Question about breastfeeding and ovulation testing sticks

[ALLGIRLS]

Hi everyone!

I don’t know if this has been discussed here before, but I’m having some issues and hope someone can help.

My son is 11 and half months old, and my period hasn’t returned yet. This is the longest I’ve ever gone. With his 3 older sisters it returned at 9, 10, and about 10 and half months, and there was obvious peak type mucas for several days a couple of weeks prior (we use Creighton), This time, however, my cervical mucas readings are all over the place. I’ll have REALLY peak type (clear, stretchy, and lubricative) for a couple of days, then it goes away, and I’ll have non-lubricative extreme wetness for a couple of days, then lubricative wetness, then back to peak type mucas, on and on, for the past 2 months now. Very frustrating, to say the least. So I decided to buy a month’s supply of ovulation test strips (Answer is the brand name), to see if that would help me figure out whats going on. The first 2 days I used them no LH (lutenizing hormone, apparently present when ovulation is imminent) surge was detected. The next day, there was. The day after that, there wasn’t, the next, there was again. I forgot to test last night. So my question is, could breastfeeding being causing this confusion? (I know it can cause “fertile patches” of mucas throughout until one’s period returns). The reason I’m asking is that the box lists several things that can cause a faulty reading, but breastfeeding isn’t one of them (Clomid, being postpartum, postabortive, or pregnant, and a few other meds are listed). It would seem that breastfeeding would be on there, but maybe the manufacturers figure if someone’s breastfeeding they wouldn’t be using the sticks in the first place? Oh, and I know for sure I’m not pregnant (done 2 pregnancy tests in the last months, and dh won’t touch me until we get this figured out! Oh, and we definately need to avoid right now, we really can’t fit another child into our tiny house. I’m hoping in the not so distant future dh will get promoted and a large enough raise that we can move, but we can’t afford anything else right now). So, at the end of this long winded post (thanks for reading!) does anyone else have experience with this??

Thanks for all your help!

In Christ,

Ellen

 

[pseudosig]

I don’t think buying one month supply of ovulation sticks is necessarily the best way to go. My wife and I had the same problem… except with temperatures. Nothing consistent, temps all over the board. We now use the Marquette method. Uses a fertility monitor, but like anything with NFP, there are set rules of when one has likelihood of conceiving and not (and it’s not just when the monitor says your fertile… there are the 5 days before, etc). Here’s the manual we used to learn:

nfp.marquette.edu/pdf/nfp_user_manual.pdf

 

[Angels_Unaware]

Intersting you asked this question, as there is another thread on the Parenting board by Lil_M about this very subject.

It was always my understanding that ovulation predictor kits don’t work before the cycle has been re-established, because the ovarian follicles postpartum don’t fully mature for the first month or so, especially if breastfeeding. So, you can get a suge of LH off and on throughout the cycle that corresponds to immature follicle development.

But I’m not an NFP instructor- I’d go talk to your NFP instructor or gynecologist to be sure. They can help you figure out how to chart accurately while breastfeeding.

The amount of milk you produce also impacts when your cycle returns. Did your children start eating table food when your period returned? That’s what happened with mine. When my daughters reduced the amount of breast milk they were taking because they started eating more solid food and sleeping through the night every night, my cycle returned.

 

[ALLGIRLS]

Good morning!

Thanks for replying, Angels. I’ve been out of town at my IL’s and haven’t had internet access all weekend. Unfortunately, my NFP instructor hasn’t been very helpful. Just the standard “chart what you see on face value and act accordingly”. Which basically means never making love, as I can never get more than three days past peak type mucus before more peak type mucus appears. As for as eating goes, Andrew may still be nursing more than his sisters did at his age, I can’t really remember from one baby to the next! He started solids at 6 months, just like the others (very slowly, 1st cereal once a day, then twice, then adding veggies, then fruit, every couple of weeks, adding a third meal at 9 months), and is now eating 3 meals a day, and most days an afternoon snack. However, he does still nurse 4 to 6 times a day. He’s been sleeping through the night for a couple of months though, which is what seemed to be the trigger for my cycle returning w/ his sisters.

Oh well. I know this won’t last forever. He’s starting to get very easily distracted while nursing so it’s probably only going to be a couple more months at the most (his sisters all weaned themselves by 14 months). Thanks for your help.

In Christ,

Ellen

 

[Angels_Unaware]

Unfortunately, my NFP instructor hasn’t been very helpful. Just the standard “chart what you see on face value and act accordingly”. Which basically means never making love, as I can never get more than three days past peak type mucus before more peak type mucus appears.

Ellen

Hmmm. I can understand why you’d be frustrated. That doesn’t sound like a very good solution at all, especially with you being so close to coming back to regular cycles, and maybe not wanting to take any chances.

I was not Catholic when my children were born, so I didn’t have the NFP/breastfeeding problem, but if Creighton poses this kind of problem, I might be looking at some other methods, like temperature charting.

Maybe somebody else will answer who’s done Creighton and breastfeeding and was able to figure it out.

Sorry I couldn’t be more help!