Approximately 80% of women who do not breastfeed, renewed monthly for ten weeks after giving birth. Women who choose to breastfeed, the first ovulation and menses occur, on average, twenty weeks after the birth, although in some cases menstruation may begin much earlier or later than the twentieth week. Every woman and her hormones are quite unique and it is difficult to predict when it will begin monthly in an individual case. Therefore, breast-feeding and monthly interconnected each woman individually.

It is not rare cases when menstruation resumes just a month after giving birth, or only a year later. Sometime between birth and the first menstruation after they pass even more than twelve months. There are cases when a woman is nursing her first child almost two years, and then became pregnant again - after ovulation and before the first menstrual period after birth and month begins only after they have finished breastfeeding her second child.

The first ovulation after childbirth

The likelihood that ovulation will occur in the first six weeks after the birth, is quite small, regardless of whether you are breast-feeding or not. If a woman breastfeeds, her body produces the hormone prolactin; fairly high levels of this hormone can suppress ovulation for several months. Prolactin levels needed to suppress ovulation, every woman is different. To the level of the hormone remained stable at a high level, you need to feed your baby often enough, in about equal time intervals. In some women, periods do not begin as long as they are not completely stop breastfeeding, others it happens when they begin to breastfeed less, and gradually transferred the child to solid food.

7% of nursing mothers monthly beginning in the first six months of life; 37% of women - when the child is between six months to a year, 48% of women menstruation resumed between the first and second day of the child's birth, and 8% - when the child is more than two years.

Breastfeeding as a means of contraception

If breastfeeding delays the onset of menstruation after childbirth, it is logical to assume that it can also serve as an alternative means of contraception. On this subject, I conducted a lot of research, and now, most experts believe that breastfeeding can actually prevent pregnancy if the following conditions are met:

• A woman feeds her baby exclusively on breast milk;
• A child younger than six months;
• The time intervals between feedings - no more than four to six hours.

If the child is older than six months, and you feed him regularly enough, contraception is better to discuss with your doctor. The first postpartum ovulation usually occurs before the start of menstruation (although there are exceptions), and fertility may return, but the woman for some time not to know about it. But in general, if the above conditions are met, breastfeeding effectively suppresses ovulation and the beginning of the month, and its effectiveness as a means of contraception is very high: the probability of pregnancy is less than 2%. Once the child reaches six months, the probability of getting pregnant How to Get Pregnant: Recommendations to help   using breastfeeding as a means of contraception is 6%.

In order for a maximum period to delay the beginning of the month, it is recommended not only regularly breastfeed, but also to spend with him as much as possible. Studies have shown that women who start work in the first six months of life and, consequently, to part with them for a few hours a day, the probability of the beginning of ovulation and menstruation, pregnancy, and the risk is 5.2%. It should be noted that in the study of women express breast milk several times a day; on the basis of the experts have concluded that to prevent menstruation is necessary not only breastfeeding but also the proximity with the child - apparently, it has a significant impact on the mother's hormones.

Do I have to limit breastfeeding to get pregnant again?

If you still have not resumed menstruation, breastfeeding can reduce the likelihood that ovulation will occur and come. Even if you have been periods, this does not mean that fertility was completely restored sometimes menstruation passes without ovulation preceding it. If fertility is restored, hormones, production of which is due to breastfeeding Breastfeeding: notes Can prevent implantation of a fertilized egg. If implantation has occurred, breast-feeding has not affect the development of the pregnancy.

Typically, doctors do not recommend that women limit breastfeeding only to have more menstrual cycles, and they were able to get pregnant again. The fact that such a restriction in each individual case should be different: one woman is enough to start breast-feed three times a day instead of four, and the other will have to feed the baby only once a day to have it again started ovulating. The only reliable way to accelerate the start of menstruation and fertility restoration - just take the baby from the breast; this may be a reasonable choice only if the child is older than six months.

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