Although every woman’s body responds uniquely to the hormonal changes brought on by nursing their babies, there are certain constants that are associated with the monthly menstrual cycle and breastfeeding. Many women will experience irregular periods while nursing, while others will not menstruate at all until they stop breastfeeding their babies altogether.

As a general rule, breastfeeding causes a delay in the return of menstruation following pregnancy for most women. Also, the frequency of breastfeeding plays a large role as to how soon the menstrual cycle is regulated and once again normal. Women who nurse their babies exclusively may not have a period for as long as a year or more after their pregnancies and will soon discover that the menstrual cycle and breastfeeding seem to be directly related to one another.

Some new mothers will have their menstrual period after cutting down to nursing only two or three times per day, supplementing the other times with formula. Most women who start off formula-feeding their babies will usually begin menstruating anywhere from one to three months following delivery.

The absence of menstruation is actually considered to be a normal occurrence while breastfeeding provided the woman is doing the following:

- Breastfeeding exclusively without using formulas, cereals, or baby foods

- Nursing at least six times per day while alternating breasts

- Breastfeeding at least every four hours during the daytime hours

- Nursing at least every six hours during the nighttime hours

If you find that you aren’t breastfeeding that often, or if several months have gone by and you still aren’t having your usual menstrual cycle, consult with your healthcare provider for their assessment and evaluation.

The technical term for a lack of menstruation due to breastfeeding is known as lactational amenorrhea. Some women rely upon breastfeeding as a means of postponing ovulation in what’s referred to as the lactational amenorrhea method (LAM) for as long as six months after giving birth. It’s important to remember that you should consider yourself fertile once your monthly menstrual cycle has returned. However, since this isn’t necessarily true for each and every woman, especially those with irregular periods, one should always make sure to use a safe means of birth control if they aren’t interested in having another baby right away.

Consult with your own family doctor or gynecologist for their recommendations as to which method is best for you. Many mothers who are breastfeeding choose to use a barrier method, such as condoms or the diaphragm, until they are no longer nursing their babies to avoid the risk of passing on any of the hormones contained in the birth control pill.

Often times, menstruation will begin again once the baby is eating solid foods, or has been weaned from the breast, or is nursing from a bottle more frequently. Once baby begins sleeping throughout the night, or at least for four to six hours at a time, this may affect the menstrual cycle when breastfeeding.

Besides nursing, a woman’s menstrual cycle may even be affected by factors such as a new mother sleeping with her baby, which is never a safe practice as babies can be accidentally suffocated, or fall from a bed risking serious injury. Also, if a mother wears her baby close to her body in a sling on a frequent basis, that may even alter the hormones responsible for causing menstruation as well.

Always remember that the menstrual cycle and breastfeeding are different for every woman, and also for every pregnancy. It’s also not uncommon for women to report having an entirely different experience from one pregnancy to the next. If you have questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to contact your doctor and make an appointment as soon as possible. Most new mothers faithfully take their babies to receive check-ups and immunizations when necessary, but often neglect their own health during the important months following childbirth.
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A woman can get pregnant when she is nursing. If you want to prevent pregnancy while nursing, you have a few options for birth control.

Sex After Childbirth

It used to be that women were advised to not have sex until six weeks after they gave birth, at their six week check-up. If you feel comfortable with this, then you can wait. However, the vagina typically heals after two weeks or so, and the cervix will also be closed after two weeks. If you haven’t had any complications, you can have sex as early as two weeks after you give birth. Ask your doctor if there are any reasons you shouldn’t. You might not want to have sex after you give birth: a woman’s hormones change dramatically after being pregnant, and sometimes they are not as sexually charged. If you are interested in sex, know that you could be fertile again as soon as two weeks after you have your baby. Be aware of this and choose your contraception wisely.

Lactational Amenorrhea Method (LAM)

This is sometimes also called the breastfeeding method. This is the method that has some people confused as to whether or not you can get pregnant while you are nursing. If you choose to nurse your baby and to not give your baby other milk, you can postpone your fertility.

This means you feed your baby every four hours (from both breasts). In the night, you have to feed your baby at least every six hours.

You can only use this method if you are nursing and if you haven’t had a period since your baby was born. This method only works for six months after the baby is born, and then you have to use another method.

Barrier Methods

Barrier methods of birth control won’t harm your nursing infant. These include condoms, female condoms, sponges, and prescription barrier based methods. With many prescription barrier methods, you have to wait until six to eight weeks after delivery: these include diaphragms, cervical caps, and shields.

