Many women wonder about the effects of breastfeeding on fertility. Can you get pregnant while breastfeeding? Is it even possible? Do you need birth control while breastfeeding? What if you want to get pregnant while breastfeeding? There any many questions on the topic, and today we are going to try to answer a few of them. Claim Your 20 Free Pregnancy Tests – Click Here
This answer is not as simple as you might think. While you can get pregnant while breastfeeding, it is usually harder than when you are not breastfeeding. The reason? Hormones. Yes, hormones again!
Your hormones are so different during breastfeeding. When you are breastfeeding, your body is producing the hormone Prolactin. Prolactin is the hormone that is responsible for the production of breast milk.
When the body produces Prolactin, it suppresses estrogen, which makes it harder to get pregnant, since it might keep you from ovulating. So, the technical answer is that while you can actually get pregnant while breastfeeding, it will be much harder and it doesn’t happen often.
Breastfeeding can be a great form of birth control in and of itself! If you are breastfeeding exclusively, you are probably not ovulating. You are probably not having your period either. If you are not having your period or ovulating, it will not be possible for you to get pregnant.
If your baby is not more than six months old, and you are not supplementing with formula, and you are exclusively breastfeeding, you should not be able to get pregnant while breastfeeding. You can consider breastfeeding a form of nature’s birth control.
If you are trying to get pregnant while breastfeeding, that can be a challenge. As your baby gets older, however, you will not need to breastfeed every two hours anymore. The time between feedings will begin to grow, and sometimes, with a longer period in between each feeding, your body might begin to ovulate again.
You should make sure to be checking your basal body temperature and your cervical mucus to keep track of whether or not you are ovulating. Reducing breastfeeding sessions or supplementing with formula can help your ovulation get back to normal. That can be a tough decision for many women, and you will have to consider it carefully.
While there are not any “medications” that can bring back your ovulation, there are a few options out there that might work for some women. Some women opt for natural or herbal treatments to help to bring back their ovulation.
Many women try fertility tea blends, or cranberry or grapefruit juices to help bring back their ovulation. Vitex (also known as chasteberry) is another herbal treatment that many women swear by to bring back their ovulation. If none of those work for you, you might even try your hand at acupuncture therapy.
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