Irregular AF after Breastfeeding?

Melysa - posted on 10/31/2010

the only way i can think to respond to this Question is to tell you what has happened over the last 8 years with me it may give you some answers and peace of mind, i had my first child just over 8 years ago, she b/f for around 4-5 months till she self weaned, (dr told me to combine feed her as she was a small baby but due to family size and being just breastfed in hindsight dr was an idiot and she was perfect b/f are usually smaller and the frequent feeds was just her way of changing the milk as babies need to do from time to time)took till she was 6 months to get my first bleed, i fell pregnant with my next cycle,she was 8 months or so, b/f that baby till he was 11-12 months as my milk had changed, due to falling pregnant, at around the same age as the previous birthday (there was not sign of a cycle at all) when no. 3 was around 4 months i had an interuterine device put in, with this you may or may not have a regular cycle, i did not have a bleed until she was approximately 16 months old, she had stopped feeding at age 1. the device was expelled with that bleed we assume, i had 1 more bleed not too sure how long between but i remember thinking i could have been pregnant, i got really sick and experienced morning sickness like symptoms for about a week before they showed up, i fell pregnant after that but it took a little longer than normal for me to pick it up as my cycles were so new. after the birth of my 4th my hubby and i decided to try for a 2nd boy (we have G, B, G, G, B) she was around 10 months when i got my first cycle, exclusively b/f for 6 months then solids gradually combined with b/f, i had 2 bleeds before we concieved our boy but i had to monitor my cycle closely the length was not standard i could pick ovulation by the third cycle (and managed to conceive that time round) but the bleed was not predictable one cycle was around 5, the other 6 weeks, my son is now 18 almost 19 months old, i have had 4, or 5 cycles (time moves so fast with so many kids) my hubby had a vasectomy 11 months ago, and yet i still had the dr wondering if i were pregnant as i was over a month in duration, it has been almost a month now, so i should start soon but i know when i do that it will be heavy then slow almost stop and then start again be heavy and then after a week and a half to 2 weeks finally actually stop, i have not b/f since he was around 14 months and we discovered his intolerance of the A1 milk protein

Robin - posted on 10/31/2010

I dint get my first period untill my son was almost 20 months. He is now 2 and a half and my cycle is really irregular. I still breast feed and figure sometimes i produce more hormones that others making my cycle come later... Good luck. Join the club. Hehehe

Hayley - posted on 10/31/2010

My son is 15 months and I got my first AF last week which only lasted 2 days. He breastfeeds mainly at night, but some days he'll have a lot in the day too depending on his mood n teeth!

Jessica - posted on 10/30/2010

This is really interesting, thanks Stacy and everyone who has responded! My baby is 15 months and I still haven't had a period - she BFs a LOT :) I've always had a long, irregular cycle though, so not a good example of 'normal' :)

Jennifer - posted on 10/30/2010

I agree, it's totally individual. I'm still heavily nursing my 19 month old and just had my first 'AF' (took me a sec, but I got it;'Aunt Flow') about two weeks ago. It was a normal cycle...a little heavier than normal, but who cares, right? I got to go more than 2 yrs without having to deal with that!!

Jessica - posted on 10/30/2010

i just got my first one and my son is 13 months. He LOVES the mommy milk though. He still nurses 4 times a day or so. My first period was very light and not long. I don't know if it will be regular or not yet, but it is good to know that it is normal for it to be a bit irregular for a while. :)

Gabrielle - posted on 10/30/2010

My daughter was 8 months old when my cycle returned. I'm generally irregular anyway, but after it returned, I was even worse--I had 60ish day cycles. There's a huge range of what's normal when you're nursing, so I wouldn't sweat it too much.

Lisa - posted on 10/30/2010

My son is 9 months old and I still haven't gotten my period at all. Then again, I have polycystic ovarian syndrome, so I had always had issues with getting my period unless I was on the pill, and when I wanted to get pregnant, I had to take Provera and Clomid. It's possible that now that I have a baby it will straighten out my cycle, but I don't know yet. I'm curious what will happen. The basal body temperature doesn't work on me in terms of figuring out when I'm ovulating - I had to go to a special doctor, so I'm curious what will happen the second time around.

Laura Zoey - posted on 10/30/2010

I got mine when my son was 9 months old, it was regular-ish from there on. It was always between 26-33 days so that's a big variation but within the normal time frame. And really anything is normal when breastfeeding as everyones different!

Jenna - posted on 10/30/2010

I think with my first daughter I got a period around 10 mos and then not again until after she was a year old. I'm nursing #2 now and haven't had a period yet (over 6 mo now).

Didi - posted on 10/30/2010

Agree with the people :) Breastfeeding is a way of natural child spacing but it only works for the first six months if all the child's sucking needs are met at the breast (no pacifiers, bottles). If your baby nurses a lot at night and in the morning (when we make the most milk and the hormone that keeps us from having a regular monthly ovulation) you could continue to have irregular periods. Mine is just starting to become regular and my baby is 11 mos. and still nurses often. Keeping track of your basal body temp. & vaginal secretions will help you predict when you will be ovulating.

Tammy - posted on 10/25/2010

Yeah this normal. I have only had three since mine returned (my son is 16mo and bf 2x day) and it was 6 weeks and then 5 weeks apart. My husband and I are trying to conceive #2 and so far its been 5 weeks 1 day, so fingers crossed! x

*Fluffy Bunnies - posted on 10/25/2010

Mine started back up 6 months ago and they are still irregular.

Lerin - posted on 10/25/2010

Monthly cycle? Never heard it called 'AF'. My first few were really irregular. You may go a few months without another one, or may just have an irregular cycle for awhile.