Regular AF but not ovulating. Is this possible?

[mawbroon]

I am ttc no2 but only trying to the extent of not using any contraception and guessing when I might ovulate. Oh aye, and a bit of the other at the aforementioned time. Trouble is, I don't seem to be ovulating. I am still breastfeeding ds (21 months) and I did ovulate a few times shortly after coming off the minipill at the beginning of this year. The egg white thing is unmistakable which is why I am certain that I'm no longer ovulating as there is no sign of it at all. Neither ds or I are ready for weaning, and I wondered if anybody could give me any advice on how far we might need to cut back and how to do it. Lots of the stuff I have read say that it's likely that full fertility has returned if there is a regular cycle, but my cycle can be as regular as it likes, there's not going to be any conception going on if I'm not ovulating!!

I am going to start charting temps to see if that throws any light on it but of course that will take a few months before I can see any pattern.

TIA

[EnormousChangesAtTheLastMinute]

how often are you bf? i don't think i ovulated until i stopped bf althogether but then it was swift (as was conception). it's perfectly possible to have regular cycle but not ovulate - but i'm guessing from what you post you have read the weschler book so know as much as me! i was surprised by how quickly things happened after i stopped bf but to be honest i prob would have bf for longer had i not been keen to conceive baby#2 (i am old you see!)

[crokky]

I had regular AF since DC1 was 6 months - AF came back 2 weeks after starting solids. I did not ovulate (am sure of this as used sticks) until DC1 was 14 months (2 months after stopping BF). In my case, BF definately suppressed ovulation. (I did not take contraceptive pills at any point).

Could you try the ov sticks for a month so that you know for certain whether ov is taking place?

Prior to stopping BF, I was only doing 1 feed per day. Still was not ovulating, so cutting back may not be the answer.

[EnormousChangesAtTheLastMinute]

d'oh mawbroom have just realised i recognise you from the Oct '05 babies thread! hello (i was cye and only on briefly). hope you and little one doing well!
i'd second the not ovulating till stopped bf altogether - i too was only bf once a day at the end.

[mawbroon]

DS loves breastfeeding. I pretty much feed him on demand tbh. Morning, night and one feed after his nap, plus anytime he comes to me signing "milk" or if he's fallen over, or is whinging, so I don't know exactly, but quite a lot I suppose.
What's the weschler book enormouschanges?
I hope we can do it by cutting back, and the fact that I did ovulate a couple of times after coming off the mini pill makes me hopeful that I can, but then maybe it was the change in hormones from stopping the pill that made me ovulate.
What are these ov sticks then?
DS took over a year to conceive and as I'm not exactly a spring chicken, I would rather get on with it!! Also I have a bi cornuate uterus which can apparantly make implantation more difficult so I might be in for a long wait, even if I ovulated tomorrow.

[mawbroon]

Ooooooh somebody on mumsnet recognised me!!! Fame at last

[EnormousChangesAtTheLastMinute]

this is the weschler book
i too tried ovulation sticks, they work out pricy if you not sure when you're ovulating but good way of knowing what's happening (as well as temps, egg white etc). it took us a wee while to conceive our oct 05 dd too but managed dd2 (due sept 2nd) without even trying - suprised us all - so don't assume the worst!
from what i read the whole bf/ovulating thing varies a lot from woman to woman so prob just trial and error for you to find out how far you have to cut down in order to ovulate.
good luck!

[expatinscotland]

It's entirely possible.

[mawbroon]

Ah, have heard about that book. I might have to read it methinks.

Feel free to come back to the oct 05 thread btw. Not that you'll have a lot of time after baby arrives!! Good luck

[crokky]

Ovulation sticks are expensive - I got mine from Sainsbury's (by the pregnancy tests). It is something like £20 for a packet of 7 sticks. You wee on a disposable stick every day (once your AF has finished, from maybe day 9/10 of cycle, something like that), just like a pg test. There is a hormone in your urine which will be detected by the stick. Once you detect that hormone, you are supposed to try to conceive on that day and/or the following day. The hormone has a massive spike in levels just before you ovulate. When I was BF, the sticks were not detecting ovulation.

[mawbroon]

I'll have a look for them crokky, but you're right, that's quite expensive especially if it's for several months.

I am going to buy a digital thermometer (an in the ear one) and start charting just so I can see what's going on.

[Snarf02]

i got my periods back when lo was 8 mths old and still feeding up to 8 times a day and i was really regular. We tried to conceive when 15 mths old and only feeding mornign and night so just two feeds a day and got pg straight away but think i could have been fertile from 8 months anyway. I dont think i had much milk when only feeding twice a day. My mum got pg when still bf me so bf did not work as a contraception for either of us.

[Lovage]

This is depressing me! My periods came back at 6 months and I really want to get pregnant again (DS now 12 mo) but I'm still bfing about 5 times in 24 hrs (wd like to cut down to 3, but that's going to be hard work since those 2 are overnight (which I know is particularly bad for ovulation). We had fertility problems - took 5 years and IUI to conceive DS so I know I often don't ovulate even without Bfing. Maybe I should just give up now!

I did read somewhere that cutting down bfing suddenly increases your fertility more than gradually, so dropping a feed altogether is better than gradually decreasing amount. I guess it sort of shocks your body into realising that something's different. That might be worth a try.

But it's hard when you pretty much feed on demand (I do too) and it's such an important part of their worlds and when they're used to having it whenever they want.

Good luck!

[mawbroon]

Don't let it depress you lovage! Everyone is different and breastfeeding might not make a jot of difference to your fertility.

If I were ten years younger, I would just wait until ds self weaned, but I don't really have the time to spare as I ideally would like another two.

[mammaduck]

good luck mawbroom!

FWIW I used the ovulation sticks and it only took 3 months to conceive no2 (due Feb 08), as we found the 'guess when you're ovulating' wasn't getting us anywhere either.

but i'm not BFding any more, so....

well, just wanted to say 'good luck' anyway

[mawbroon]

Thanks