NFP Question

[CatholicGirl15]

My husband and I just had our first child. We couldn’t be happier and would love to have more children later on. At the moment, we are trying to postpone pregnancy for a short period for health reasons. Since I am breastfeeding and getting very irregular sleep from taking care of the baby, it is very difficult to accurately track my fertility with NFP. Does anyone have good advice on how we can effectively track fertility during this crazy time? Thanks!

 

[Xantippe]

I’m sure you’ll get some answers, but there are a lot of old threads on the subject that might have additional information. Try a search for “breastfeeding NFP.”

 

[pensmama87]

Taking Charge of Your Fertility has a good section on how to track fertility before your cycles resume (lactational amenorrhea). Once cycles resume it can be very tricky business (especially if baby is still very young). When they resume depends on a number of factors and it could be weeks, months, or even years before you are fertile again (for example, I tend to be on the longer side, and have never had cycles resume before 15 months, and even then the first one at least has been anovulatory. But some women basically start right back up no matter what they do.)

If it’s a very short time, total abstinence might be preferred especially if you haven’t charted before because I’d say postpartum is probably the hardest time to learn. You could also try a fertility monitor or a method like Marquette (which uses a monitor). Then you’re not trying to learn your signs when they are the hardest to interpret.

And congratulations on your little one!!!

 

[1ke]

Have you talked to your instructor?

 

[E_7]

My husband and I just had our first child. We couldn’t be happier and would love to have more children later on. At the moment, we are trying to postpone pregnancy for a short period for health reasons. Since I am breastfeeding and getting very irregular sleep from taking care of the baby, it is very difficult to accurately track my fertility with NFP. Does anyone have good advice on how we can effectively track fertility during this crazy time? Thanks!

I really don’t have any good advice. But you can abstain until you get your cycles (menstruation ).

If it means anything, here is one pdf that explains clearly the LAM method.

In our case, I got my menstruation 5 months after giving birth and I was (still am) breastfeeding and bed-sharing. As sinners, we tried our best as a couple to remain chaste during the period of absolute abstinence until I got my cycles and started from zero with our fertility monitor, the LadyComp.

 

[Lessofme91]

NFP while breastfeeding postpartum can be awful Every method has a postpartum protocol, and its always a good idea to set up a class with an instructor within your method.

Personally I switched to the Marquette Method after the birth of my second baby in two years because we needed a break and found Creighton to be very stressful while breastfeeding. Marquette is wonderful, and you’ll find that its one of the most popular PP methods. It uses a monitor and daily test sticks. Until you are back in cycles you just pee on a stick and the monitor tells you if your fertility is low, high, or peak that day. That’s it, no guessing. It’s a little more complicated once you are back in cycles but not bad at all compared to relying on mucus or temping while breastfeeding a little one.

Alot of people are concerned about cost…if you but everything new it can get pricey, but I found everything I need on Ebay. My monitor was about $75, and I’ve never paid more then $25 a month for test sticks (they are good for 6 months after expiration date)

 

[StTMore]

Has anyone heard of The new Ava monitor? It is a wrist bracelet worn overnight that monitors temperature and heart rate. It then links to a phone app. They claim it predicts the five most fertile days to an accuracy of 80%. If that’s true it means it’s at most 1 day off. It could help a couple using sympto thermal; I’m guessing with continuous monitoring overnight and automatic charting, it could help reduce some of the uncertainty and human error that’s common with NFP users. The monitor is $200 so I’d like to get some reviews from NFP Catholics before purchasing.