If you are using a barrier based method with a spermicide, be sure that your vagina has healed thoroughly before using spermicide and having sex.

Hormonal Methods

You cannot take a combination hormone treatment (one that has estrogen, or ethinyl estradiol, in it) if you are nursing. This means that you cannot take combination pills, you can’t wear the Patch, and you can’t use a Vaginal Ring. The estrogen will be found in your breastmilk and affect your baby, and will also affect your milk supply.

You can, however, use progestin-only methods of birth control. This includes progestin-only pills, which are sometimes called mini-pills, Depo-Provera, and Mirena, a hormonal IUD (intrauterine device). Many doctors claim that progestins are too large to pass into breastmilk and will not affect your baby.

Other doctors, however, are wary about using progestin-only birth control. Dr. Cindy McClain Pearman, a family practice physician from Knoxville, Tennessee, claims that “Mini-pills and Depo are not supposed to affect [milk] supply, but I have seen it happen often, especially with the mini-pill.”

If you feel uncertain about using hormonal birth control methods, you can always choose another form of birth control, be it abstinence, a barrier method, or a fertility awareness method.

IUDs: IntraUterine Devices

You can use a copper IUD while you are nursing; it will not affect your breastmilk. An IUD is a device that is inserted by your doctor. It means that you won’t be able to conceive until you have it removed by a professional. Often, women who have just given birth report easier IUD insertions.

Fertility Awareness Methods

You can choose to track your fertility after your baby is born. This cannot happen until you have your first period. To learn about tracking your fertility, you will need to speak to an expert: ask your doctor, or local clinic, or women’s group. You will have to abstain from sex on your unsafe days, or plan to use a back-up method.

Having just had a baby can be a magical (but tiring) experience. Family planning can benefit you, your partner, and your baby. Choose the option that seems right for you.
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Breastfeeding and Pain

Many women are led to believe that pain is part of the breastfeeding story and some new mothers experience excruciating pain in their breasts and nipples.

Because even many professionals believe that pain is par for the course when help is sought to support breastfeeding, pumping or just getting on with it is often the advice we get. As a result mothers continue to suffer while being concerned about weight-gain and bonding with their baby.

Breastfeeding Without Pain

The truth is that pain is not part and parcel of breastfeeding. Your body was designed specifically to feed your baby with your breasts. You baby was designed to be able to access your milk with his mouth.

Pain is your body’s way of letting you know that something is not quite right. Oftentimes it is the nature of the latch that is off in some way. And establishing a deep latch is a skill that needs to be learned by baby and mom. Or it could be the angle at which you are bringing your baby to the breast.

Even though breastfeeding is natural, it is a skill with many different components. Thankfully we can learn them and teach them to our baby so that joy in breastfeeding becomes our experience.

Breastfeeding Support

In order to experience breastfeeding success without pain, it is necessary to have the support of people who believe this is possible and can show you step by step how to achieve a pain-free latch and a beautiful breastfeeding experience with ease and joy.
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Many nursing mothers become very anxious about when and how best to stop breastfeeding. The decision to stop breastfeeding should be part of a natural process of raising a child and should be of no concern to anyone but mother and baby.

If a woman is anxious about when to cease breastfeeding, the best advice is to put the whole subject out of her thoughts. However, this is isn’t always easy to do. Many external factors contribute to the anxiety and stress a mother feels about breastfeeding and, all too sadly, these external factors can persuade many women to stop breastfeeding their baby. Breastfeeding in public is something that many mothers find difficult, and with good reason. Our modern society makes breastfeeding your child in public as difficult as possible: a lack of private places for breastfeeding; many mothers being thrown out of shops, restaurants and public transport when they feed their child; women’s breasts being seen as sex objects rather than as a source of nutrition and comfort for a child; the list goes on.

Another reason mothers feel pressurized into stopping breastfeeding is when a baby becomes a small infant. Feeding older children – especially children who can articulate their love of mother’s breast milk – is very much a taboo subject. Our society encourages women to wean their child off breast milk at an early age. However, other societies find it perfectly acceptable for a mother to breastfeed her child into early infancy – the World Health Organization recommends that all mothers breastfeed for at least 2 years.

Some mothers feel they should cease nursing their child when the child becomes sick. Unless a medical expert says otherwise a mother should always continue to breastfeed during the child’s sickness; the benefits of mother’s antibodies – not forgetting the emotional support a child gets – are just what a sick child needs.

