a hand to the back of the class and a woman asks a lactation consultant stands: "Excuse me, is that I'm breastfeeding my son. It has 17 months and a few days ago I asked my doctor if it is normal that I have not been the rule. He said it was not normal, and it was impossible to come to the gynecologist as soon as possible ".
The advisor smiles shyly and throws the same question the other women accompanying the first: "What do you think? It is normal?". Immediately voices of women who breastfeed their children giving figures, as one auction for a valuable item start ringing, "I'm two years," "I take 32 months", "I have more than three years without rule", "for I…".
This happened a few years ago, when I pulled the title lactation consultant and my wife took more than a year and half breastfeeding my first child, equivalent to one and a half (without adding pregnancy) wearing without menstruating. The doctor said that was something abnormal, however in that room full of women gave most dizzying figures, came to say that when breastfeeding makes you spend years without menstruation, not to worry.
Why many doctors do not know that this happens
Many doctors, pediatricians and gynecologists, and many ordinary people know this phenomenon for the same reason they do not know much about breastfeeding: a few decades ago most women stop breastfeeding before six months and most babies begin to eat things at three months.
This makes menstruation came before and few women have reached amenorrhea (lack of menstruation) of year.
The cause of the lack of menstruation is prolactin
However, even though many people do not know that this can happen and that is normal, the explanation is very simple and the culprit is prolactin.
Prolactin is a hormone involved in the creation cycle breast milk. At the time that the placenta is delivered at delivery prolactin levels begin to rise to "make" milk. As the days pass and as the baby is sucking prolactin levels will rise and remain high while there is suction. The more suction, more prolactin is secreted and thus more milk a mother.
As nature is not dumb (has many faults, but too many hits) prolactin has a double mission: in addition to provide the baby with his long-awaited white liquid emanating from Mom deals with inhibit cerebral level and ovarian secretion fertility related hormones.
This makes prolactin is high while the odds are ovulating very low and that many women do not have the rule until a long time breastfeeding.
I say that nature is not stupid because while breast-feeding is the body interprets that are taking care of a baby or a small child and, therefore, are not yet able to care for another newborn. For this reason it will delay ovulation while you're breastfeeding.
"But I came breastfeeding rule"
Sometimes this equation is not fulfilled. There are women who should have a menstrual cycle using bombs and no prolactin than tear down that, three or four months and tell you that even nursing, has been the rule them. Sometimes bleeding without ovulation are not considered menstruation, but sometimes it is the period and comes to stay.
When they increase the chances that the rule comes
It is possible that the first months or years when a child more breast rule does not come, but that it appears in the second or third year if that breast less.
Written by them and define them a little what I commented the two circumstances that make it more likely to reach the rule are:
- The baby is more than six months: at the time when babies begin to take new foods are also starting to suck a little less.
- You have periods of more than six hours without breastfeeding: if they are eating more and in some shots forget to ask chest, if at night they start sleeping waking up less often, if you suddenly fall asleep without the help of chest mom and / or mom has started work and spends several hours away from home periods of between 4 and 6 hours can appear without the baby to his chest and this causes the body begins to think that the child is more autonomous (true ) and it might be good idea to be able to have more babies.
Can we use breastfeeding as a contraceptive?
Well, if the conditions are discussed above but in reverse (exclusive breastfeeding the baby being less than six months and there are no periods of more than 4-6 hours without make a decision) the chances of pregnancy in the first trimester are almost nil. Between 3 and 6 months of life baby reliability of this method, which is called LAM (method of breastfeeding and amenorrhea), it is 98-99% and after 6 months I will not risk it .
The first rule comes 14 days after the first ovulation, but a woman does not know that you have ovulated until 14 days later when the blood appears. It may happen that the first egg is fertilized after birth and that women continue without the rule a few months because she is pregnant. If a baby is looking or do not care you get is a curious anecdote to explain ("I have no rule since I got pregnant with my first child, and that for months breastfeed the second"), but if not the intention, it may be an unexpected surprise.






