Breastfeeding as contraceptive

Ok - so I think I know the stats on breastfeeding as a contraceptive, ie 98%
effective if baby less then 6 months, exclusively BFing frequently day and
night.

My 3 month old DD2 sleeps for a good 8 - 10 hours most nights (still can't
quite belive this after a year of DD1 not sleeping through!!) and is
exclusively BF. My periods havn't returned yet and I'm wondering how much
this long sleep would increase the risk of pregnancy. It wouldn't be an
absolute disaster if I got pregnant, as we'll probably start actively trying
for no.3 later in the year.
Thanks
Angela

Angela skrev:
Ok - so I think I know the stats on breastfeeding as a contraceptive, ie 98%
effective if baby less then 6 months, exclusively BFing frequently day and
night.

My 3 month old DD2 sleeps for a good 8 - 10 hours most nights (still can't
quite belive this after a year of DD1 not sleeping through!!) and is
exclusively BF. My periods havn't returned yet and I'm wondering how much
this long sleep would increase the risk of pregnancy. It wouldn't be an
absolute disaster if I got pregnant, as we'll probably start actively trying
for no.3 later in the year.
Thanks
Angela



Knowledgeable people would probably say it reduces the security very much.

I'm sure someone else will get on-line later and tell you.

Tine, Denmark

I think you have to breastfeed every 4 hours or less day and night. I don't
think you are safe.

I have always had unprotected intercourse while breastfeeding the other 5
(am not risiking this time!) but I knew the risks. I didn't feed the every 4
hours and never became pregnant, however I do become caught on the 1st cycle
after finishing breastfeeding.

Andrea mom of 6 Erin is 9 weeks.

Hi,
I am in the same situation as you. My 19 week old is exclusively breastfed
and I have had two periods since her birth - first at about 11 weeks. The
hormone that suppresses ovulation is called prolactin, and if your little
one is regularly going 6 hours or more at night without a feed that's not
enough prolactin to stop the periods.

So you'll have to rely on another form of contraception - and remember you
ovulate before a period, so you could get pregnant again without ever having
a period.

morag

"Angela" wrote in message
...
Ok - so I think I know the stats on breastfeeding as a contraceptive, ie
98%
effective if baby less then 6 months, exclusively BFing frequently day and
night.

My 3 month old DD2 sleeps for a good 8 - 10 hours most nights (still can't
quite belive this after a year of DD1 not sleeping through!!) and is
exclusively BF. My periods havn't returned yet and I'm wondering how much
this long sleep would increase the risk of pregnancy. It wouldn't be an
absolute disaster if I got pregnant, as we'll probably start actively
trying
for no.3 later in the year.
Thanks
Angela

"Morag in Oxford" wrote in message
...
Hi,
I am in the same situation as you. My 19 week old is exclusively
breastfed and I have had two periods since her birth - first at about 11
weeks. The hormone that suppresses ovulation is called prolactin, and if
your little one is regularly going 6 hours or more at night without a feed
that's not enough prolactin to stop the periods.

That's not always true. DS slept 12 hours through the night at 3mo, but I
didn't get them back until he was about 13 mo.

"Angela" ) writes:
Ok - so I think I know the stats on breastfeeding as a contraceptive, ie 98%
effective if baby less then 6 months, exclusively BFing frequently day and
night.

I think there are about one or two other conditions as well,
such as that periods have not yet returned. Much better
than 98% can be gotten if you also practice a fertility
awareness method such as Billings during that time.


My 3 month old DD2 sleeps for a good 8 - 10 hours most nights (still can't
quite belive this after a year of DD1 not sleeping through!!) and is
exclusively BF. My periods havn't returned yet and I'm wondering how much
this long sleep would increase the risk of pregnancy. It wouldn't be an
absolute disaster if I got pregnant, as we'll probably start actively trying
for no.3 later in the year.
Thanks
Angela

How much I don't know. The first period is likely to be an
infertile one, but the chance of the first period being a fertile
one goes up as the baby gets older. If the first period
while bf is a fertile one, it usually (not always) is accomplanied
by a longish series of days of easy-to-recognize fertile mucus;
that is, that first fertile period has more mucus and is
easier to recognize (usually) than the fertile mucus in
a normal period. So using some sort of fertility awareness
method can increase the effectiveness a lot -- though maybe not
much unless it's done carefully and seriously, with
abstinence when there's even one little bit of what seems
to be fertile mucus on one day, following the rules of
whichever method you would be using.

