no period for almost 9 months, on birth control and breast feeding..

Since the birth of my son in Feb. I haven't had a period. I was breast
feedomg and alternating with formula until my son was about 2 months. Then
I went to breastfeeding exclusively and still am. My son is 8 1/2 months now.
I also started taking birth control 6 weeks after the birth. The pills I
take are orto evra micronor (All the pills in the package are the same color.)
I have missed pills here and there. I when to the doctor in July for my
yearly checkukp and was told that i should of had a period by now. So I went
off the pill incase I was already pregnant. 3 weeks later still no period.
I took about 5 tests in august and they all said NO. I took another test the
begining of october and it also said no. Currently still no period.
I do have days were I am tired and don't have any energy. But no nausa.
What do you think could be going on and is there anything I should do?

on what basis "should" you have had a period by now, breastfeeding can cause
extended amenhorea (absence of periods), as can any progesterone only method
of birth control (which is what micronor is), to be honest I'd be surprised
if you had had anything other than a very light period.

I went on micronor after my first child, but after my periods had returned,
but once I went on micronor and was still breastfeeding, I didn't have
anything other than infrequent light spotting for a day or so until he was
well past a year. This time around, I had a mirena (progesterone coil)
inserted before I had a period and still haven't had one, DD is 16 months.

Right now, for you breastfeeding is no longer good for birth control (the
baby must be under 6 months), so you do need to make sure you take those
pills regularly and at the right time of day, otherwise you do risk an
unexpected pregnancy. If you feel you cannot manage the regularity required,
consider another method.

Cheers

Anne

maymomma wrote:

Since the birth of my son in Feb. I haven't had a period. [...]
I when to the doctor in July for my
yearly checkukp and was told that i should of had a period by now.

Oh, good heavens! These doctors need more education.
The *average* return of the period is around 8-9 months,
but the *actual* return is all over the map. Mine returned
at 11 months the first time and 16 months the second.

-- Anita --

"Irrational Number" wrote in message
nk.net...
maymomma wrote:

Since the birth of my son in Feb. I haven't had a period. [...]
I when to the doctor in July for my
yearly checkukp and was told that i should of had a period by now.

Oh, good heavens! These doctors need more education.
The *average* return of the period is around 8-9 months,
but the *actual* return is all over the map. Mine returned
at 11 months the first time and 16 months the second.

-- Anita --

My baby was born in Feb too, I'm also on Micronor, and my periods haven't
returned yet either. In my mothers group whose babies were all born around
the same time, only a couple have their periods back yet. One of them
started within weeks of the baby being born, the other started only
recently. So yes, it's all over the map.

Liz

I was taking micronor for a while after birth, and am still breastfeeding a
2 year old. My period didn't return until around 18 months after her birth.

"maymomma" u28447@uwe wrote in message news:6878f31dc2dd7@uwe...
Since the birth of my son in Feb. I haven't had a period. I was breast
feedomg and alternating with formula until my son was about 2 months.
Then
I went to breastfeeding exclusively and still am. My son is 8 1/2 months
now.
I also started taking birth control 6 weeks after the birth. The pills I
take are orto evra micronor (All the pills in the package are the same
color.)
I have missed pills here and there. I when to the doctor in July for my
yearly checkukp and was told that i should of had a period by now. So I
went
off the pill incase I was already pregnant. 3 weeks later still no
period.
I took about 5 tests in august and they all said NO. I took another test
the
begining of october and it also said no. Currently still no period.
I do have days were I am tired and don't have any energy. But no nausa.
What do you think could be going on and is there anything I should do?

maymomma wrote:
Since the birth of my son in Feb. I haven't had a period. I was breast
feedomg and alternating with formula until my son was about 2 months. Then
I went to breastfeeding exclusively and still am. My son is 8 1/2 months now.
I also started taking birth control 6 weeks after the birth. The pills I
take are orto evra micronor (All the pills in the package are the same color.)
I have missed pills here and there. I when to the doctor in July for my
yearly checkukp and was told that i should of had a period by now.

Your doctor is talking rubbish.

In the first place, breastfeeding may prevent your periods from coming
back. This is always temporary (and quite harmless), but the length of
time it goes on for varies from woman to woman and also depends on how
often you're breastfeeding during the day. This is because, in the days
before birth control, it was an evolutionary advantage for women not to
have babies too close together, so breastfeeding has some degree of
preventative effect. (It's very far from perfect - don't rely on it as
a birth control method in your case.)

In the second place, Micronor itself causes periods to stop in around
one in ten women taking it (again, this is temporary and harmless).
Obviously this isn't the cause in your case, as your period still hasn't
come back after coming off it, but the doctor should have pointed out to
you that not having your period might be a normal side effect of being
on it at the time you saw him.

So I went
off the pill incase I was already pregnant. 3 weeks later still no period.
I took about 5 tests in august and they all said NO. I took another test the
begining of october and it also said no. Currently still no period.
I do have days were I am tired and don't have any energy. But no nausa.
What do you think could be going on

Your period hasn't restarted because you're still breastfeeding.
Totally normal. It's unpredictable when it'll restart - it's likely to
be within the next few months as your baby gradually starts taking more
solids, but some women don't get their period back until they stop
breastfeeding completely. Either way, it's fine. However, you may well
still be able to get pregnant, so if you don't want this to happen then
start using birth control again.

and is there anything I should do?

Firstly, if you don't want to get pregnant, restart the Micronor.
Secondly, if you were having trouble remembering pills and you don't
want to get pregnant, look into other methods of birth control such as
the IUCD. Thirdly, give some thought to changing to another doctor,
since it's a bit concerning that your current doctor thought there was
anything wrong with a breastfeeding woman on Micronor not getting her
period (although, obviously, whether or not you want to change will
depend on how happy you've been with your doctor in other ways - it's
also possible that your doctor may simply not have thought to ask
whether you were breastfeeding).


All the best,

Sarah
--
http://www.goodenoughmummy.typepad.com

"That which can be destroyed by the truth, should be" - P. C. Hodgell

FWIW I am not on any hormonal contraception, still breastfeeding at 17
months and no period. I think I *may* have ovulated last week, so I
might get it next week - who knows?

We have been pretty much night weaned for almost 2 months now... but
I've been known to go over 12 hours between feeds when I do a late
shift... I leave home at 1:30pm and get home after he's gone to bed.
He will sometimes then wake at 4-5am (if we're lucky!) for a feed. I
would have thought mine would be back by now, too. But I'm not worried
or complaining!

Jo

You can use natural family planning if you want to.
It tends to be highly effective while breastfeeding.
It involves monitoring your body for signs of fertility
and only making love on days when the rules of the
method you're following specify that you're sure you're
not fertile on that day.

While breastfeeding, your periods may not return for
many months. When they return, they may return with
an infertile period as the first period, or a fertile
one. If it's a fertile one, ovulation comes before
menstruation, so you can get pregant before your first
period unless you've learned to watch for signs that
ovulation may be coming. NFP (natural family planning)
tends to work very well during breastfeeding, even
if you're learning it for the first time, because the
first ovulation while breastfeeding is often infertile
and is usually accompanied by unusually large amounts
of fertile mucus lasting many days (though you don't
rely on that, but abstain if you don't want to get
pregnant if you see even a little fertile mucus for
even one day -- you need to learn a reliable method
and follow its rules.) Using NPF you can take advantage
of the natural infertility that can last many months
during breastfeeding and you can learn to recognize
signs that your fertility is returning.

See the Natural Family Planning Primer
http://www.ncf.ca/~an588