NFP question (very specific and sorry if too many details)

[thea117]

Hi,
My question is about NFP if you are breastfeeding. We’ve been married since 2009 and always did NFP which worked well for us. In 2014 we had our first baby who I exclusively breastfed and I only had my periods back after he turned 6 months and dropped his night feeds. I know that breastfeeding is not a form of contraception and we were open to the idea of having a 2nd one very soon which actually happened. Now we have a 2 month old and an 18 month old so can’t take any risks at this stage. My question is: how do you do NFP if you don’t have a period? any alternatives? thanks

 

[pensmama87]

There’s a couple different ways to do it.

Basically, if you want to avoid, you want to look for the possibility of ovulation before your first bleeding after 56 days postpartum (anything prior to that is considered lochia). While that’s rare, it does become more common the further out you get from birth - so if you go six months, it’s less likely that you’ll ovulate that first time than if you go 12 or 18 or more. (And it can vary child to child, too, though from what I understand generally speaking women tend to be consistent-ish.)

Taking Charge of Your Fertility does have a section on lactational amenhorrea and charting then that I found helpful, but I’ve never been in a “absolutely must avoid” situation. What I look for is a change in my cervical fluid. I have pretty much continuous fluid postpartum, but it changes in consistency and appearance a few weeks before my first bleeding. That first cycle has then been anovulatory both times, and then the next one was ovulatory (and I actually ended up conceiving both times then). That was at 15 months pp and 18 months pp, so I go a long time. I was also still breastfeeding then.

For ways to prolong the return of cycles, you can research books on ecological breastfeeding, but they are not effective for everyone and not everyone can manage (or wants) to do the things that postpone the return of cycles. How your own body works is going to matter a bunch. For me, I was doing all those things anyway so it wasn’t a hassle.

I think Marquette and Creighton methods of NFP have a protocol for charting during the absence of cycles, but I’ve never done them so I’m not familiar with how it works. I know for Marquette it requires testing more frequently and occasionally the monitor has to be reset depending on how long you go without a period.

 

[EmilyRenee]

I didn’t trust nfp without a cycle but just got my period back today at 18+ months pp. We abstained almost exclusively, which my husband hated but we aren’t in a position to have a second child right now. Did you get the Transitions guide through ccli? amazon.com/Natural-Family-Planning-Transitions-Student/dp/0926412000/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1435266116&sr=8-1&keywords=natural+family+planning+transition. My problem was I had no signs whatsoever until 16 months and then they were irregular signs. I know it’s hard.

 

[Convert_in_99]

I second Marquette. Pricey, but worth it when your signs are whacky due to cycle irregularity, BFing, stress, etc. I haven’t personally used it for BFing, my cycles are just crazy due to Endometriosis, but many here have and seem to like it.

 

[Kelfa28]

For me it’s either Marquette or total abstinence.

I’m even really, really iffy about Marquette when I don’t know what is going on.

Breastfeeding does absolutely nothing to prevent my period and I tend to ovulate right away and get my period back right away (try 4-5 weeks PP).

What ends up happening is my cycles go haywire when I nurse. Totally haywire and I have zero clue what is going on.

I have long cycles with continuous “fertile” mucus the whole time and I know I’m ovulating.

The last time this happened I was so confused we abstained for a while…until my cycles regulated and I had a better idea what was going on.

I’m about to have my third in about a month.

Honestly, my plan is to just not nurse or only nurse for a month.

We absolutely cannot risk another pregnancy right now and when my cycles return and regulate…I’m going to learn Marquette and we’ll abstain however long we need to.

Hubby is just going to have to put up with this…I’m not risking a fourth kid. No way.

 

[EmilyRenee]

The Clear Blue Monitor (I think Marquette?) says not to use until your cycles have returned after breastfeeding, so we didn’t buy it. (We strongly looked into it). We had the break with nursing but I was TERRIFIED of getting pregnant again. My husband was so excited when I started my period again… I bet most women can’t say that, ha. OP, pm if you want to talk/commiserate.

The STM has a postpartum method, too, if you trust it, and your symptoms. It seems pretty nifty but I was too nervous I’d mess up. And we had ovulation test kits but they always came back negative (I never tried it when I thought I may have been ovulating two weeks ago but I probably should have…now I still don’t know if I can trust them!)

 

[ichabode]

My wife uses the Creighton method, but I would suggest that and one of those urine strips if they still make them.

The sympto thermic method did not work for us as my wife never has seemed to fit the text books. The creighton method was the third one I believe we tried, and still use. It is frustrating in a sense as there seems to be fewer days of assurance, so more abstinence, yet it is also more predictable.

My wife does not really post online, but if you do not find your answer she would be able to steer you in the right direction. I am not quite sure what my sisters in law do, but I know one of them uses the urine strips and maybe a computer.

Yes it is odd that I would post but I can know the frustrations first hand, and applaud you and your husband for living your faith courageously. It actually encourages me as well. God bless you and I hope you find your answer.

Okay, I am editing the post I asked my wife, but I am not writing what she said so here she is.

Okay…basically, if you have an instructor in your area, please contact her for help. If not, here is what I was instructed to do and have done.