Actually, I'm not so sure whether that bit about the
longish string of fertile-mucus days applies if the
first fertile period occurs early e.g. before 6 months.
I just don't remember about that.

One option could be to get up in the middle of the
night and pump, although I wouldn't go to that
trouble unless I had engorgement or had to get
up anyway or something. Or you could even wake the
baby to nurse.

"Morag in Oxford" ) writes:
Hi,
I am in the same situation as you. My 19 week old is exclusively breastfed
and I have had two periods since her birth - first at about 11 weeks. The
hormone that suppresses ovulation is called prolactin, and if your little
one is regularly going 6 hours or more at night without a feed that's not
enough prolactin to stop the periods.

So you'll have to rely on another form of contraception - and remember you
ovulate before a period, so you could get pregnant again without ever having
a period.

Not necessarily. Even if the baby sleeps through the night,
breastfeeding can prevent periods and does in many women.
I think the 98% statistic was based on a set of babies where
some slept through the night and some didn't. (I'm not
quite sure about that.) Still, the ones who do sleep
through the night would be linked to a higher pregnancy
rate than the others.

Not all periods have ovulation before them. While breastfeeding,
often the first period, sometimes the first few periods,
are infertile periods. This is one reason the pregnancy
rate is very low when a careful natural family planning
method is followed during breastfeeding.

After the first period, it's reasonable to assume that
fertility has returned and if you're trying to avoid
pregnancy, the recommendations are pretty much the same
as if you weren't bf. (OK, not all recommendations.
I'd avoid artificial hormones during bf, for example.)

Angela writes:
: Ok - so I think I know the stats on breastfeeding as a contraceptive, ie 98%
: effective if baby less then 6 months, exclusively BFing frequently day and
: night.

: My 3 month old DD2 sleeps for a good 8 - 10 hours most nights (still can't
: quite belive this after a year of DD1 not sleeping through!!) and is
: exclusively BF. My periods havn't returned yet and I'm wondering how much
: this long sleep would increase the risk of pregnancy. It wouldn't be an
: absolute disaster if I got pregnant, as we'll probably start actively trying
: for no.3 later in the year.
: Thanks
: Angela

Angela,
I think the longer sleep times increase your chances, but not much...

First, she is supposed to nurse at least every 6 hours. The 8 hour night
is a little over, but the 10 hour is a lot. This could increase the chances
of your period coming back. However...

The earlier your period returns, the better the chance is that the first
period is anovulagtory. So, if you have a period before 6 months, it is
more likely to be anovulatory than later. This means you are warned if
it returns.

So, given that you are not to worried about it, I'd say not to worry about
it. (How's that for logic?!)

:-)
Larry

Thanks everyone for your replies! I think I'm going to start waking her in
the night (or feed her when I go to bed) to try and get in an extra feed.
I've just had her weighed today and she's only put on 51/2oz in 2 weeks, and
3oz in the 3 weeks before that. She's quite short, so looks nice and chubby,
but should really be putting on a bit more weight.
I guess that will solve the problem of the long night!!

Angela

Angela wrote:
Thanks everyone for your replies! I think I'm going to start waking her in
the night (or feed her when I go to bed) to try and get in an extra feed.
I've just had her weighed today and she's only put on 51/2oz in 2 weeks, and
3oz in the 3 weeks before that. She's quite short, so looks nice and chubby,
but should really be putting on a bit more weight.
I guess that will solve the problem of the long night!!

Angela

No offense, but personally, I wouldn't wake a sleeping baby for feeds
unless they were a sleepy newborn not getting enough feeds. Why do you
have the idea she should be putting on more weight? As long as she is
having enough wet diapers and staying on her curve, I'd stay with
demand feeding.

Yes, getting your period back early can be annoying, but with all the
variation out there, I wouldn't use it as a reason to wake a sleeping
baby. Especially since it's not a guarantee either way!

Irene