When did you get your period back after having your LO?

Question

What's the normal length of time if you're nursing? My son is 8 1/2 months and I still haven't gotten my period since he was born. I know they say it will take longer when nursing, but this long? I just hope to have it back my spring next year so DH and I can TTC#2.

Answer 1

4 months. Not a proper one as i'm breastfeeding! On the pill now x x

Answer 2

same thing here.. i got it almost exactly after 1 year, hes 14 months now and still nursing.. but its really not anything set like every 28 days, its usually longer in between and hard to predict. nursing will do that. and dont be in such a rush to have #2 anyway.. enjoy your first.. babies are a lot of work and hes going to need a lot of attention for a while to come.

Answer 3

GOOD QUESTION CAUSE SAVANNAH IS 5 1/2 MONTHS AND I STILL HAVENT GOTTEN IT.  I FEEL WEIRD NOT HAVING FOR SO LONG.

Answer 4

I got mine back at 5 months, and 4 months which sucks as I use breastfeeding as birth control (which is as effective as the pill if you can follow the rules before anyone says anything dumb)

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

Return of fertility

Return of menstruation following childbirth varies widely between individuals. The closer a woman's behavior is to the Seven Standards of ecological breastfeeding, the later (on average) her cycles will return. Average return of menses for women following all seven criteria is 14 months, with some reports as soon as 2 months and others as late as 42 months.

Although the first post-partum cycle is sometimes anovulatory (this reduces the likelihood of becoming pregnant again before having a post-partum period), subsequent cycles are almost always ovulatory and therefore must be considered fertile. However, some women find that breastfeeding interferes with fertility even after ovulation has resumed. Luteal phases too short to sustain pregnancy are a common example.

Couples who desire spacing of 18 to 30 months between children can often achieve this through breastfeeding alone.

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/normal/fertil...

Do I need to wean to get pregnant?

Probably not. If you are still transitioning to full fertility (as discussed above), breastfeeding may affect the success of implantation. Once implantation is successful, breastfeeding should not affect a healthy pregnancy (see A New Look at the Safety of Breastfeeding During Pregnancy for more information). If your periods have come back and settled into a regular pattern, it is likely that breastfeeding is no longer affecting your fertility.

Many moms can conceive without deliberately changing their toddler's nursing patterns. There is no "magic" threshold of breastfeeding that will allow you to conceive -- every mother is different. Some moms need to stretch out nursing frequency and/or shorten nursing sessions to make it easier to conceive -- babies naturally do this themselves as they get older, so one of your options is simply to wait a bit.

Changes that are more abrupt tend to bring fertility back faster (e.g., cutting out one nursing session abruptly, rather than gradually decreasing nursing time at that session) --even if you continue to breastfeed a great deal-- this is why many mothers experience the return of fertility when their child sleeps through the night or starts solid foods. If you decide to make changes to your nursing pattern, the time of day that you make the change (e.g., cutting out or shortening a nighttime nursing session as opposed to a daytime nursing session) should not make that much of a difference. Current research indicates that nursing frequency and total amount of time at the breast per 24 hours are the most important factors, rather than the time of day that the suckling occurs.

A few moms do find it impossible to conceive while nursing, but this is not at all common.

Many mothers wonder whether breastfeeding will affect the reliability of pregnancy tests. It does not -- pregnancy tests measure the amount of the hormone hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) in blood or urine, and hCG levels are not affected by breastfeeding. The developing placenta begins releasing hCG upon implantation; a pregnancy can generally be detected with a pregnancy test within 7-14 days after implantation.

For more information, see Getting Pregnant While Breastfeeding by Hilary Flower.

Answer 5

8 1/2 months sounds normal but a lil longer than usual. I think 4-6months is the average. But that being because most ppl start to introduce solids at this time, which decreases the number of times baby nurses per day. Fewer nursings usually start your cycle back up eventually. How long do you plan on nursing? If its less than two years I don't think you'll have any problem getting preggo in two years. even you don't get your period its still possible that your ovulating. In my experience, most ppl that i know who use BF as their only source of birth control seem to have kids at about 2yr intervals

Answer 6

I got mine back right when my baby turned nine months.

Some people don't get theirs back until a year or more, when nursing.