Becoming pregnant again in the postpartum?

[Taedareth]

Does anyone have experience with this, or advice for using NFP while nursing?

We use NFP as our birth control method and my book says that basal body temp is all over the map for however many months until you start ovulating again. So the only indicator I have is cervical fluid (and cervical position, I guess, but I don't plan on checking that every day). But my cervical fluid didn't have any obvious changes prior to getting pregnant with DS so I'm concerned that there will essentially be "no warning" of ovulation when it happens. We plan to use condoms but still, those have a fairly high failure rate.

So anyway... if I did get pregnant I would have no way to measure when the pregnancy started (and I wouldn't get any ultrasounds to find out). Does anyone have experience with conceiving while nursing, and did it present any difficulties for you because you didn't know when you conceived/when the baby was due? Does anyone have advice for using NFP while nursing?

[carla72]

Hi I got pregnant while nursing. My AF returned when dd was 13 months She is 20 months now and I am 14 weeks (give or take ) pregnant. I had only had two cycles post partum so calculating my edd was a bit tricky. I didn't want a dating ultrasound but If I went on mly last cycle the midwives were full and I would have to go to an OB (not an option for me and home birth lol) so I did have the dating ultrasound. It gave a difference of only 2 weeks but it was enough I was able to get into the midwifes. Had the midwifes not been so full i would have just went on my last period and taken it fromt here. I out weighed the risk benifit and the risk of an ultrasound was less than the risk of a ob birth to me. hth

[MamaTaraX]

No wisdom. Just wanted to say that it certainly happens. I have more than enough friends with kiddos less that 16 mos apart to assure you that its a real possibility. I have a few friends with kids 11.5-14 mos apart too. What I know of using NFP during the first 6 mos post-partum is basiclaly this: You will most likely not ovulate if you nurse on demand, including offering no bottles or binkies, especially for at least the first 6 weeks and if you are still bleeding and there is a third thing but I forgot it alraedy. It's not surefire, it won't keep pregnancy from occuring if it is going ot occur. Abstinence will You know what keeps me from hopping in the sack? My friends who went for a six-week post-partum check-up and found out threy were pregnant at that visit. Umm..yeah... my legs are sooo crossed! My 3rd was conceieved while I was still nursing my 2nd, though he was 19 mos when the baby was conceieved.

Namaste, Tara

[Turtlemum]

I'm not sure what book you have but the one I recommend to anyone wanting to know more about fertility awareness/natural family planning is :

Taking control of your fertility by Toni Weshcler (sp?)...

I've been meaning to pull out my copy myself recently because I was wondering the exact same thing....need to refresh my mind...

Have you considered a diaphragm as back up to the condoms?

kelli

[Spark]

nak tara's got it.

- baby not eating solids
- no artificial nipples
- baby sucking at breast with no more than 1 4-5 hour stretch per 24 hours.
- baby under 6 months of age
- haven't had a postpartum period

if you're doing all this, then there's only a 5% chance of conceiving??? I think that's right. i do know one of those 5% people... she had babes 13 months apart. personally it freaks me out too much not to use condoms.

[Taedareth]

Originally Posted by Spark

baby sucking at breast with no more than 1 4-5 hour stretch per 24 hours.

Uh-oh - he sleeps for two 4-hour periods at night. So I guess I'm out of the safe zone already. Er... well, condoms it is. Not that we're having sex yet.... at 10 weeks postpartum my birth tear is just getting healed. But I was kind of hoping that would change soon.

Thanks for all the good advice. If anyone else has experience with a surprise pregnancy while nursing, please share your story. Was it hard having two little ones so close together? Was your pregnancy more difficult because you were caring for a baby already, etc.

[Spark]

A little off topic, but remember that lubricant is SO critical for intercourse when you're a nursing mom. You'll start making your own lubricant again, but not for some time.

[anonymous4_20]

As far as condoms not being effective, my doc told me that they have to factor in the people who FORGET TO PUT THEM ON!!! into the statistcs!

:

She said that if you put them on correctly each time, your chances are almost as good as on the pill.

So that might make you feel better.

[bluets]

my dad used to tell me that an aspirin between your knees (the woman, that is) was effective birth control.

[MistyB]

As far as condoms not being effective, my doc told me that they have to factor in the people who FORGET TO PUT THEM ON!!! into the statistics!

Not true...

