The return of aunt flo...

Hi everyone. About to get a little TMI here, please bear with me. With my older daughter we didn't go on BC and I EBFed with no period till she was five months old and didn't get pregnant till she was 9-10 months.

Now I'm EBFing the twins. We are going on BC and I want to get a diaphragm or IUD (I'll take opinions on those too, I'm undecided), but we have to wait till July to get it because of the way my insurance works. We can't use condoms for religious reasons and I don't want to use the pill, I'm scared of foam...

All that to ask, when did you start getting normal periods again when you were EBFing your twins? We might just go unprotected and hope for the best till July.

 

With your history, I would hesistate to go unprotected. I did myself, but my period took much longer to come back. With my twins I didn't exculsively breast feed and I didn't get my period until they were 14 months old. With my singleton, I did exclusively breast feed and I didn't get my period until he was 18 months old.
If you do decide to go that route breastfeed as often as possible over night, as some evidence has been found that it's the night feeds that have the most effect on your hormone levels. In my experience, I coslept with my kids while breastfeeding and feed on demand all night long. And my period did not return until much later--but everyone's body works a bit differently.

 

With all my single babies, my period started between 11-13 months. With my twins it was 17 months. They all started solids around 6-7 months, but still nursed a lot. The earliest any of them weaned was 15 months (my oldest).

 

Does you doctor offer samples (if your insurance is weird) or can you try the pill, just till July? We had to wait as well and with me being fertile Myrtle crossing our fingers that we wouldn't get preggers while BFing wasn't good enough. So my doc wrote a 90 day script and I took the pill until I was fitted for my IUD. Incidentally, I have the Paragard copper IUD, no hormones and it is Faaaan-tastic!

 

My period came back at 11 months but my boys were almost weaned at that point.

Foams scare me, too. They are responsible for my 3rd born.

 

Thanks everybody!

I absolutely cannot do pills, I know from experience that they make me crazy. With foam I'm scared of irritation, yeast infections, chemicals...

Twinmom2dana, I'm leaning towards the paraguard, but I did read stuff online about copper poisoning, although I guess you haven't had any problems with that. Really I'm too crunchy for any of this stuff but NFP isn't an option for us either

In June/July they will still only be 6 months old and I'll still be EBFing. I doubt I'll get pregnant but on the other hand I definitely don't want to get pregnant...

 

My period would have come back around a year, if I hadn't gotten pregnant! my twins were 13 months when I found out I was expecting again. So after the 3rd baby, I got a copper IUD. I've had it for just over 2 years now and I would highly recommend that above all other birth control options. Have you read "Taking Charge of your natural fertility" ? Might be worth it to temp & observe your signs during these first six months WHILE following the rules about using the LAM method: LAM method

 

I think you will be able to find cons with every method. I didn't have any issue with the pill the whole time I was on it (10+ yrs with kids in between) but then it stopped working for me. The Paragard has been GREAT although I have read that it doesn't work for everyone. I myself wanted something hormone free until dh has his vasectomy.

 

Interesting info about LAM, I will have to read it more thoroughly. Thanks.

Yes there are definitely cons to every method I'm really hoping to convince myself into a Paragard, a diaphragm seems to annoying and inconvenient.

 

Hi Miriam,

I'm curious and I hope you won't mind a question. I'm mean no disrespect, I'm truely interested in learning more about religions.
You are Orthodox Jewish right? It struck me as interesting that condoms are not allowed, but a diaphram is, being that they are both barrior methods. What is the reasoning behind that?
If you choose not to answer, that's fine, no problem.
If you choose to answer, thanks.

opps-typo!

 

Hey my pleasure I love answering questions Yes we are orthodox jewish and do a lot of things that probably seem strange lol.

Anyways, Judaism prohibits 'spilling seed' ie ejaculating outside of a vagina. This includes masturbation and also condoms because the sperm is being wasted, so to speak. So the 'loophole' is that as long as everything ends up in the right place any other form of birth control, which boils down to any female method, is fine.

That's the gist of it, let me know if you have any more questions

 

I've ebf all of mine. Period came back at 7 months with my first, at 5 months with my second, and my twins are 10 months and I'm happy to report no sign of it returning yet.

Regarding bc methods, iud's scare me. I know a couple of people who had them perforate their uterus and they had to have surgery to get it removed. What about a female condom? Seems that would be similar to the diaphragm?