Nursing can give you free birth control while you are exclusively nursing your child and on demand. But what if you are desiring a baby sooner than later? Or what if you want to prolong your “free” brith control?
Nursing on demand means a Mother is nursing her child on cue. Whenever the baby indicates it wants to nurse, the Mama lets the baby nurse, even just for comfort. I call this the human pacifier. I have been the human pacifier with all of my children. It is a wonderful bonding experience. But nursing on demand for the full effect also means nursing on demand through the night.
Once a mother stops nursing at night her chances of getting pregnant skyrocket. I have also heard that if a woman abruptly stops nursing, her chances of releasing multiple eggs and having twins goes up.
For women who want to get pregnant while nursing, remember your milk supply can permanently decrease if you cut down too much and keep your milk supply down for an extended amount of time. Weigh the pros and cons of cutting down your milk supply. Mama’s milk is the most nutritious source of food, specially made for her baby.
When I got pregnant while nursing with my second child I had cut way down. It was almost to the point where I wasn’t even sure if my son was getting any milk anymore, I figured he was just comfort nursing. I think he got a very small amount. I did have some bleeding through the first half of my pregnancy that was unexplained and I think it may have been due to nursing and the hormones that come along with it, but I have not confirmed that as the reason. It only lasted through the first trimester and the pregnancy was completely fine and normal.
Night weaning seems to be one of the biggest triggers of ovulation, especially when done abruptly. But some women don’t ovulate until they have cut down much more than that or even stopped nursing completely.
After my daughter I wanted to get pregnant again and had cut down more and more and didn’t have a cycle until after she was about 15 months old. Then I had an ordeal in my life and put getting pregnant on the back burner until she was about 2 years old. But for me it took quite a bit of cutting down my nursing during the day and no night nursing to get my cycle back.
A great resource for anyone try to get pregnant or avoid getting pregnant is the book called Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler. This book was SO insightful. Every woman and teenaged girl should read this! I never realized how deficient school health and sex ed classes were until I read this book.
If you are one of those women who is breastfeeding and you are trying to get pregnant, take heart. Your cycle will come back. Enjoy the fleeting moments of your nursing baby. Don’t get so caught up in the race to fertility that you forget the moments right in front of you.
Test Comment