Getting pregnant while breastfeeding

[sue26]

Hi,

I'm currently nursing my 10 month old son 4-5 times a day and I've been trying to conceive for the last couple of months. I got my period about 6 weeks after giving birth even tough I was exclusively breastfeeding. I've been using the clearblue ovulation tests and I've had several positive ones but I did noticed that I now have a short luteal phase (about 9-10 days). It use to be about 15-16 days before and I'm wondering if I will have to stop nursing in order for my cycles to go back to normal and get pregnant again. Thanks for any info.

Susana

[findinghumility]

You'll want to talk to a good doctor on this one in regards to luteal phase.  It is possible as you start to nurse less your luteal phase may lengthen, but it's also possible it won't make a difference at all.....  I'm not sure but it would be worth checking with the doc to see if there are any negatives involved with taking a progesterone supplement of some kind to lengthen luteal phase while you are nursing or if that is off limits....Most women I counsel find that it's the pre-ovulation phase of their pregnancy that fluctuates when bf and getting their cycle back, not the luteal phase.  I too had a 13 day luteal phase before having my second and it took us a while to conceive our third as my luteal phase also dropped down to about 10 days consistently. For me it stayed at 9 or 10 days both when I was nursing as you are, and when I had weened completely.  If you can wait a couple more months for your son to reach 12 months and then start phasing out the nursing that would probably be best physically for you and him (he wouldn't have to go on formula not that it would be a BIG deal, and you could give your body a couple more months to work it out on it's own)....just some thoughts....  Good luck!