tma21
Jan 27, 2011, 07:11 PM
My husband and I want our children close in age so we have been Trying to conceive since May. I had my 1st child in February and I nursed her full time for 6 months. I now only nurse her once or twice at night. Since July I have had a regular 29 day cycle so I was hoping that I would get pregnant quick again (last time it only took about 6 weeks). I was not sure why I wasn't getting pregnant so I started using OPK to see what day I was ovulating and found out that I was not ovulating until day 24 or 25 of my 29 day cycle! Is this normal since I am still nursing a couple of times? I thought that if BF was making my ovulate late that my cylce would also be long... Is there anything that I can take to help me ovulate earlier in my cycle?
DoulaLC
Jan 28, 2011, 04:19 PM
It can be normal as it will vary from person to person as to when you will regain fertility. It can be challenging, especially when you have regular periods. With breastfeeding especially, however, regular periods do not necessarily mean you are ovulating regularly just yet.
The OPKs can give you a starting place, but they tell you that your body is preparing to ovulate, not that it actually is ovulating.
With a very short luteal phase (time between ovulation and your period) pregnancy is very unlikely. A first step might be to see your doctor to determine two things... is ovulation occurring, and what your progesterone level is. Either one would be taken care of differently, but they do go hand in hand. There are some over-the-counter and prescription things that might help, but what you might try will depend on what is causing the short luteal phase and how compatible it would be with breastfeeding.