), but it took many months for my cycles to actually start.

Sister didn't get hers back until after 12 months.  

I think you are good.  No need to worry at all.  It will return, and you just get a longer vacation from AF!

[kltroy]

Mine came back around 17 months PP with both kids. 

[WifeofAnt]

My son is 7 months and I haven't gotten mine back yet.

[liberal_chick]

I just got my first one back, ds is 9 months old.  I think that is pretty normal for me b/c we caught the first PP egg after ds2 at about the 9 month point, so no period that time.

[Bokonon]

With my first, it came back at 3.5 months.  With my second, it came back the day before her 1st birthday.

Having a period doesn't mean your friends are super fertile - if that was the case, women who have fertility problems wouldn't have a period!  It might also just mean that your friends' babies started STTN earlier, or deliberately spaced out feedings.  None of that applied to me with my first, and he was nowhere near STTN, and it came back early anyway.

Every body is different.  Enjoy being AF-free while it lasts, and please don't feel down because your friends are dealing with their periods sooner.

[mt_gooseberry]

First of all, don't feel at all bad about not being fertile because you're breastfeeding...if it wasn't for lactational amenorrhea, humans wouldn't have had much success spacing children for all those thousands of years before modern birth control.  Your body is simply functioning the way it is supposed to.  If you want more info on breastfeeding and fertility, there is a lot of fascinating info on the Fertility forums. 

Second, there should be an "other" choice on the poll, because I couldn't vote.  I never got my period back after my first DD before I got pregnant with my current, at 10mo PP!  I guess I caught that very first egg.  Lots of women have a "warning menses" before they ovulate, and many don't have a long enough luteal phase to sustain a fertilized egg for one or more cycles, but some women hop right back on the fertility bandwagon.

I actually posted a very similar question somewhere on here, and got quite a few responses...I think it was called, "How long until your period returned?" and I posted in the Breastfeeding forum on 4/23/11.  Sorry, I don't know how to insert it as a link, but at least now you can look it up.

[Magali]

With #1 I got it back 3 months pp.  With #2 I got it back at 7 months pp. Even though I had my period back so quickly after my first, it still took us 2 years of trying to get pg with #2.  I didn't conceive again until the week I weaned.  So period doesn't equal fertile at least for me. 

[LiLStar]

I caught the first pp egg at 19 months after dd, and then saw AF at 18 months after ds was born. That was nearly 5 years with no period! Then I only had 2 periods before conceiving again! 

[Belle]

Got pregnant at 24 months before ppaf after dd1. After dd2 I got ppaf at 18 months.

[Jaimee]

I created this poll a few years ago asking pretty much the same question and got a ton of responses: http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/thread/736050/how-long-until-af-returned-for-you.  I also got a ton of flack for the little parenthetical comments I included on the poll (so please ignore all that) and for not allowing more than one answer to be selected.  Sigh... I wish you could edit polls.  Anyway, hope that helps!

[coldandsleepy]

I EBFed round the clock, co-slept, etc, and mine still came back at exactly 5 months pp.  14 months is the average, but that means there are always going to be some of us who get it back really early and some who get it back very late.  It sounds like you're still well within a normal range and while it's a bummer if you're TTC again, like some others mentioned it doesn't necessarily mean you're not fertile.

[parsley]

I got my first PP period when DD was 15 months.  So, it was 2 full years since I had gotten pregnant.  I don't know if I was ovulating or not during the next few months. 

 

[Viriditas]

DS was over 2 when I got mine back.  And I didn't actually start ovulating until several months after that.  DS was very picky though (still is), and he didn't eat much in the way of solids until he was around 2.  I'm sure that contributed.

 

[EmTheWife]

I got pg at 16 months PP without a PP AF

[BeanSprout Mama]

With DD1 and DS1 I had my period back by around 2 months. I don't honestly remember exactly with DS2 but I think it was around 13 months. All three were exclusively breastfed but with DS2 I was back at work at 3 months and pumping milk for him.

[lunabin]

I exclusively pumped for the first year, and it wasn't until I stopped at 12 months that it came back.  It did start spotting once earlier (around 5months), but increased my pumping to stave it off - and it worked!  For me, I was so grateful to not have to deal with my periods, and dreaded getting it back.  It seems to me that it is really not related to fertility at all - just how your body works.

When we tried for #2, I had been on an IUD, and then the Nuvaring for a while, and after going off it only took 2 months to get pregnant again.  Some women have the opposite problem, and for whatever reason have problems having more kids.  

Just like every pregnancy, every woman's experience with breastfeeding, postpartum body, fertility, etc. is different.  

[haleyelianasmom]

27 months with my older daughter, and I'm still waiting at 18.5 months with dd2.

[lunarlady]

I just came on here to look at the average time for this exact senerio.  I never got a PP AF after DD#1 because I was on a hormonal IUD then caught the first egg after it was removed and had DD#2.  Now I'm 18 months PP with no AF.  So I haven't had a period since February of 2006....I'm beginning to wonder if it will ever reappear, and actually sort of miss it.  Ha!  I'm sure once it returns I will feel a bit differently about the whole thing.   These last couple of months I keep thinking it is going to come.  I get moody, crampy, and tired, but then it just passes with no AF.  Mystery abounds.

[MyName]

My son is 11.5 months and still waiting. Not that I'm complaining :) It's great!! I hope it stays away for another year or two, at least.