LAM and keeping away cycles

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kelfa28
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
K

Kelfa28

Guest
So, I know I’m a big complainer and pretty much any one who frequents this and the parenting forum knows exactly how I feel about eco-breastfeeding and LAM (hint: it’s a crack theory that is totally unreliable).

I also thought I was getting some clear as day signs that I’m ovulating. Stretchy mucus and an open/soft cervix.
This has been going on non-stop for the past 2-3 weeks but no period.

I’m 6 weeks PP and I would have gotten my period by now…seeing that it happened with my last two babies at 4 and 5 weeks PP.

I’m not charting right now…we’re just abstaining. We can’t afford to buy a monitor…not for another few months…and we’re cool with just abstaining until then.

But I figured I’d throw this out there to the Catholic mom experts here. How in the world do you know that you aren’t ovulating while PP and nursing?
Do you just assume you won’t get your period? Is there any kind of protocol to follow? Is there a time limit for weeks gone by without a cycle?
Or do you just not have any signs at all…ie: no mucus, hard and closed cervix…etc.

I’ve looked in my own books and around the web and have found nothing…just a claim that breast feeding…especially EBF…virtually guarantees no cycles.

Here are some general nursing stats to consider.

-She is a good nurser with a good latch and has been since she was out of me and on my chest…she gains weight well.

-Not using EBF at all. No co-sleeping, no using me as a pacifier on a regular basis and I do pump out bottles for her on the couple of days a week she is with a sitter for a few hours while I’m at school.

-I do nurse her at night…but that is stretching out to longer periods of time (last night was nearly 8 hours without nursing).

Good candidate for LAM…on paper…but I’m really skeptical and I will not be risking a pregnancy at all.
I’m just really curious as to how LAM actually works and how do you tell you won’t get a cycle.
Should I just assume any mucus at all means I’m ovulating, even if I go months without a period?
 
For me, I experience a change in mucus about two weeks before I get my first menses postpartum. It goes from semi fertile to fertile looking and consistency. But based on temps, probably anovulatory. My first full cycle has always been anovulatory too (and really long - it’s like several lead ups to it, then bleeding again). The second one I do ovulate (and whaddaya know, conceive kids 2 and 3.)

My understanding is that while ovulation can occur prior to first menses postpartum, it generally does not (Taking Charge of Your Fertility may have the specific stats, but that book only refers to LAM and not EBF.) I do have a long wait. I do EBF, but I do think family history etc definitely play a role. And it’s easier to do EBF under some conditions than others. I do it, but it’s more how I like to parent than a method to delay fertility, if that makes sense.

ETA: My understanding as well is that after 56 days postpartum any bleeding should be treated as menses and NOT lochia. So there’s an acknowledgment that it’s not “foolproof.” Some women just cycle again quickly. The point of EBF, as I understand it, is less about delaying the return of fertility and more about not promoting an early return. If you’re one who cycles early anyway, it may seem like a distinction without a difference.
 
Kelfa28 said:
So, I know I’m a big complainer and pretty much any one who frequents this and the parenting forum knows exactly how I feel about eco-breastfeeding and LAM (hint: it’s a crack theory that is totally unreliable).

I also thought I was getting some clear as day signs that I’m ovulating. Stretchy mucus and an open/soft cervix.
This has been going on non-stop for the past 2-3 weeks but no period.

I’m 6 weeks PP and I would have gotten my period by now…seeing that it happened with my last two babies at 4 and 5 weeks PP.

I’m not charting right now…we’re just abstaining. We can’t afford to buy a monitor…not for another few months…and we’re cool with just abstaining until then.

But I figured I’d throw this out there to the Catholic mom experts here. How in the world do you know that you aren’t ovulating while PP and nursing?
Do you just assume you won’t get your period? Is there any kind of protocol to follow? Is there a time limit for weeks gone by without a cycle?
Or do you just not have any signs at all…ie: no mucus, hard and closed cervix…etc.

I’ve looked in my own books and around the web and have found nothing…just a claim that breast feeding…especially EBF…virtually guarantees no cycles.

Here are some general nursing stats to consider.

-She is a good nurser with a good latch and has been since she was out of me and on my chest…she gains weight well.

-Not using EBF at all. No co-sleeping, no using me as a pacifier on a regular basis and I do pump out bottles for her on the couple of days a week she is with a sitter for a few hours while I’m at school.

-I do nurse her at night…but that is stretching out to longer periods of time (last night was nearly 8 hours without nursing).

Good candidate for LAM…on paper…but I’m really skeptical and I will not be risking a pregnancy at all.
I’m just really curious as to how LAM actually works and how do you tell you won’t get a cycle.
Should I just assume any mucus at all means I’m ovulating, even if I go months without a period?
Click to expand...
I’d call it an amber light. It means that the lights are about to change to red, but you don’t know exactly when. It could be a long time, especially if you keep nursing.

I’ve mentioned this before, but I had a similar no man’s land between 9 and about 14 months with my last baby–more and more signs of fertility, but no ovulation.
 
I do co-sleeping and the baby breastfeeds during the night and past mid-night. I exclusively breastfed for the firsts 6 months (still breastfeed but he takes solids during the day now). No bottles, no pumping…I’m on my 4th menstrual cycle starting today. What went wrong? 🤷 I have no idea, it did not work for me. I never tracked my mucus or cervix before my cycles returned, I just didn’t have the time.

