[dlubas]

When a woman is breast feeding continuously and she has live sex what are her chances of getting pregnant?

[odinn7]

"Live sex" ? Is there another kind?

Why couldn't she get pregnant? As far as "chances", nobody can really say for sure.

[J_9]

Breast feeding lessens the chances of pregnancy, but it can still happen.

[Alty]

Totally possible. Look at it this way. Before a woman menstruates, she ovulates. Breastfeeding women normally don't ovulate when they're only breastfeeding, not supplementing, and the baby is not receiving any other form of nutrition other than milk. But the norm isn't always the rule.

Since a woman will ovulate before she menstruates it's completely possible for her to become pregnant, without even having missed a period since her last pregnancy. I have more than a few friends that had back to back pregnancies without ever having a period between pregnancies, and many of them breastfed.

So yes, it's very possible for a nursing mom to conceive.

[CravenMorhead]

From what I learned in a pre-birth class, you need to follow a precise regime of breast feeding to be able to use it as birthcontrol. I can see that as a trait that developed because you would want to make sure the first is weaned before the next comes along. If you don't follow the regime though it won't work and it is classified as "Not a really good form of birthcontrol". Kind of like Pull out.

[J_9]

With all of that said, pregnancy is always a possibility whenever there is sex. When I discharge a mother and her baby from the hospital one of my questions is "What form of birth control do you plan on using?" Breast feeding is not an actual acceptable form of birth control. While it is somewhat reliable, it should never be considered as a primary form of birth control.

i have patients who have had babies 10 months apart because the relied only on breast feeding. We actually delivered twins this morning under those circumstances.

[DoulaLC]

As others have said, pregnancy will always be a possibility if you are having sex.

However, exclusive breastfeeding can be quite effective for birth control, but it will depend on a number of factors. The age of the baby, has baby started skipping any feeds (as would happen when baby starts to sleep more), is the baby given a pacifier for comfort instead of the breast, are any bottles given (even with expressed breastmilk), is baby fed on a strict schedule instead of on demand, has the mother had a return of her menstrual cycle?

Those types of changes can lessen the effectiveness of breastfeeding as a form of birth control.

[Alty]

Exactly Doula. What I was told by my doctor, is that if you're exclusively breast feeding, not supplementing with formula, until the baby starts eating solids, breastfeeding is a fairly safe, but not 100% form of birth control.

If you do supplement, or when baby starts eating solids, or starts sleeping through the night without nursing, that safety net is no longer there, if it ever was.

With my son I breastfed for 10 months, but started the pill 3 months after he was born, just to be safe.

With my daughter I breastfed until she was almost 3, but didn't have a period for 18 months after she was born. But as I said, you ovulate before you menstruate, so it's entirely possible to not know that you've started to ovulate again, and you can get pregnant without actually missing a period because you were breast feeding.

I have one friend, she has 3 children. Her second and third are only 8 months apart. She never missed a period. Her 3rd child was 2 months premature, but she relied on breastfeeding as birth control. She was exclusively breastfeeding her 2nd child. She didn't actually know she was pregnant with the third until she went into labor. She didn't think it was possible for her to be pregnant that soon after giving birth.