Perhaps the main reason women decide to stop breastfeeding is because of pregnancy. There is evidence that breastfeeding does decrease a woman’s chances of becoming pregnant; breastfeeding is Nature’s contraceptive pill. It certainly makes sense to avoid having another baby when the first child is still very much dependent on getting it’s nutrition from mother. Being pregnant also stops many women from breastfeeding. Western culture does seem to frown upon breastfeeding during pregnancy although there are no valid reasons to stop breastfeeding during pregnancy.

When to stop breastfeeding is a decision made by both mother and child. Ignoring all external advice and opinions will alleviate the pressure to stop breastfeeding, leaving the mother and child to get on with breastfeeding until such as time as both decide to stop.

Eventually a decision is made to stop breastfeeding. But stopping breastfeeding isn’t always straightforward. A child may have spent years suckling and will find it hard to stop. The most important thing to remember when stopping breastfeeding is, never stop nursing suddenly if you can avoid it. The sudden loss of mother’s breast can be very emotionally upsetting for a child. Instead, a gradually weaning off the breast is the best approach. Start by replacing one feed with a bottle – the bottle can contain either formula or expressed breast milk. Over time, the baby can be introduced to being fed by bottle or cup rather than by breast.

Many nursing mothers find it hardest to stop breastfeeding when their child wakes up at night. Many babies cry when the wake and breastfeeding is a very effective way of soothing them back to sleep. A good approach to take is to let the mother’s partner take care of baby’s bedtime. Try letting your partner put the baby to bed, and when baby wakes during the night, let your partner put the baby back to sleep. The mother can express her milk earlier in the day; the partner can then feed the baby her mother’s milk during the night. Many babies aren’t happy about having mother replaced by her partner, however persistence is the key. Your baby will get used to it.

It is also important to take care of yourself during this time. Stopping nursing can also be a very emotional experience for mothers. And you mustn’t forget about the physical effects of stopping breastfeeding. Some mother can experience painful engorgement when the stop nursing their child. A gradual weaning off breastfeeding will ease the discomfort; your breasts will become used to producing less breast milk. Some mothers find the application of cabbage leaves, placed on the nipple, help reduce engorgement.

Finally, it is vital that a mother get the support she needs – at all stages of raising a child. Therefore, talk to friends and family and especially your partner about your decision to stop breastfeeding; the more informed they are, the better they will be able to help.
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Look at almost any television show or magazine; unfortunately, the breasts are everywhere, selling everything from cars to cleansers. A huge industry in this country banks on woman’s breasts being seen in a sexual light, rather than as a part of woman’s reproductive and child nurturing equipment. Since media plays major role in showing that breasts only have a sexual side and hence lowers the importance of it being nurturing equipment.

The question that bothers many women today is whether “Breast feeding makes breasts unattractive”? Many women worry, for example, that breast feeding will cause their breasts to become droopy or ugly. But changes in breast shape are more related to pregnancy itself than to breast feeding. Breasts grow during pregnancy, as milk producing tissues develop. This stretches the fiber support tissue of the breast. Whether or not, these tissues spring back once the breasts shrink again is mostly a matter of luck – some woman’s breasts are springier than others. Women with highly elastic breasts can breastfeed and a few months later, look the same as they did before getting pregnant. Other mothers who do not breast feed can have long lasting changes in breast shape from their pregnancies.

Does breastfeeding make women unattractive to their husbands or partners? This varies from person to person. Some men are put off by nursing breasts, but many find them interesting and attractive. The fact that their spouse is feeding their baby from her own body fills some men with awe, other with lust. Some nursing mothers feel that their breasts are less sensitive to erotic stimulation. Others find that having longer breasts makes them feel more sensual.

Is breastfeeding sexually arousing? Nursing mothers often report that breastfeeding feels good, but the feeling is not really sexual. It’s clear to them that their breasts have developed a specialized function as a source of nutrition for their babies.

Will breastfeeding make your partner feel excluded or jealous? This does happen sometimes, but it doesn’t have to. Fathers can help make their partners comfortable for nursing, and they can take over many other parenting tasks, such as changing, holding, singing to and playing with the baby. Many nursing mothers pump their breast milk regularly, especially if they are working outside of the home, and faters can certainly feed this to their babies using a bottle, spoon or cup.
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