pregnant while nursing & before period returns?

[laurelavenue]

Any mamas out there who have gotten pregnant again while exclusively breastfeeding & before your period returned? If so, how many months old was your baby? Were you trying to conceive? And how did you realize you were pregnant?

[mama2noah]

bumping this one up...I would love an answer also!

[Effervescence]

Kind of wondering if this applies to me right now...

AF didn't return until DS #1 was 13 months old. DS #2 is 8 months old...is it reasonable to expect that AF/fertility would follow a similar pattern?

Sleepy and nauseous ... wondering if I should test! (I never did pee on a stick with DS #2 -- just counted my 18 high temps and that was it.)

PS: Some people call that "catching the first egg" -- you might try searching for that phrase.

[dziwozony]

HA! i'm watching this one too...my ds is 6.5 months old, breastfed around the clock, no menses for me yet...but the past week i'm hungry all the time & tired more often. we've said we wanted 2, but ummm....a bit earlier than preferred! thinking of taking a test.

other mamas...would love to hear from you!!!

[theatermom]

Yup, twice.

With ds#3, ds#2 was 17 months old, caught the first PP eggie.

With dc#4, ds#3 was 22 months old, caught the first PP eggie.

We weren't actively trying, but we weren't preventing, either. We knew that our chances were reasonable because of the ages of our kiddos, and we wanted more, but weren't trying to "plan" them, if that makes sense.

With ds#2, ds#1 was 26 months old, and I had one cycle (ovulatory) before the cycle we conceived. We were actively trying.

I have heard/read that the longer it takes for your cycles to return, the more likely you are to release an egg before bleeding (as opposed to having an annovulatory cycle/bleeding first). I obviously react strongly to the presence of breastfeeding hormones in my system.

Oh, and I always have really intense, crazy dreams in the 2ww, which is my only clue/symptom until ms sets in around 6 weeks. I've always tested early because of the crazy dreams.

[1babysmom]

One of my good friends did...at 4 months PP and exclusively AND tandem nursing. She was feeling crappy so decided to start charting in case she was going to start O'ing, the BD'd ONE day and then the next day her temp rose...she'd O'd AND conceived!

[Effervescence]

Originally Posted by theatermom

Yup, twice.

Oh, and I always have really intense, crazy dreams in the 2ww, which is my only clue/symptom until ms sets in around 6 weeks. I've always tested early because of the crazy dreams.

What is ms?

[gaialice]

Morning sickness

[kdf]

This is the thread I have been looking for.
I am almost 9 mths pp and no AF. With my ds I was 5 mth and it came back. I am hungry all the time ( which isn't great b/c I am on weight watchers and I can't stick to my program), I am crampy, tired, and moody.

We did use anything three times that we had sex so now I don't know if I should test.
I keep thinking that my AF is coming but I have been like this for a week +. And I am kinda feeling sick too.

I didn't think I was ovulating b/c I didn't notice any cm. I still nurse lots at night.

Should I test?
Oh I have been having crazy dreams too and lots of pregnancy dreams.

[Effervescence]

So, have any of you given in and tested yet?

I keep seeing references to dollar store preg tests here...do they sell them in Canadian dollar stores? I'm only aware of the $10-20 tests in drugstores.

[theatermom]

Originally Posted by Effervescence

So, have any of you given in and tested yet?

I keep seeing references to dollar store preg tests here...do they sell them in Canadian dollar stores? I'm only aware of the $10-20 tests in drugstores.

I don't know about Canadian dollar stores, but you can get reasonably priced preg. tests online -- definitely much less expensive than the drugstore variety (especially if you tend to take a lot of tests!).

[herwitsend]

I have a big stash of dollar tree tests. I have taken a couple over the past few months.

[LotusBirthMama]

This is the thread for me! DS2 is 9.5 months old, no PP AF yet, but I have been noticing fertility signs, mainly EW CM. We are not using any protection and for the last week I have noticed:

I can't stand nursing. I wanna crawl out of my skin due to just a general "off" sensation. Its not thrush or anything.

I've had a vague stomach ache and abdominal achey-ness.

I have zero appetite.

I POAS about 2 weeks ago and got a neg. so I am not gonna throw any more money away. Its making me crazy though! I keep second guessing everything and just WONDERING...all day long!

[sostinkinhappy]

Not me, but my dear sis is working on 8 years with no period, lucky her. She has always caught the first PP eggie, which generally has shown up when the wee-one that she is nursing is around 20-24 months.

Me on the other hand, my period comes back within 8 weeks, even with co-sleeping & exclusive breast feeding--not even a pacifier. Last time it was 10 weeks, but not only was I nursing my little guy but I was pumping for a friend who had just adopted a new baby. What's up with that?

[maureen73]

Hello Ladies,

I was exclusively nursing my 7 week old daughter when I got pregnant with my DS (who is 7 weeks today and sitting here nursing while I am typing). My period had not returned. Flashing back, I got pregnant with my daughter while exclusively nursing my son, at 7 months however I had gotten one period back when I got pregnant that time. So YES YES YES it definately can happen.

[kdf]

So I tested. Negative. But with my dd all the tests were negative. If I am not pg then I don't what is going on. My gums started bleeding when I was brushing my teeth today which only happens to me when i am pg. I guess I will test again in a few days and in the morning,

[maureen73]

KDF...Have you noticed any changes with your milk supply? That was the first clue that I had looking back. Hannah was 6 weeks when I conceived again and she was nursing a ton and my milk supply was awesome. After the baby implanted my milk supply definately started to dwindle. I was so confused because never in a million years did I think I was pregnant. But sure enough I tested around 5 weeks (Hannah was 11 weeks at the time) and I was definately pregnant (u/s showed 5.5 weeks).

[kdf]

Not really a decrease but dd is way more fussy when i am feeding. She will eat for a bit and then scream and then go back to nursing again and scream and so on. She usually doesn't do that. I know that it could be different things. But I have noticed that change.

[maureen73]

Hmmm...sounds like me all over again I had just gone back to work and started pumping. I know that my milk was dwindling definately from the amounts I was pumping but the first clue again was that Hannah would want to nurse constantly and got so frustrated that it made me wonder what the heck was going on....flash forward and I sure do know what that was. I am an exclusively breastfeeding momma to a 2 year old, 1 year old and newborn who never got her period back either time! Please keep me posted!

[kdf]

Another neg so I guess I am not pg. But it is good to know that other moms got pg without a period since now I really want to start trying.