LAM over 6 months?

[haleyelianasmom]

Everything I read says that breastfeeding is only an effective form of birth control if your child is under 6 months, but what if your cycles have not yet returned and your child is nursing frequently? I don't see how someone could get pregnant before her cycles return unless it is the first ovulation before AF. Otherwise, pregnancy couldn't occur if there isn't tissue building up and an egg being sent out. So really, even if your child is well over 6 months, if AF hasn't returned and you aren't observing any signs of ovulations, it would have to be pretty effective, right?

[Nathan1097]

I think it depends. For me, I wasn't fertile again until closer to 9 months pp. Or at least, gearing up to be. My periods didn't really return until 12 months or so. But yes- you could ovulate before AF. That's what happened to my sister. She had no period for a year (can't remember if it was completely since the birth of her twins which would've been more like 3 years) and concieved anyway. They had no period date so they went by ultrasound for her dates.

I wouldn't trust charting while breastfeeding. But I WOULD check for signs of fertile mucous and see if that is going in any sort of pattern. It also depends on how much you would not want to be pregnant again. If you're okay with another pregnancy, then maybe get something temporary but non-hormonal like a diaphragm for the time being. If you absolutely can't get pregnant for whatever reason- as in another pregnancy would be traumatic for whatever reason- then I wouldn't trust following your body signs at this point- not without clear fertility indicators and patterns. As I just posted in another thread, you CAN get pregnant before your period returns. People think a cycle starts with a period- and yes that's the way its "counted" but really, it starts with ovulation and when pregnancy does not happen, then the lining is shed and starts back up with building it and ovulation again.

[Kleine Hexe]

Every one is different but LAM works for me for 24 months. After both my babies I had no fertility signs and my period returned at 24 months. I think if you pay attention to your body LAM can be a good method. If you *absolutely* do not or can not become pg I'd use a back up method.