Once you have passed the first six weeks postpartum, you would begin your mucus observations. Make sure to observe any mucus both prior to voiding and after voiding. If you don’t notice any mucus, then you can consider that a day of infertility. If you notice mucus that is not a 10, clear, or lubricative, then note that on your chart and consider that day a day fertility. If you have multiple day of not peak-type mucus, like chronic, then you would ask the question, "Is this mucus essentially the same as yesterday. If so, you can treat it as infertile. But you have to be VERY vigilant
on your observations. If you notice any change in quality or quantity of mucus, treat it as a day of fertility. Even the smallest trace amount of peak-like mucus can be an indicator that you are entering into fertility again. And only engage in couple-time at the end of the day. I hope that helps.

 

[UbiCaritas]

The Clear Blue Monitor (I think Marquette?) says not to use until your cycles have returned after breastfeeding, so we didn’t buy it. (We strongly looked into it). We had the break with nursing but I was TERRIFIED of getting pregnant again. My husband was so excited when I started my period again… I bet most women can’t say that, ha. OP, pm if you want to talk/commiserate.

The STM has a postpartum method, too, if you trust it, and your symptoms. It seems pretty nifty but I was too nervous I’d mess up. And we had ovulation test kits but they always came back negative (I never tried it when I thought I may have been ovulating two weeks ago but I probably should have…now I still don’t know if I can trust them!)

The Marquette method, which uses the Clear Blue monitor, does have a protocol for using it pre-return-of-cycles, and it’s 98% effective in preventing pregnancy. Bear in mind that the monitor itself is marketed to help women get pregnant, not avoid pregnancy, but per Marquette it can be used, and quite effectively, to avoid.

The short version–and please, please, no one use this as a guide! Go to Marquette’s website with any questions and to learn the method!–is that before your cycles return, you test with the monitor every day for ten days. At the end of the ten days, you reset the monitor to the start of a “cycle” and test again. The monitor will give you Low, High, and Peak fertility readings based on the amount of estrogen and luteinizing hormones in your urine. On Low days, you can have intercourse. Unless you want to get pregnant, you don’t have intercourse on High/Peak days.

It is expensive, compared to other methods, and the PP method is the most expensive time because you’re testing every day. A box of test sticks will cost about $45, and will last a month. However, once your cycles return and are more regular, you’ll usually use only about 10 sticks/month, meaning that you’re spending more like $15/month. Still more expensive than the other methods, but for us, it was more than worth it.

 

[Lorelei12]

For me it’s either Marquette or total abstinence.

I’m even really, really iffy about Marquette when I don’t know what is going on.

Breastfeeding does absolutely nothing to prevent my period and I tend to ovulate right away and get my period back right away (try 4-5 weeks PP).

What ends up happening is my cycles go haywire when I nurse. Totally haywire and I have zero clue what is going on.

I have long cycles with continuous “fertile” mucus the whole time and I know I’m ovulating.

The last time this happened I was so confused we abstained for a while…until my cycles regulated and I had a better idea what was going on.

Yeah- I feel the same. My cycles didn’t return quite as soon (about 3 months) but we abstained completely while I was breastfeeding because they were so wacky I couldn’t really figure it out enough to be comfortable risking it.

I love Marquette, when I am not breastfeeding. Even though I never used the “breastfeeding protocol” because my cycles returned, I would have weird things happen like I would go straight to peak with no high readings, or would have fertile mucus but it would remain low for weeks.

So OP, yes, there are ways to practice NFP while breastfeeding. But if you truly “can’t take any risks”, you don’t take any. If you look into one of the various methods and feel comfortable with the small amount of risk there is, that could work well for you. It’s really for you and your husband to decide whether it is worth abstaining completely or not. I will say that as my cycles returned I could tell something was going on (was not using the monitor at the time), so using the monitor might be the extra assurance you’d need to feel comfortable.

 

[UbiCaritas]

Yeah- I feel the same. My cycles didn’t return quite as soon (about 3 months) but we abstained completely while I was breastfeeding because they were so wacky I couldn’t really figure it out enough to be comfortable risking it.

I love Marquette, when I am not breastfeeding. Even though I never used the “breastfeeding protocol” because my cycles returned, I would have weird things happen like I would go straight to peak with no high readings, or would have fertile mucus but it would remain low for weeks.

So OP, yes, there are ways to practice NFP while breastfeeding. But if you truly “can’t take any risks”, you don’t take any. If you look into one of the various methods and feel comfortable with the small amount of risk there is, that could work well for you. It’s really for you and your husband to decide whether it is worth abstaining completely or not. I will say that as my cycles returned I could tell something was going on (was not using the monitor at the time), so using the monitor might be the extra assurance you’d need to feel comfortable.

FWIW, Low-to-Peak is actually quite common with regular cycles. I’ve used the MM for over a year now, and would say that that happened in about 1/3-1/2 of my cycles. The algorithm (basically, earliest Peak minus 6 days) worked in each case.

 

[Lorelei12]

FWIW, Low-to-Peak is actually quite common with regular cycles. I’ve used the MM for over a year now, and would say that that happened in about 1/3-1/2 of my cycles. The algorithm (basically, earliest Peak minus 6 days) worked in each case.

Thanks, I didn’t know that it could be that common in regular cycles! It did just happen to me again even though I’m done breastfeeding. I’m still on the “fertility starts day 6” for now, but it makes me the tiniest bit nervous anyway because I’ve had some long cycles in the past followed by much shorter ones.

My cycles were so weird though while breastfeeding (like 15 days, then 38 days, etc., with fertile mucus on and off throughout) that we weren’t comfortable taking the chance. The thought that you could have zero warning freaked us out too much.