We did a lot of reading over the internet until we found how to know when you are fertile: There is some bleeding before ovulation that it is not your menstruation. I believe it is in the pdf I shared. I’m not sure if the bleeding is once or like a week, but I bled for a week that I thought it was menstruation, but the gyn said it was a hormonal change. After a month of that bleeding that was not lochia, I got my first menstruation.
 
Based on what you describe, I wouldn’t rely on the breastfeeding at all for LAM.
 
Sadly, I never was able to benefit from LAM. 😦

I have three kids, the longest I stayed without cycling was about 6 months, with my first. But we didn’t rely on that for avoiding pregnancy.

I learned NFP on my own (Billings) when my daughter was born, through a workbook and then through their website.

Then after my youngest was born (he was a preemie) I learned Creighton.

First, each pregnancy is different, so what happened in the past could happen again, but not necessarily.

With both Billings and Creighton, the teaching is that LAM could happen but the methods don’t specify any specific feeding schedule or protocol. Both methods teach to look at the symptoms.

Clear, stretchy mucus is a fertility sign for both methods. Creighton is more specific on classifying the mucus.

Neither method advises internal checks, just external. You are only 6 weeks PP. What you are experiencing could be either ovulation, or your body trying to ovulate. Your cervix being open could just mean that it hadn’t closed fully yet after childbirth.

In general, when women don’t get periods when they nurse, it’s because they produce the hormone prolactin, and prolactin suppresses both estrogen and progesterone. Sometimes, even though the prolactin is enough to ensure a good milk supply, it isn’t enough to suppress estrogen. Estrogen causes the mucus. So your body right now is probably producing estrogen and trying to ovulate.

Even if you and your DH are abstaining, charting might be helpful to determine a pattern.
 
I’ve looked in my own books and around the web and have found nothing…just a claim that breast feeding…especially EBF…virtually guarantees no cycles.

That’s right, it is just a claim. Doesn’t work for every EBF mother. I EBF but got my cycles at 8 weeks pp.
 
There’s the camp of EBFers who swear if you follow all the rules you are guaranteed no cycles for six months and many mothers will experience a continuation of suppressed fertility for many months to come.

Obviously it’s only true in some cases. I have a friend who EBFs and hasn’t had a period since she got pregnant with her first, and that was over ten years ago! She has five children now spaced nicely apart. (Lucky Duck!!!) Some women experience infertility issues after prolonged breastfeeding and they just can’t conceive a second child even after weaning their first. But then there are a great number of women who are faithful breastfeeders and fertility returns immediately. Obviously it is a less than reliable form of NFP. 🤷

I’m so happy your daughter took so well to nursing. But how frustrating that it isn’t suppressing your fertility. 😦 Like other posters have said, at least maybe this will make NFP easier to figure out once you get your periods back. I’m sorry you are having to abstain until then. NFP is really REALLY hard sometimes. :console:
 
Well, I experience an absence of fertility for months after childbirth. It was 8 months until my first cycle with DS, 1 year until I would consider myself fertile really. I am going on my 4th month with DD. No sign of fertility at all.

Hormone levels vary significantly from woman to woman. For the same reason that some women struggle with breastfeeding and others have oversupply.

If there is any connection, I have an abundant milk supply, definitely oversupply, and a powerful overactive let down (probably not related). I’m also tandem nursing this time.

I don’t consider myself a perfect candidate for LAM either time. With DS, I had to bring in my supply mechanically and used nipple shields for the first 2.5 months, both disqualify me for ecological breastfeeeding. He also started taking bottles and I went to work and pumped at 3 months.

With DD, I am a SAHM and am tandem nursing, but she started STTN at a few weeks old. Now I do usually end up nursing both children at least once for the night, but the first month or two we didn’t. This also disqualifies me for “ecological” breastfeeding.

However, my fertility and cycles stayed at bay. I have heard that if your fertility returns before 6 months and you are EBF, you probably bleed before you ovulate. After 6 months, you will probably ovulate before you bleed, or at least you have the possibility of it.
 
This may seem like a distinction without a difference, especially for those of you who have quick returns to fertility, but I have always thought of ecological breastfeeding or LAM less as a way to postpone the return of fertility and more of a way to prevent an artificially early return. I do all the EBF stuff, less as a method but just because that’s the way of mothering that comes naturally to me, and I do experience long breaks - 15 months without cycles after my first and 18 months without cycles after my second. The first cycle, based on my charting data, is anovulatory, and then on the second I have ovulated (and conceived.) So I probably don’t ovulate before my first bleeding, but like misspriss I have read that it becomes more and more likely that you could the longer you go. I do get a switch to fertile-looking CM a few weeks before my cycles return, but I haven’t bothered charting until after bleeding occurs because by that point DH and I are usually chill with having another baby.

I suspect there is a strong genetic component. My mother also did most of the EBF “stuff,” again just because that’s what made sense to her, not out of a particular interest in delaying fertility, and her pattern was similar. All of us are spaced 2-3 years apart. (The shortest spacing, just over two years, was after the only child who actually used a pacifier regularly.)

I have also read that with both LAM and EBF that any bleeding after 56 days postpartum is to be treated as menstruation and not lochia. So there is an acknowledgement, if perhaps a small one, that at least some women just have quick returns of their cycles no matter what.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top