The stats are usually prefaced with "when used properly, effectively, according to manufacturer's directions"....

Not using them does NOT count into the effectiveness rates. The ineffectiveness of condoms is usually due to:

1) not pinching the reservoir tip before putting it on (makes semen more likely to spill down and out as it has no place to go)

2) the penis not being withdrawn before before it gets flacid/soft. condom falls off inside or sperm escape as they are not "trapped" in the reservoir

[Panthira]

I got pregnant while nursing, but my son was 15 months at the time. Three months later he weaned himself, but before that he nursed VERY regularly and he nursed at night because he was co-sleeping with us.

We were not using any form of birth control since my (now 2 yr old) son was born.

[anonymous4_20]

Originally Posted by MistyB

As far as condoms not being effective, my doc told me that they have to factor in the people who FORGET TO PUT THEM ON!!! into the statistics!

Not true...

The stats are usually prefaced with "when used properly, effectively, according to manufacturer's directions"....

Not using them does NOT count into the effectiveness rates. The ineffectiveness of condoms is usually due to:

1) not pinching the reservoir tip before putting it on (makes semen more likely to spill down and out as it has no place to go)

2) the penis not being withdrawn before before it gets flacid/soft. condom falls off inside or sperm escape as they are not "trapped" in the reservoir

Umm. . . not trying to be difficult here, but isn't not pinching the tip or withdrawing too late "improper use," too? :

If they only factor proper use into birth control effectiveness stats, then that would mean that about 20% of all condoms break, wouldn't it? I know they say that about proper use to preface the stats on the packaging, but I was under the impression that the risk of improper use was factored in as well. If you look on planned parenthood's site, they give stats for perfect use vs. typical use, and they have a 2% failure rate for condoms with perfect use. That's a lot better than we were all taught in school!

Again, I'm not trying to be difficult here. I just was very surprised and pleased when I found out about how they work the stats. I think condoms with NFP would work very well if you're careful about it.

[Thursday Girl]

uggh i'll let you know when i have the mony to buy a test.i'm a little worried b/c we umm were unsafe both times we've enjoyed ourselves. 5 and 7 weeks post partum. she has been sleeping more then 4.5 hours so hmmm. i'm just trying not to think about it, but at dd 1's birthday i saw an ibis. i ONLY see those when i am pregnant.

courtney

[Panthira]

What's an ibis?

[Thursday Girl]

a neat looking bird native to florida and probably other places as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibis

mine are always white ibis'

courtney

[Thursday Girl]

when i saw it i said "oh no go away, that's my pregnancy bird"

dh's response was "oh F*@k i hope not"

[DesireeH]

We havent been careful up until this week. But this week she started sleeping for sometimes 8 hour stretches without nursing. Oh and she sucks her thumb (wouldnt that be the same as a binkie?) I dunno but we are using condoms. I didnt after ds but we wanted more kids after him (and af didnt come back for 19.5 months), now I dont. HAHA

[Thursday Girl]

josephine sleeeps for 8 hours almost every night and if not 8 she sleeps for 6-7 hours, and it made my boobs hurt(slightly off topic) b/c they got sooo full i think i might have bruised the milk ducts or something.and check this out (although now i might be looking for somehing)tonight i just had to have asparugus and sauteed onions, and i couldn't stomache the chicken (which i couldn't stomache with josephine's preg.) and i can't eat eggs now until they ar ehard boiled!! i am so paranoid i can't wait until i can test and find out that i am just being silly, until then this is how it's going to be. ugghh. can so recently having a baby mess up a pregnancy test?? i'm going to just state this now, what the heck were we thinking????

[darkpear]

Eek, Courtney... I see those ibises all the time, if that's any consolation

We are supposed to be using condoms. I tossed our old box though, since they'd expired over a year ago, and we keep forgetting to buy more so it's been good ol' withdrawal... which is how we got dd1

I didn't get my period back till 14 months last time, but this kiddo sleeps a lot more and nurses less frequently. Hm, I really must remember to pick those condoms up I totally could not cope with another baby, right now or really anytime in the next several years I think.

[Panthira]

My DH is supposed to get the big V, but he keeps putting me off when I ask him when he's going to get it done. I totally understand not wanting it for fear of messing with his manhood or whatever, but unless he wants an accident, he better get on the ball. I know I don't want an unexpected pregnancy. He says he doesn't want any more, but he jokingly talks about having another one.