Nursing, TTC, 1st month BBT and confused :o(

[kelantan]

Hi! The forums have changed a lot since i was here when my not 13mo was born! My name is Kelly and i am a stay-at-home mom to two beautiful little boys H, 2.5 years, and E 13mos.

I have a few questions because i am trying to track fertility and it is my first month and i really want to be pregnant :o) We have been trying since the beginning of April and AF arrived the first week of June. This, though, if the first month i have tracked my bbts.

Anyways, i had my temperature shift and everything at day 18 and now i am on day 28 and i'm assuming AF should be arriving on Friday. So.... i have a few temperature questions.

Today is 10dpo. Yesterday when checking my temperature it had dropped to 97.7 (baseline)... i went back to sleep for 3 hours and took it again and it was 98.2 (my ovulation rise temp). So i fretted all day and then this morning when i woke up at 2am i took my temp at it was 98.4 (but i was really warm) and then 3 hours later it was 98.1. What is going on?? And no, i don't intentionally take it twice, i just wake up accidently and need to pee and then i spaz that i have to take it before hand to make sure i get it right. I think temping is making me sleep worse than a baby!

Anyways... has anyone else had anything similar happen? I've been trying to search the boards, but i can't find anything specific. This is def a pain. I am also still nursing my 13 mo but i had my temperature spike and AF is here so that shouldn't  be a problem, right?! Oh man, ttc is frustrating. I just want to see that BFP so badly... :o)

[sraplayas]

Hi Kelly. Just wanted to say from one nursing mama ttcing to another--I hear you!

It is definitely frustrating at times temping while nursing your LO. I've had similar experiences taking my temp at different times b/c I woke up way too early, etc. and it just stresses me out!

If you can temp at the same time each morning, it is my understanding that is best. Even if you woke up in the night to tend to your DS or go to the bathroom, at least you have a baseline to work from. If I've been up in the night, I always note it in my chart on Fertility Friend, so that if needed, I can discard it later.

There's a great thread for mama's who are nursing and ttcing here, if you'd like, please come on over and join us! The mamas are so supportive and helpful there.

Hope that sort of answers you Q!

[Jaimee]

I have charted while bfing for many, many cycles and I have always found that aiming for the same TIME each morning gives me the most consistency instead of trying to get 3 hours of continuous sleep prior to temping.  Typically taking your temp twice does not help.  Just temp as close as you can to your normal time and go with that temp.  Dropping down to the CL and going back up the next day is not unusual- just fluctuation typical of bfing and broken sleep.   My dd woke up every 90 minutes for months and I still got biphasic patterns.  If you are used to looking at your charts pre-baby your bfing charts may look erratic, but just look for a general pattern of lows and highs.  Your CF may be erratic, too, but this is normal while bfing.  Over time and as your nursling decreases his nursing sessions, your cycles will begin to regulate more.  You might find that your LP varies more than the usual 1-2 days during this time as well and it's possible that your LP is not always a fertile length yet.  I found that my LP could very from an infertile length to a fertile length cycle to cycle so when TTC during this time you also might need some luck of sperm meeting egg in one of these more fertile cycles.

Can you post your chart?  10 DPO might yield an accurate HPT result!  You could try testing tomorrow with FMU and a sensitive test like FRER!  Keep us posted!

[Julieee]

Originally Posted by sraplayas 

Hi Kelly. Just wanted to say from one nursing mama ttcing to another--I hear you!

It is definitely frustrating at times temping while nursing your LO. I've had similar experiences taking my temp at different times b/c I woke up way too early, etc. and it just stresses me out!

If you can temp at the same time each morning, it is my understanding that is best. Even if you woke up in the night to tend to your DS or go to the bathroom, at least you have a baseline to work from. If I've been up in the night, I always note it in my chart on Fertility Friend, so that if needed, I can discard it later.

There's a great thread for mama's who are nursing and ttcing here, if you'd like, please come on over and join us! The mamas are so supportive and helpful there.

Hope that sort of answers you Q!

Can you give me a link to this thread?  Not TTC yet... :)

[Jaimee]

http://www.mothering.com/community/t/1328072/nursing-mamas-ttc-september

And you can still join the "waiting to be ready" list in that thread.

[kelantan]

You guys are great! I will have to try to figure out how to post my chart... it's just on some app on my phone :o) I am hoping, but not too hopeful too! I didn't realize i was supposed to be temping at the same time each day! That will help me sleep better!

Have any of you tried Maca or Vitex? I bought some Vitex and started taking it but i got little Headaches (but it is the first month my also wasn't 42 days or more) so i am willing to go back on it if it can help. Is it safe whil breastfeeding!

I will most definitely join that forum! It's just nice to have other people going through the same insanity! 

[Jaimee]

You can take a picture of it off your phone and post that and then from now on, use a free site like www.fertilityfriend.com to log your data and post easier.  If you weren't taking your temp at the same time each day then that would explain an erratic chart for sure!  I imagine you will see much more consistency and a clearer pattern from now on!

I personally would not recommend taking any major herbal supplements like Vitex of maca until you know more about what is happening with your cycles.  Your body will regulate all on its own as you get farther postpartum and your nursling decreases nursing sessions.  It's nature's way of child spacing.  But TTC is also a very personal choice so you will have to come to a decision about what is best for your body, your baby, and baby #3.  As for safety while breastfeeding that is not known for certain.  Several sources will say Vitex is fine and others will say there is some risk.  There are many threads in this forum about it that you can search for and again, it would be a personal decision what you feel comfortable with.