What are the chances of getting pregnant while breastfeeding? Is it even possible? Read on the guide to know if getting pregnant while breastfeeding can happen.
Can You Get Pregnant While You are Breastfeeding?
There has always been the myth that women can’t get pregnant while breastfeeding, but many women should have known that it’s just a myth, and it isn’t true. Even though breastfeeding can hinder ovulation, it isn’t a dependable form of contraceptive unless you wish to get pregnant once again. As known that everyone differs, the ovulation period of women after delivery isn’t uniform, and that’s why you’ll see some women ovulating today and some ovulating tomorrow.
Therefore, the average time it takes women to get their period again after childbirth can be anywhere from one month to over a year because the length of time differs for each woman.
Though women might not quickly see their period, they might be ovulating at that period, so it’s important to be careful if you don’t want to get pregnant soon. Ovulation happens before your menstrual cycle, which means that it’s possible to get pregnant without seeing your period.
Breastfeeding As Birth Control
Yes, you can use breastfeeding as birth control. It’s popular among some women, and the method is known as Lactational Amenorrhea Method or LAM, for short. However, this method is effective until you get your first period after delivery and when your baby is breastfeeding very well.
The LAM birth control method requires the baby to be under six months old and must be breastfeeding around the clock. However, this method cannot be used if you have already started your period. However, if you follow the LAM practices well, you should be able to successfully implement it as it has only a 2% failure rate. However, there are also certain stages when your baby feeds less and stops sleeping all the time, during which time you will have a higher risk of getting pregnant.
How is it Possible to Get Pregnant Before Your First Period After Giving Birth?
Many women who have experienced pregnancy after delivery without seeing their menstrual period wonder how that is possible. But you should know that your body starts ovulating around 12-16 days before your period, so before you see the blood, you’re already fertile.
This fertility period is when your chances of getting pregnant are increased, and you might see yourself in the family way without witnessing a menstrual cycle even if you’re currently nursing. But if you don’t want to get pregnant while breastfeeding, you must use contraceptives before sex.
Knowing how to get pregnant while breastfeeding helps when figuring out the time of ovulation. Most women don’t know when their ovulation is, and that’s often a cause of getting pregnant at the wrong time. Thus, it’s critical you know when your ovulation is in order to conceive at the right time.
How to Know if You’re Ovulating Having Periods
As said, ovulation happens way before you see your period; you may be ovulating while breastfeeding, even if you don’t see any blood. Of course, it can happen; it’s the body system, after all. You’ll only doubt that you can get pregnant before seeing your period if you don’t have the full knowledge of how the body works. However, there are some ways that can show if you’re ovulating or not. Monitor these ways, and you’ll understand and know when you’re ovulating.
Increase in Vaginal Discharge
When you’re ovulating, there’ll be an increase in the rate your vaginal mucus is discharged. Observe the discharge and check for symptoms that might deduce fertility. Thus, if your vaginal mucus changes color and texture from thick to white to watery and clear, then you’re probably ovulating. Also, if you see discoloration in your discharge, you might be fertile. For instance, even though your body took a break from the menstrual cycle for some time, when you’re getting back to the cycle, you might see either a pink or brown color in the discharge and that depicts ovulation.
Increased Temperature
You can tell if you’re ovulating without seeing your period by monitoring your body temperature. If you’ve been observing your temperature during the time you’re breastfeeding to be sure you don’t get pregnant, this means you are also ovulating. In that case, you should take your temperature more seriously, since a rise in body temperature is associated with ovulation. Thus, a rise in temperature indicates ovulation.
What to Do If You Don’t Want To Get Pregnant Again?
If you don’t want to get pregnant soon or while breastfeeding, then it’s advisable to see your gynecologist prescribe a suitable contraceptive or birth control method to use. However, you should ensure you use the contraceptive while having sex because failure to do so might lead you to get pregnant again. So, take note.
If You Want to Get Pregnant While Breastfeeding
Getting pregnant while breastfeeding isn’t a difficult task; in fact, there are some things you can do. Monitor your body because when your milk supply decreases, there’s a high chance that you’re fertile. At the time when there’s a decrease in your milk supply, it probably means your baby is more than six months old, so the rate at which he or she feeds will decrease.
However, you must know that it’s recommended you provide your baby until he/she is nine months, so you should delay getting pregnant until after that time. Make sure your baby is at least nine months old before getting into the family way again so that he’ll get the full nutrients breast milk has to offer.
Also, stress is a vital factor that can decrease your milk supply. When you’re stressed, you’ll realize that your milk supply dwindles whether your child is feeding well or not. Thus, stress can affect your fertility, so if you want to get pregnant while breastfeeding, get rid of all stressors.
Similarly, increasing the rate at which your body exercise can hinder milk supply. You can use the time you used for exercising, and you use it as a way to impede the stimulation of breast milk. Besides, going to and fro is more of an exercise so that it can decrease your milk production.
Hence, you can use another method to get pregnant during nursing to decrease your baby’s night time to at least 6 hours. If you normally feed your baby all night long, you can lower it to half the night; Doing that will decrease milk production and send a message to your body system that it’s time to get back to the normal processes, for instance, ovulation. Then, your body will get ready for pregnancy again.
On the other hand, you can add other meals into your baby’s feeding routine. Meals like solid foods, liquids, and maybe Formulas to decrease milk production and increase your chance of getting pregnant.
So in closing, is getting pregnant while breastfeeding possible? During pregnancy, women’s body systems undergo a series of changes which will come back to the normal process after delivery. So, after delivery, it’s possible for a woman to get pregnant while breastfeeding despite the myth that states it isn’t possible. There are several factors that can either hinder pregnancy in women or increase their rate of fertility. Thus, it’s these factors that make it possible for women to get pregnant while breastfeeding.