Ttc and breastfeeding questions

I haven't seen any BF-gender statistics, but I think there was a study done about gender conceived soon after a pregnancy. Scientifically you would get more pink whilst BF (if soon after a pregnancy) because your body is already nutrient-depleted following pregnancy and you're giving more away because of BF and we believe low nutrients sway pink. Saying that, if you're taking multivits to support pregnancy and support BF it might cancel that out. Also, a lot of BFers are going to be losing weight and weight loss is thought to sway pink as well. I have definitely seen a study that showed if you had lost weight from one pregnancy to the next conception you are more likely to have a girl.

I know my sister was conceived whilst my mum was BF me, and I would have been 6 months old at the time. I know one other person who conceived within 6 months of giving birth whilst BF and she had a girl as well, her firstborn had been a boy.

I did conceive a boy (DS2) whilst BF, but it was 13 months later and I was doing so few feeds by that point it probably wasn't taking many nutrients from me.


Oh, I won't talk about MWs! I had threatened preterm labour at 30 weeks and when the hospital discovered I was still BF my DS1 there were mixed opinions about whether I ought to stop or not. Half of them (mainly MWs) said I should stop. One MW did a load of research on it for me and found no evidence to suggest I stop and eventually a consultant said I should carry on as the bond/comfort for DS1 was important too. So quite mixed... but in general I haven't had great experience with MWs as I think a lot of them just don't listen to what you want. Incidentally, my mum was told to stop BF me when she fell pregnant with my sister, and she did, so she was keen for me to stop as well (but I didn't listen). DS2 held on in there until 38 weeks in the end, so BF definitely didn't cause any issues in the end. Sorry, that's slightly off topic!

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Originally Posted by rainbowflower

I haven't seen any BF-gender statistics, but I think there was a study done about gender conceived soon after a pregnancy. Scientifically you would get more pink whilst BF (if soon after a pregnancy) because your body is already nutrient-depleted following pregnancy and you're giving more away because of BF and we believe low nutrients sway pink. Saying that, if you're taking multivits to support pregnancy and support BF it might cancel that out. Also, a lot of BFers are going to be losing weight and weight loss is thought to sway pink as well. I have definitely seen a study that showed if you had lost weight from one pregnancy to the next conception you are more likely to have a girl.

I know my sister was conceived whilst my mum was BF me, and I would have been 6 months old at the time. I know one other person who conceived within 6 months of giving birth whilst BF and she had a girl as well, her firstborn had been a boy.

I did conceive a boy (DS2) whilst BF, but it was 13 months later and I was doing so few feeds by that point it probably wasn't taking many nutrients from me.


Oh, I won't talk about MWs! I had threatened preterm labour at 30 weeks and when the hospital discovered I was still BF my DS1 there were mixed opinions about whether I ought to stop or not. Half of them (mainly MWs) said I should stop. One MW did a load of research on it for me and found no evidence to suggest I stop and eventually a consultant said I should carry on as the bond/comfort for DS1 was important too. So quite mixed... but in general I haven't had great experience with MWs as I think a lot of them just don't listen to what you want. Incidentally, my mum was told to stop BF me when she fell pregnant with my sister, and she did, so she was keen for me to stop as well (but I didn't listen). DS2 held on in there until 38 weeks in the end, so BF definitely didn't cause any issues in the end. Sorry, that's slightly off topic!

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Hmmm....now I am tempted to sway Mar-May :think: May start vitex to bring back AF.

As grateful as I am for the NHS, knowing other healthcare systems are very expensive or just don't compare to the kind of care you receive, I've been quite let down by some of the MWs I've met. Quite sad they'd wanted you to stop bf DS1 and good on you for continuing despite! Sometimes a mother's instinct is far more superior to advice given my medical professionals and I'm sure your DS1 is a happier little fella for it!

this coming Mar-May? so your DS2 will be about 8 months..? you're brave, don't think I'd want so small an age gap!

which county are you in?

with MWs I think a bit of it is luck of the draw as to who you're assigned to.

Re stats and breastfeeding, it's super hard to amass stats like that. The reason being, that first of all women who can get pg while breastfeeding, and/or women who were able to breastfeed easily, may be hormonally different than women who can't or struggled with BF and chose to bottlefeed instead. So that skews results right from the get-go. Secondly, there may be something to the idea that women who choose to bf longer (long enough to get pg again, typically for more than a year) are in some way different...possibly financially better off, maybe a bit more "crunchy" and that may also be swaying. So even if there were a set of stats out there, they're largely useless because they're skewed.

Biologically, the effects of breastfeeding should sway pink. I believe that they sway pink. That does not mean that will ever be 100% or even 50-50...if you start off being 75% likely to have a boy and breastfeeding gets you to 70% likely to have a boy, it still swayed pink, even tho there are still a heck of a lot of boys being conceived. That's one of those things that you can't tell by the stats.

crunchy women..?

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Originally Posted by rainbowflower

this coming Mar-May? so your DS2 will be about 8 months..? you're brave, don't think I'd want so small an age gap!

which county are you in?

with MWs I think a bit of it is luck of the draw as to who you're assigned to.

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Lol! I know right :worry: but I wanted to be done having kids by 30 and now I'm 31 and still dreaming about having a little girl so I'm thinking I'll extend it to 32 and I need to get the ball rolling. DS2, so far, is such a dream compared to DS1 (isn't it amazing how different children of the same gender can be!) so I'm thinking a small age gap shouldn't be too bad (I may eat my words later if I'm pg and having to run behind 3yo and 1yo boys!!)

I'm in Hertfordshire.

I had a lovely HV that visited us twice at home whom I would love to have follow up care with for DS2 but she only does house visits and we have to go to drop-in instead :sad:

Lol at "crunchy"

P.S. Atomic your daughter is so adorable!!!

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Originally Posted by rainbowflower

crunchy women..?

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People who are super into natural stuff like organic foods, eating very healthfully, avoiding a lot of processed and junk foods and artificial sweeteners - they are often attachment parents and breastfeed longer and thus are more likely to get pregnant again while still breastfeeding.

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Originally Posted by Sweet mummy

Lol at "crunchy"

P.S. Atomic your daughter is so adorable!!!

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Thank you!!!