Pregnancy tips Ovulation And Breastfeeding

Many women wonder if they can get pregnant while breastfeeding. Here is an excellent article which explains in detail how the menstrual cycle may change while breastfeeding:

Ovulating while breastfeeding (www.bellytales.com)

“Most nonlactating women resume menses within 4 to 6 weeks of delivery, but about one-third of the first cycles are anovulatory, and a high proportion of first ovulatory cycles have a deficient corpus luteum that secretes sub-normal amounts of steroids. In the second and third menstural cycles, 15% are anovulatory and 25% of ovulatory cycles have luteal-phase defects…Lactation, or breastfeeding, further extends the period of infertility and despresses ovarian function. Plasma levels of FSH return to normal follicular phase values by 4 to 8 weeks postpartum in breastfeeding women. In contrast, pulsatile LH stimulation is depressed…in the majority of lactating women throughout most of the period of lactational amenorrhea.” [1]

In other words, after not menstruating for so many months, it takes the body a few tries to get the delicate hormone balance back up to speed again. The first few cycles either don’t release an egg, or if an egg is released, the corpus luteum, which is responsible for secreting enough progesterone to maintain the pregnancy until the placenta can take over, isn’t quite up to the task. This is called a luteal phase defect, and it’s a very common cause of early miscarriages. In women who are breastfeeding, the process of returning to normal ovarian cycles takes even longer