When did your period return? - Page 2

[liam's mom]

ds is 19 months. we practice ecological bfing and my period has not returned yet.

like brookerenee said, i have also had cramps and ewcm but no af. i am assuming my body is gearing up to ovulate, but for whatever reason it hasn't happened yet. ds still nurses constantly day and night.

[callmemama]

26 months for me. A pp said maternal age has something to do with it. Hadn't heard that, but could be as I was 40 when ds was born...

[cakefaces mum]

5 mos with ds1 :
still waiting with ds2 at 4 mos PP.

[lpmeadows78]

I got mine a month to the day after my daughter was born with full on all the time breast feeding. She is a hungry little fairy. Should I be concerned. I remember thinking I should go to a doctor when it happened, but I was so buisy with a new babe that I didn't even make a call. I feel fine, but I wish I didn't have one.

[becca011906]

Mine retured at 11 months with ds (when he choise to stop nursing)
3 months with dd1 who stoped nursing at 6 months (med resons)
this time around dd is 3 months and i'm not sure if it's retured or if it's spotting due to an IUD me and my midwife are stilll trying to figure it out at this point!!! LOL but i'm hoping it's not retured..

[GeorgiaGalHeidi]

My baby is almost 16 months, and no AF! We demand feed still, he nurses ALOT, especially at night, and he hardly eats any solids.

[GeorgiaGalHeidi]

great link on ECO BF!
http://www.ccli.org/breastfeed/bresfsum.shtml

This is us to a T! So, I am hoping that I am in the norm and get AF...now!

[sagira]

My period returned when ds was 13 months, which coincided with him starting solids.

[KirstenMary]

17 months to the day, lol. And Jordan is still about 80% BFed.

[NVinVT]

We BFed exclusively for the first 6 months, and are still BFing. We nightweaned last week but DD nurses during the day (anywhere from 3-1,000 times...lol).

I got a very light period when DD was 22 mos old.
Then 6 weeks after that, I got my first "real" period.
Then I got pregnant!

So I had two periods in 2002, none in 2003, one in 2004 and will probably have none in 2005!

Nancy

[Peony]

DD is 23 months and still no AF! She bfs around the clock still, she nurses more in a day then my friend's 9 month old dd does. It's been my experience that the thinner moms tend to get AF later,(in my circle of bfing moms, all the smaller moms didn't get AF back until around the 2 year mark) I'm pretty sure I've read it somewhere to, maybe one of those breastfeeding and fertility books. I believe it is because your body doesn't think you could handle another pg right now so you don't o. There's always exceptions to everything though!

[marieangela]

20 months for me. I'm on the thin side and have thought that there might be some connection. Ds started sleeping for long stretches at 2 months (that didn't last long), I went back at to work part time when he was 4 months and my parents used a pacifier to get him to sleep for naps, and he cut down to nursing 3-5 times a day by the time he was 15 months or so. Certainly not the best circumstances to keep af away for that long. The return of af happen to coincide with the time I quit pumping. I was only pumping once a day three days a week, though, so I don't think that had too much to do with it.

[dj_una]

7 1/2 months for me... and we cosleep, bf on demand, the whole deal. none too happy to get it back, either! was longer and more crampy than it used to be, i hope that is not the new norm!

[Girl Named Sandoz]

We are doing child led weaning . Ds is 2 years, 3 months. My period only returned a few days before his 2nd birthday. I went almost 3 years without a period. Extended breastfeeding lowers your estrogen levels which in turn lowers the risk of various forms of female cancer. It's good for you & the babe.

eta I am slim so maybe that contributed as the previous poster said.

[TiredX2]

I was so ticked when AF returned at 11.5 months w/DD (considering she was still 95+% bfed including all night long) I can't even imagine how livid I would have been if she was only 5-6 months, not to mention WEEKS!

With DS even though he was 25 months, I had been hoping to make it an even 3 years (including pg) :LOL

The general trends that have been reported:

LA lasts longer:
in subsequent pregnancies
in older mothers
in lower weight women


any others?

[dswmom]

Ds was exclusively bf for 12 months..and my period came back after a year. As long as that seems when written down, it sure did seem like it came back quickly . Ds is 2 now and still nurses pretty much whenever he wants to.

I told dh we should put the money that I didn't spend on period supplies into ds's college fund. Have we done that yet? NO! We'll get to it!!

[springbabes]

I'm thin (120 lbs) and my period has always returned early. I was 22 when I had my first baby, so maybe that's it.

DD1--3 months (exclusively BF but sleeping through the night)
DD2--11 months (started solids at 6 months but still nursed at night)
DS--10 months (he was nursing tons--more than DD2 at same age)

My mom is NOT on the thin side and she would go 2 years without a period when nursing. I guess I am just not a lucky one. I also think I may just be overly programmed to have periods. I was 11 when I started and I NEVER miss periods unless I'm pregnant .

[mimim]

With my first I got my period back when he was about 10 months. He really liked solids at that point and had cut back on nursing. I also went back to school part time and was away form him more.

With my second, I didn't begin menstruating again until he was 19 months. I night weaned him shortly before this, because I couldn't take nursing for an hour every hour and a half any more. I think I ovulated within a week of cutting back night nursing to once or twice a night.

My cycles were really long at first both times.

I've only had 4 periods in 3 1/2 years and am not likely to have another for at least another year!

[kelly18]

I breastfed my twin daughters for 13 months but have not yet had AF. (It has been a month since they weaned.) I do not feel like I will start soon, although I would like to b/c I would love to have another baby soon. In several of the messages on this strand, members have mentioned things that could be done to get AF started, although Tired x2 noted that there are varying degrees of success with them. What are some of these methods?!?

[Worldshakerz]

My first ppaf happened when ds was 18 months old, and for almost 6 months I was having patches of ewcm/cramps/sore nipples as my body was gearing up for it. I actually was researching the herb myhrr on the internet for other reasons and discovered it was also an ammenogog (stimulates menstruation). I started taking the tincture in water as a tonic for yeast problems and that same month I had my first ppaf. It was actually a relief after having such crazy hormonal stuff happening for the months beforehand. My son had been eating solids for a while by that point, so I think it was the myhrr that was the final help in getting it started.