Anyone BF and doing LE? Taking Vitex?

[weeziewoozles]

Hey ladies. After my failed sway with DS3, I am determined to try again! I am currently BF DS3 and he is seven months old so I will probably continue, albeit reducing the amount, for another three to five months if DS1 and 2 are anything to go by. DH and I decided to try TTC earlier this time. The age gap between the others is 2-2.25 years so we thought we'd try a lot sooner in case my body is less boy friendly when it's less recovered from the last pregnancy. So...I'm hoping that Vitex will make my cycles start again as with my other two boys it didn't start until a month after finishing BF completely. Is anyone else TTC while BF and taking Vitex? Is it working? Atomic has suggested I wait until DS3 is nine months old, which will be mid May. If you're BF and doing the LE diet, how many cals/protein/fat are you having? I'm wary of losing weight too fast! Thanks x

[weeziewoozles]

Nobody BF and TTC using Vitex?

[JP2007]

ME!!!! Well, kind of. I am in a similar position to you, I am breastfeeding but my baby is only 6 months so I have to wait a little bit longer to start Vitex. If I remember correctly the date of my last period was 1/6/13 so my plan is to take Vitex from day 10-24 of each month which would be similar to my AF-O time before my last pregnancy.

I am doing the LE diet and I usually take in about 1600 calories. Atomic recommended that I start out with at least 1800 but I did that for awhile and wasn't losing weight so I cut back some when I introduced baby food and haven't had any supply issues.

I have actually noticed some changes for the better in my son that is nursing. He used to be gassy and be fussy often and since starting LE he has been almost gas free and very happy. He is still thriving and is a huge chunk but the bland diet I am eating seems to agree with his digestive system much better!

I breastfed my first son for a year and didn't have my first cycle until 2 months after he weaned so I am also hoping Vitex will kickstart my body into ovulating earlier.

Good luck I hope it works for us both!

[cpsvlc08]

Me too!!! I've been taking vitex for several months and I'm still bf'g my 15mth old. I'm ready to be finished nursing but he doesn't want to ween... that being said I'm only nursing before nap/bedtime and maybe one other time during the day but AF still has not shown up. This past month I started to feel some ovulation pains which I probably would not have ever noticed before but because I want to start ovulating again I'm much more in tune I feel with my body. Anyways, sort of on a whim I checked with a ovulation strip and it was positive for a couple days. The first day the strip detected a surge I checked it 3 times, lol, I didn't believe I could actually be ovulating. Anyways, that was only a few days ago so I'll see if AF shows up in a couple weeks. I never thought I'd actually be happy to have my period come back... crazy!

As for the diet, I guess I'm doing a loose form of it. I never eat b'fast, switched to white bread, salads with lots of the free veggies and very little meat (white only). I love my carbs so probably not losing as much weight as if I didn't eat as much bread, crackers, etc. It has not effected my supply really and I exercise 5 times a week running 60mins so I figure I can afford a few more calories. I don't really want to get pregnant right now as I'm just back to work (I'm from Canada and we get a year off for mat leave) so I want to get my life organized a bit before adding another child to the mix. That being said, I want to start tracking my cycles so that I know when I ovulate and if I did get pregnant I would already be swaying so would still feel good that I did something to help our chances for pink. Plus, I'm 37 so obviously we don't have forever to try.
Good Luck to both you ladies... I think eventually it will happen (everyone is different I suppose)! I've been on it for 4mths probably.

[weeziewoozles]

Thanks ladies. It's always nice to share these things with others. I'm wary of dropping weight too fast as I did that last time and I wasn't even BF then! So I'm thinking I'll need more like 2000 cals while sticking to the LE principles of low fat and low protein etc. I keep saying "I'll start the diet today" and then putting it off as I don't know how long I am going to have to wait to be able to TTC. But last week I went veggie and as of today I am starting the LE diet. Only thing is that I am not yet skipping breakfast as I nurse three times between my dinner and my lunch. My thought is that it'll be better to gradually move that first meal of the day later and later until it's nearer midday. So that's the plan. I've been stocking up on low fat products and sugary drinks to try and keep up the calories!

[cpsvlc08]

I forgot to mention that I take it 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off. That's what atomic suggested when I had asked about pretty much the same thing.

[atomic sagebrush]

I did use it and I felt that it did work the first time (when I wasn't ovulating) to restore my fertility. The second time I didn't start it till my cycle came back so I can't say for sure if it helped keep it regular. I do think it helped me get a girl the second time thru though.

[atomic sagebrush]

I forgot to mention that I take it 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off. That's what atomic suggested when I had asked about pretty much the same thing.

yes 2 w on, 2 w off, and if you're trying to kickstart cycles, taking it in the pattern your cycle was before you conceived your prev. baby seems to help. Most of the time our cycles will resume at very similar if not identical time of the month to what they were prior to having our prev. kiddo.

[JP2007]

I keep saying "I'll start the diet today" and then putting it off as I don't know how long I am going to have to wait to be able to TTC.

These were my feelings to a T!! I even posted about it awhile back. I was so frustrated with the diet and was worried that I was starting it way too early and I felt like I was losing steam waiting on ovulation. I really want my kids to be close in age, and I know I would be really mad at myself if I postponed my sway and started ovulating earlier than I expected. I eased my way into the diet just like you mentioned and now I am actually enjoying all of the carbs and sugar, not to mention the weight loss!

Fingers crossed for all of us here!!!

[weeziewoozles]

It's certainly more expensive buying all this processed food! I've been stocking up on low-fat biscuits, low-fat crisps (those popchip things), low-fat noodle/pasta packet meals, sweets and fizzy drinks. As I normally cook from scratch my weekly shop was close to 25% more than usual! I've just been making my own meatballs and tomato sauce for all of my boys for their dinner. Smells yummy but I'm sure my pasta and low-fat jar sauce will be ok :)