Trying to concieve and breastfeed

[Kiptyn2011]

I am breastfeeding my 6 month old son exclusively and i am trying to get pregnant again. weve been trying for only a month and a half but for the past few days i have been feeling like i did when i was pregnant with my son. my sinuses have been messed up really bad, i feel sick atleast once to twice a day, and i am exghuasted all day. and my son has been wanting to pull away from nursing also and he never does that, but its not every time i try to feed him that pulls away and my supply has cut back.

is there any way i could be pregnant??

[Jaimee]

Welcome to MDC!! 

In order to make a more educated guess, we need some more information.  Have you had a postpartum period yet?  If so, how many have you had and how regular have they been?  Are you charting your basal body temperature to confirm that you're ovulating and have a fertile length luteal phase?  Many women that exclusively breastfeed are not fertile for many months postpartum, but especially during the first 6 months.   Of course there are EBF women that get their cycles back at just 2 months pp, but it doesn't always mean that they are fertile cycles.

If you are fertile and managed to DTD during your ovulation window then there is absolutely a chance that you're pregnant.  Do you recall the days you DTD?  Can you also recall when you had fertile cervical fluid- creamy or eggwhite in consistency?  When was the first day of your last period?  How long are your cycles usually?  This information would help us pinpoint your possible O day better and therefore know when it would be accurate to test.

Ordinarily changes to your milk supply and taste consistent with pregnancy would not occur immediately after conception, but take several weeks.  It is possible that your ds is reacting to changes in your hormones caused by fluctuations in your cycle.  It's also possible he has some other things going on like teething or attempts to crawl, which can interfere with nursing.

There is a thread for nursing mothers TTC that you could join here in this forum.  It's a great way to get advice and support from other women going through the same/similar things and just vent and chit chat in general.  Check it out and jump in!  Good luck!

[Kiptyn2011]

I have had one period since i had my son Kiptyn in february and that was in march i had it.iv had the white creamy fluid also and ive actually had it in the past few days.

[JMJ]

The "period" in March was likely a hormonal bleed and not a true period if it happened in the first 56 days postpartum, and you were exclusively breastfeeding.  Exclusive breastfeeding is a very effective (98-99%) method of child spacing in the first 6 months, and continuing to nurse on cue until your period returns is pretty darn effective.  Different studies show that 5-10% of women will get pregnant before their first period while breastfeeding whenever it comes if they are doing nothing to prevent it (I see the 6% statistic the most).  About 1/3 of women will not ovulate before their first "period" (not a true period if it's not preceded by ovulation), and another 1/3 will not have a long enough luteal phase to sustain a pregnancy, so only 1/3 of women would even have a possibility of getting pregnant before their first postpartum bleed (after 56 days).

Getting pregnant at this stage would be pretty tricky.  As a mother, you'll need to figure out how aggressively you want to pursue pregnancy at each point in the journey and how to balance the needs of the child that you already have.  I'd like to give you some points to consider that you may or may not have heard already.

-It is unlikely but possible that you are already pregnant.  The changes in breastfeeding behavior that you are seeing could be related to your son growing, your cycle trying to return, or any number of other things.  You can always test to find out.

-Creamy CM is a sign that your body is working to ovulate, but your CM will likely become more clear and stretchy like egg whites before you actually ovulate.  If you are trying to get pregnant, you may want to keep track of your CM and aim to DTD whenever you have CM, especially if you see a change toward more, more clear, or more stretchy CM.

-Getting pregnant while breastfeeding will likely cause a decrease in milk supply over first 3 or so months and a complete or almost complete dry up of your supply around the start of the second trimester when the placenta begins making a lot more progesterone.  Since a child under the age of 1 really needs to get most of his calories from breast milk or a breast milk substitute, if you got pregnant much before your child is a year old, it is possible that he would require some sort of supplement (previously pumped milk, donated milk, or some sort of formula), and if you got pregnant much before 9 months, it is almost certain that your so would require supplemental feedings so that he can get the majority of his calories from breast milk or a substitute at least until he is a year old.

-There are no guarantees with breastfeeding when you become pregnant.  Every mother-nursling pair experiences pregnancy differently.  Many mothers experience nipple pain, though some not much at all.  Some nurslings (especially if they are young and depending on it more for milk than comfort) wean when there is no more milk or when there are changes to the milk, and some mothers find that they are so uncomfortable that they need to wean.  Some women lose their milk completely while others don't experience much drop in supply at all.  Some women are surprised by feelings that they have about their nursling during pregnancy.  It's really hard to predict what will happen.  You might check out "Adventures in Tandem Nursing" by Hilary Flower to get an idea of what some other mothers have experienced so that you can get an idea of what to be ready for.

-TTC while your fertility is returning can be quite a roller coaster ride.  Many women spend months and months waiting for their periods to come back and then waiting for their cycles to become more fertile.  They try out various different supplements to try to get their cycles to regulate.  They worry month after month if their Luteal Phase will be long enough and face disappointment month after month.  For some women, it is important enough to them to TTC ASAP that it is worth all the ups and downs, all the hopes and disappointments.  Some women prefer to wait until they start having periods or even until they start having fertile cycles to start really trying, and some women do not experience all these ups and downs because they do get pregnant quite quickly.  It's always possible, after all.

-If you really feel like you need to push your body to allow you to get pregnant sooner than it would be ready to do on its own, there are some things that you can do.  Gaining a few lbs over your pre-pregnancy weight, supplementing with Vitamin B6 (and many other options for supplements), reducing nursing secessions, night weaning, etc, may help your fertility to return.  It's up to you to figure out what your child is ready for and how much you want to push your body.

[Jaimee]

Yes, the bleeding you had one month after the birth of your son was before 56 days/8 weeks postpartum and therefore was most likley not preceded by ovulation and was instead hormonal in nature.  It is quite common to bleed for several weeks pp and then bleed again around the 6 week mark.  JMJ has given you some great stats about returning feritlity.  The creamy cervical fluid you are seeing now is likely an indication that your body is gearing up to ovulate.  But keep in mind that your body might do this many times before actually succeeding.  If you're curious to find out if you are indeed ovulating, you can chart your basal body temperature.  Starting temping as soon as you see fertile cervical fluid and watch to see if your temp spikes to a higher level.  This confirms ovulation.  Then you can count the days between O and your period to see how long your luteal phase is.  If your luteal phase is not long enough to sustain a pregnancy it would be possible for you to have mulitple chemical pregnancies.  With today's sensitive HPT's this type of pregnancy is easier to catch than it used to be.  JMJ brings up a good point that it is important to consider the emotional component of TTC to early postpartum.

Also, I have gotten pregnant twice now while still breastfeeding.  It was SO painful for me that I encouraged weaning both times.  With my first, dd was 28 months old and weaning felt quite natural.  But with my second, ds was only 14 months old.  I lasted until 16 months when I nightweaned and then at 17 months my milk was mostly gone and daytime nursing was intolerable.  There are so many benefits of extended nursing that I am very glad I was able to nurse my first past 2 years of age.  I wish I could have done the same with my second (this was an oops pregnancy).  

There really is a lot to consider TTC at this point pp- balance in your life, the needs of your baby, and the physical strain on you.  Your body is still recovering from your first baby.  Many women find closely spaced pregnancies to be much more difficult.  Of course this is a very personal choice and only one that you and your partner can make.  But if you're interested in hearing experiences from others, I highly encourage you to post in the Family Planning forum and possibly cross posting in this forum and the I'm pregnant forum.   Good luck and if you'd like help getting going with charting, just post!