Still no period while breastfeeding....

[PrincessBookworm]

Baby #3 is 9 months old and is breastfed and I still haven't seen the return of my period yet. I'm not entirely surprised since I had to wean Baby #2 at 12 months in order to bring period back. Currently, I am looking for ways I can try to prod it back before starting to wean.

For reference: After Baby #2 I started taking Vitex when he was around 10 1/2 months. I took it for 6 weeks, however, it made me gain 8 lbs during that time, so I stopped and just weaned. Once I weaned, I caught the first egg 6 weeks after that. Since we had some trouble conceiving #2, I don't know if Vitex could have boosted fertility for when I conceived my third or if it had nothing to do with that? I know I did not take it the recommended 3 months. I also average 110 lbs at 5'3" and weight does seem to play a part in fertility with me, but I would really love to be able to not gain weight before this time if possible.

I have debated trying Vitex again or Maca powder? I'm not sure what to take. I do take a prenatal currently. I don't care too much either way on the sway. I have 1 girl and 2 boys so another girl would be nice, but I'm most concerned about just bringing my period back since we would like have a baby next year. My third needs a surgery for hypospadias that we will do the beginning of next year so it would be really nice to have things on the same deductible since we have a pretty high deductible and do not want to pay it 2 years in a row. We like the 26 and 22 month age gaps we have already so finances are not the only reason, just more a motivator to try and conceive before a certain point. I know a lot of things that improve fertility also sway boy, however, that is fine with me. We are wanting 5 or 6 so hopefully still time to try for another girl.

Hopefully this isn't too scatterbrained: my main question what are the best ways to bring period back prior to weaning?? TIA!

[nuthinbutpink]

This is your body working as designed. It absolutely decreases your fertility

[atomic sagebrush]

Please no Maca.

It's not unusual for your cycle to take longer to come back with each baby. 9 months is not at all unusual to not have a cycle resume, in fact it's quite normal to get to that point and not have your cycle come back yet. It WILL come back, in time (my longest was 18 months) Now, you prefer a closer age gap, which is fine, if you want to try some tricks to get it to come back sooner especially since you don't have a strong gender preference.

What we can do is look back at your old cycle (and since you caught the first egg, you have to use your imagination, count back 14 days from when you conceived and use that as a baseline) and take Vitex 800 mg the same days of the cycle (for reasons no one knows, your cycle tends to resume in the same pattern as it was before you got pregnant). So let's say for sake of argument you conceived last time on Jan. 14, so count back to the 1st and assume that is when your cycle "started" even though it didn't really. So in October start Vitex on Oct. 1 and take it till October 14 (but be sure you take a pregnancy test before taking the vitex!) and then stop it and do nothing for 14 days. Then take it again for 14 days, off for 14 days, being sure you are testing for pregnancy regularly to avoid taking the vitex when you are pregnant. This can kickstart the cycle.

Now, in the meantime, we're not going to know when you'll ovulate so I would have you guys have unprotected sex every 4 days (if you want best chance of conception, count this every 72 hours, if you want possibly better shot of pink, every 96 hours).

Then in addition to all that I want you having a serving of full fat dairy every day, 4-6 eggs a week, and a serving of salmon every week (or any fatty meat, red meat is ok too, point is don't just eat lean chicken/fish all the time) I would totally ditch skim dairy and soy entirely as they may make it take longer for your cycle to resume.

You can also try cutting back on the night feeds - those are the ones who really suppress ovulation resuming.

I nursed and conceived 2 times so it is possible, just that you sometimes have to be a little more patient and it will happen in its own time.

[PrincessBookworm]

Thanks so much for the advice!!

In regards to Vitex timing, are you just using those 2 dates for each or taking the "hypothetical" cycle through the pregnancy. For instance, if I conceived on March 30th (2017) and my period before should have been March 16th, do I use it the 16th-30th? Or if I go through my calendar I come out to cycle starting Aug 23 (2018) and ovulation 14 days after. So in that case Aug 23-Sept 5th.

I know those two are close together, however they aren't every month. Fun fact, when taking my cycle through my second pregnancy and up until I conceived my 3rd, it looks like I only ovulated 2 days before it would have predicted by going 28 days throughout that almost 2 year span. Crazy!

And I don't drink milk so I will have to try adding some! I do have salmon 1-2x a week, however, I have more like 12-14 eggs a week since I often have 2 in the morning with beans and veggies. Is it fine at that amount or do I need to decrease?

[atomic sagebrush]

please bump this for me!

[PrincessBookworm]

bump!

[atomic sagebrush]

Don't try to overthink it to that levet; this is a thing we have simply observed often, is that the cycle tends to resume around about the time it did in the past (for example, many of us have babies that have very similar birth dates when close in age, my 1st and 2nd are both born the 9th of the month, my 3rd and 4th conceived many years later are born the 21st and 22nd) and we've noticed that our cycles have come back pretty much the same (which sounds like your experience as well!) Pretty much is NOT an exact science so while I think based on results you should take the vitex to correspond to the original day of your period (so the 16th thru 30th) if you want to do it differently that's totaly up to you, this is just one of those funny things we've noticed that seems to hold true for many of us.

It doesn't have to be milk, can be yogurt, cheese, even ice cream. excellent egg intake, I'd just keep going with that.

[4blue2pink]

i never realised about the similar birth dates thing thats so interesting 3 of mine are born on the 16th and 2 are on the 11th, i also have 2nd and 3rd. cant believe i didnt notice how closely grouped they are!!

fingers crossed for AF to return soon princessbookworm

[atomic sagebrush]

It really is bizarre and originally I would have written it off as a fluke but then I heard from SO many people who had that occur that I"ve become convinced that there really is something to it. And then many also have reported that their cycles really did resume right when they occurred in the past even when their due dates didn't line up due to premature births or inductions and stuff.