Creighton Question

[MrMegaphin191]

Hello, my wife and I are in a little bit of a conundrum. We went for Creighton Method lessons before we were married last year, got married in October, and found out we were pregnant at the end of December (Feast of the Holy Family). So, while we feel that we know the method fairly well, we have, well limited experience.

So we got back on the charting chain a little late, last week, 9wks postpartum. (10wks PP tomorrow). Save for one day, each day has been 10K mucous … Peak type mucous. All our chart had been pretty normal before, and we’re exclusively breastfeeding. We haven’t had any relations as of yet, as we would like to space the next pregnancy so my wife’s body has some time to get fully healthy again (very rough postpartum stage). So … What does the 10K mean?? Is it actual fertility??

We ask because while we did have an instructor before, they moved just after we found out about the pregnancy, and no referral to a new instructor, and we haven’t been able to get to a new instructor.

Thanks again for all the help in advance!

 

[Xantippe]

Hello, my wife and I are in a little bit of a conundrum. We went for Creighton Method lessons before we were married last year, got married in October, and found out we were pregnant at the end of December (Feast of the Holy Family). So, while we feel that we know the method fairly well, we have, well limited experience.

So we got back on the charting chain a little late, last week, 9wks postpartum. (10wks PP tomorrow). Save for one day, each day has been 10K mucous … Peak type mucous. All our chart had been pretty normal before, and we’re exclusively breastfeeding. We haven’t had any relations as of yet, as we would like to space the next pregnancy so my wife’s body has some time to get fully healthy again (very rough postpartum stage). So … What does the 10K mean?? Is it actual fertility??

We ask because while we did have an instructor before, they moved just after we found out about the pregnancy, and no referral to a new instructor, and we haven’t been able to get to a new instructor.

Thanks again for all the help in advance!

I don’t know about Creighton, but the NFP texts I’ve seen generally devote a large section to breastfeeding NFP, as it’s a unusually difficult situation. You can probably find other helpful pointers online.

The thing about breastfeeding NFP is that it’s like driving in a strange town with no signage and no GPS–all of the normal signposts are gone. So, as you’re finding, mucus is not nearly as helpful a sign as it used to be, and there might well be no ovulation to work with. In addition, different women will have radically different patterns of postpartum infertility. One woman might be capable of getting pregnant within a month of birth, while another might not get her cycle back until a year plus, maybe even longer. (I personally have a very strong pattern of only getting back to cycling at around 13 or 14 months postpartum, or about a month after weaning.)

Here’s what we did after our last pregnancy. During the initial phase (while baby was entirely or almost entirely breastfeed and well before I started cycling again), we abstained until we had an established pattern of low-fertility mucus. Then, after we’d had marital relations, we’d wait again for the established pattern of low-fertility mucus, often with large gaps. Around 9 months (when baby was starting to eat large amounts of solids), it started to feel like hormonal changes were underway and that I could ovulate at any time, so we took a break from 9-14 months. By 14 months, we had normal cycles and ovulation to work with. I’m currently at 25 months postpartum. In retrospect, was all of that abstinence necessary? Probably not, especially early on. However, we were highly motivated, and that provided the level of certainty that we happened to want.

(This is not NFP advice, just an illustration.)

Other people have found fertility monitors helpful. I also venture to mention that if fertility does not resume and abstinence gets particularly onerous, quitting breastfeeding will bring cycles back, vastly simplifying NFP and reducing abstinence.

 

[sailor28]

Creighton is very complicated while breastfeeding. Lots of abstinence or not reliable with continuous mucus like you describe.

Many couples have found Marquette Method to be very helpful while breastfeeding. It uses the ClearBlue fertility monitor.

They have a website with info and a forum you can join to ask questions to professionals.

Here it is:
nfp.marquette.edu/

They is also a facebook group: “Marquette Method NFP”

I’ve seen a lot of breastfeeding moms comment on how happy they are with the method and what a relief it is to have something reliable.

 

[Maine52]

Creighton is very complicated while breastfeeding. Lots of abstinence or not reliable with continuous mucus like you describe.

Many couples have found Marquette Method to be very helpful while breastfeeding. It uses the ClearBlue fertility monitor.

They have a website with info and a forum you can join to ask questions to professionals.

Here it is:
nfp.marquette.edu/

They is also a facebook group: “Marquette Method NFP”

I’ve seen a lot of breastfeeding moms comment on how happy they are with the method and what a relief it is to have something reliable.

Marquette Method is awesome!

 

[pensmama87]

I agree with previous posters that you may need to find another method.

I had fertile-looking CM almost constantly postpartum until my cycles returned, 14 months after baby #1 and 17 months after baby #2. But I could use temperatures to help me determine what was really going on. Temperature isn’t always reliable for some people (or can be really sensitive to environmental influences), though, so a method like Marquette can be even better (though there is the cost of the strips and monitor.)

If your wife hasn’t had any bleeding since day 56 (about where you are now), and she’s exclusively breastfeeding (including no bottles), and not using pacifiers, etc. as substitutes, you’re probably good until at least 6 months. That’s called the Lactational Amenorrhea Method. But as soon as bleeding occurs, treat it like cycles have returned. There seems to be both environmental and genetic factors at play with when fertility returns - some women will right away no matter what, and some will go over a year even if they fudge on the guidelines a bit.