Period 2 1/2 months postpartum? Help!

[Sweetiemommy]

I am breastfeeding exclusively (no pacifiers, supplements, etc). I use a sling, I cosleep, I do everything possible to encourage LAM, but after extended post-partum bleeding (mild for 10weeks! Midwife ran tests for placenta fragments, I tested negative), I got what seemed to be a period (I had pms and menstrual cramps) 2 1/2 months postpartum. Now I am distressed. Has this happened to other people? My evil MIL said that something is "wrong" with me and I need to seek medical attention. I'm sure that isn't true, but I was really hoping to at least make it until the baby started solids! Now I am paranoid about pregnancy and not sure if NFP is reliable in this situation. Any advice or condolences?

[LessTraveledBy]

Hmm... If that really was a period, seems to me like you would almost be better off with NFP than someone without AF. You would simply chart, temps, the whole deal.

If that was not a real AF, that would be another matter. I have heard that some people have 'hormonal bleeding' at around 8 weeks. This actually happened to me: Bled a bit for about 6 weeks, then nothing until some days at 8 weeks pp. Not a period since, although I think my fertility might be returning.

Hope things will get clearer for you soon!

[heathenmom]

I had pp bleeding for 6 weeks, then what appeared to be a normal period at 8 weeks pp. Nothing else until 7-1/2 mo. pp (when dd went on a month-long nursing strike that led to my milk drying up - ). DH & I were extra-careful from 8 weeks on, though, since I wasn't sure when fertility would return.

HTH

[LittleOne03]

I actually had some pp bleeding at 10 weeks. I had 6 weeks of pp bleeding, so when I had more at 10 weeks I was sure that my period had returned. My baby is now 8 months old, though, and nothing since. Soooo, it could have even been some pp bleeding for you still. Even if it is your period that doesn't mean anything is wrong with you. Some people just return to fertility very quickly!

[~*~MamaJava~*~]

I'd think it was some pp bleeding yet as well. 8 weeks is awfully early - some people do get it then, but very few.
I think if you were really active or something you could start pp bleeding a little again.
I second the NFP suggestion; then you can see if you're really ovulating or if it's something else going on.

[momto l&a]

I think the healthier a woman the sooner AF comes back.
Mine came back just a couple of months after first birth but after the birth of dd#3 it took 7 months because I'm not in the health I was.

[Sweetiemommy]

I do eat really healthfully and I have been running. I do think I am ovulating (it is day 13 and I have stretchy mucous). I didn't chart my temp. Not to say that other mamas who don't have their periods aren't healthy though. I am an extreme nutrition addict! When I told my MIL that I got my period she said "something is wrong with you" and that I needed to "see someone" (meaning a "real" doctor and not my midwife). I pointed out to her that while she was breastfeeding my dh, she was also anorexic, a point that she did not appreciate. There was a study done on well nourished South American women regarding LAM. They found that on average they got their periods back around 6 months, even though they were exclusively breastfeeding and carrying their babies in slings and cosleeping. Interesting, huh? I'm just glad I got a heads up before I ovulated!
: (yikes)
Thanks!

[eilonwy]

When my son was born, I had less than a week of pp bleeding (I was finished before he came home from NICU). I breastfed full time, coslept, carried him everywhere, and looked forward to not getting my period. I got what seemed like a period at 3.5 weeks, and wrote it off. A week and a half later, I ovulated and when BeanBean was 7.5 weeks old I had my second period. I ovulated and menstruated regularly thereafter. Even tandem nursing, I started cycling regularly at three or four months pp. There's nothing wrong with you, everyone is different and some of us are just hyper-fertile. It's all good.

On the up side, you'll definately have an easier time charting, because you *know* that you're having cycles. It's all good.

[Kim]

Yep, same story here. Bled pp for 10 weeks and started getting regular periods following immediately.

(Breastfeeding, no supplement, co-sleeping, the works...happened after each child.)

[sfresco]

With both girls I got my period back nine weeks after delivery and it came regularly thereafter. Both were exclusively breast fed and no pacifiers at the time.