Brestfeeding and period

sparkly you are welcome to email me, but basically if I was out I just popped into the changing room of a shop and gave him a quick feed (since they were so quick this was easy to do). I tried to have at least one nap at home, but since he took quite short naps at that age I was ok with the other ones being in the pram. He never liked the carseat at the start either, I think its hard when its so hot, but they seem to get used to it eventually. To be honest the frequent feeding for the most part wasn't all that hard, in many ways it was easier, because the feeds were so short so I'd just have to excuse myself for a few minutes, instead of disappearing for half an hour or so. The short naps were harder because its hard to much done in 45 minutes, but as he got older and dropped naps they stretched to 90 minutes and these days he has a 4hour nap in the middle of the day which is amaaaaazing! To be clear, I didn't wake him after 45 minutes to feed him, he just slept for that long anyway and I fed him whenever he woke. If I was at home I also fed him if he got a fright, fell over or needed comfort in any way, basically if he was remotely interested in feeding I put him on, Once I realised his weight gain was good I was more relaxed about it, but still fed when he woke and again when he was due for a nap. The funny thing is, in village/tribal type cultures, where babies have almost constant access to the breast, this how all babies feed, its only modern society, with all its taboos on breastfeeding in public etc that has this idea of babies having such long gaps between feeds. one thing you could google is "nursing necklaces" I never tried them but they sound like a good idea. <em>edited by kiwispiers on 20/07/2012</em>

Sparkly I had exactly the same behaviour from my LO at that age, and it had NOTHING to do with my period (which I didn't get back until he was 12 months, don't worry Chocoholic, thats quite normal too, some women go years!). At 3-4 months a large number of babies seem to get fussy at the breast, distracted far more easily, popping on and off etc. I think your milk supply regulates around that time, so you are not really ever engorged anymore, you stop having that "full" feeling in your breasts and start to make exactly the right amount for your baby (assuming you are feeding on demand/not restricting feeding times etc). For women who maybe don't have a forceful letdown, the baby can get a bit frustrated at the now slower rate of flow, get bored at the boob and want to do something else. I would recommend if you really want breastfeeding to work out that you try to avoid bottles of any kind (formula or EBM) and focus on feeding directly, just more frequently. For me, after giving expressed milk he more or less went [i'>"well that was much easier and faster wasn't it mummy! no more boob for me[/i'>" and promptly went on a one week nursing strike, I had to pump every single feed!. On the advice of experienced friends I eventually took all the bottles away and just gave him micro feeds, so it would be like 1 min on each side, then swap back to the original side, for as long as he would tolerate, then another feed 45 min later etc etc. It felt like he never really ate anything but a weird thing happened, his weight gain rate actually went up and he rose a whole centile. His reflux also improved immensely. People had started telling me it was time for solids, to give formula top ups etc etc but actually it was enough just to adapt to his new preference for snacky feeding. I also went into a quiet dark room for feeds and fed him when he was relaxed/drowsy (right on waking and before putting him down for a sleep). We had a couple of months of him being a real snacker and then the feeds spread out a bit more, but were never more than a few minutes long which actually was very convenient in many ways. I ended up breastfeeding for nearly 2 years, only stopping recently due to my pregnancy.

Hi all! In my case, it's totally the opposite. My son is about 13 months and I'm yet to get my period! I still BF. I'm getting worried now.

Hi Sparkly, My period returned after 8-9weeks with DD. Unfortunatley for me it did effect my breastmilk. I found her to be extremely fussy and feeding non stop every hour for the week of my period and a few days after I could barely pump 1 ounce from both breasts when before I was pumping 6ozs from each, then the days following that when I squeezed nothing came . I felt no let down ,nothing .... my milk had completely dried up. When I stopped had no swelling/pain either. It was a very upsetting time, but once I put her on formula she seemed to be a different baby than the previous 2 weeks. We went to the Dr and she talked about the hormonal change with the period and effects on milk - in my case drying up- although very rare it can happen. Maybe talk to a midwife , advice we were given was to regularly feed to boost supply and also use fenugreek. All the best to you x <em>edited by lucky4uitsme on 16/07/2012</em>

my Ds is not 3 month old yet and i already had my periods. for some people its early :(

after my first and second i got my periods back on cycle the month after :( but after my twins it came about 5 months after which i thought was weird but found out its normal. and i breastfed all my children

I got periods after 4 months of delivering my DS and successfully exclusively breastfed him till he was 14 months old and then weaned him to formula (hence part-breastfeeding) for another 2 months. I have also seen a wide variation so there is nothing to be concerned about. Yes, my periods were a bit irregular and longer than pre-pregnancy era (hence, maybe surprise second pregnancy ;) )

Often it seems when babies stop feeding in the night or go for a long stretch then periods can return or if formula is being given. There is no reason to be concerned though, there is a big variation between women, it won't affect your milk in any way, I continued to breastfeed for almost a year after my period returned and ended up weaning due to pregnancy. So long as you feed whenever your baby seems hungry, don't restrict length of feeding and don't give formula top ups then your supply should be fine.