Are there important things to know about getting pregnant while breastfeeding? If you are planning another pregnancy, but your baby is still nursing, this will affect your chances of conceiving. To what degree depends upon how your body reacts to the hormones of nursing, how frequently your baby nurses and the age of your baby. How do you go about getting pregnant while breastfeeding? Because every woman is different, there is no definitive answer to this, but there are some things you should know if you are hoping to add to your family while still breastfeeding.
Conceiving May Be a Challenge
If your baby is under six months old, is breastfeeding exclusively and is still nursing during the night, it is more difficult to get pregnant; however, it is certainly not impossible, so if you definitely do not wish to conceive, you may want to consider a back up birth control method. It is important to remember that just because your periods have not resumed, that doesn't mean you can't get pregnant, as you will typically ovulate approximately two weeks before you get your first post-baby period. When your regular menstrual cycles will resume varies greatly from woman to woman. Some start within a few months, in spite of nursing, while others may not menstruate again for a year or more.
As your baby gets older and begins to supplement nursing with other foods, your chance of conceiving increases. The same holds true for mothers who choose to supplement breastfeeding with formula.
One of the biggest factors in when your fertility returns is night nursing. If your child is still nursing a lot at night, it can delay the return of your regular cycles, thus making it more difficult to conceive. If you are trying to get pregnant, it may be helpful to try substituting one or two of your child's regular nursing sessions with a snack or sippy cup. You may find that this increases your ability to conceive.
How Does a New Pregnancy Affect Breastfeeding?
You can breastfeed through pregnancy, and some mothers even choose to tandem nurse both their toddler and their new baby after the pregnancy. However, pregnancy does change the smell and taste of your milk, and some babies will refuse the breast when those changes occur. Another issue you may encounter is that the breast tenderness and nipple sensitivity of pregnancy can make nursing uncomfortable for you, especially in early pregnancy.
If you do choose to continue nursing throughout your pregnancy, you may hear concerns that nursing may be risky to the pregnancy, or that nursing will take nutrition away from your developing baby. There is, fortunately, no evidence to support either of these fears.
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