At my 6 week check up I knew my Dr. was going to ask what we wanted to do as far as birth control and even though we had talked about it I felt silly not knowing my decision. My husband and I both don’t want to prevent anything and I feel a little uncomfortable taking birth control while breastfeeding. While I think “irish twins” could be great in many ways, I am also nervous to feel morning sickness while also trying to take care of an infant! My Dr. told me exclusively breastfeeding is about 70% effective as birth control. So…for the past two weeks we are relying on just that haha For all I know [name_u]Baby[/name_u] #2 could be on the way :0
Does anyone have any recommendations as far as having them close in age, birth control you liked while breastfeeding or how well just using breastfeeding as a method of birth control worked for you?
Yikes, you’re eager!
For myself, I know that although I’m feeling really good, my body is definitely not 100% recovered from pregnancy and birth and I’m sure another pregnancy would not be great for my health or the health of my hypothetical second child. So I’m very much not up for it! I am thinking we will probably try the minipill, but I haven’t started yet. Up to now we have honestly not been super ‘active’, but the few times we did we used the pull-out method which I know I know is hardly contraception at all. Yeah, I need to get around to booking a doctor’s appointment to get a prescription. Hypothetically it should have no effect on milk supply and no long term effects have been found on breastfed babies whose mothers used the minipill, and I always got on really well with the normal pill, so I’m hoping this will be a good option for me. [name_m]Will[/name_m] let you know how it goes when I start it!
I’m not a mum yet so can’t comment on the post-partum bit, but have you thought about a non-hormonal option like a diaphragm? That way you’re not worrying about hormones and it’s not as off-putting as condoms (you can put it in a few hours before anything ‘happens’ so it doesn’t spoil the mood, and apparently it feels better for him).
I have no personal experience with this, but many of my mom friends love their IUDs. About half them prefer the plain copper type, the other half (the ones who did well on hormonal birth control) prefer the [name_f]Mirena[/name_f] ones. They are supposed to be pretty painless to have inserted if you have already had a baby and when you decide to try for another baby, they are easily removed by your doctor.
I have heard that for breastfeeding to be effective birth control you have to be doing what is called “ecological breastfeeding.” I don’t know why they call it that, but basically it means that the baby nurses on demand, 24 hours a day. So you have to cosleep and baby wear and the baby can’t be receiving any other food or using a pacifier. You are the pacifier. This is great if that is what both partners want, and I have friends who swear by it. But I can see how it would leave little time for activites that lead to conception. Perhaps that is partly why it is effective.
[name_f]Mini[/name_f] pill works ok for me. I also worried about it affecting breastfeeding but all seems good. My youngest is 15 months and still no period due to bf. With my older two girls we used no contraception between pregnancies as we wanted them close together and they are all about two years apart. Obviously you can get pregnant while exclusively bf a young baby but it wouldn’t be that easy imo.
I haven’t had a baby yet, but I think about this a lot. I have an IUD right now, and I really like it! Except that it’s a hormonal IUD (mirena) which has basically made my cycle go completely away. I don’t want my babies to be Irish twins (good luck!), but I probably will want them relatively close together, so I’ve been debating my options. I think we’ll probably just rely on breast feeding and the fertility awareness method, maybe condoms if we need to. If I’m REALLY worried about it, I would get a copper IUD. I don’t want to go on the pill or another hormonal IUD that will mess with my cycle. I’ve really liked it as far as not having to have my period, and I’m glad I did it for these few years until we’re ready for a baby, but after this I will want to track my cycles. I’m already a little paranoid that it isn’t going to come back when I get my IUD out! Also my mother-in-law had three babies really close together, decided she wanted a little break, got whatever the injection birth control is that is only supposed to last for six months, and was never able to get pregnant again. I don’t know if that was really the reason, but it has me scared to do anything that will mess with my cycle until I am for sure done having my babies!
I tried the mini pill and it made my daughter extremely fussy and she stopped latching and I think it really affected her stopping breastfeeding early. I know most people have no issues and doctors say it can’t affect the baby but I’ve since heard a lot of anecdotal evidence stating the opposite. I would strong encourage anyone who tries the mini pill to be cautious if they see any behavioral changes in their breastfeeding baby.
We (I’ve) decided against having very close in age babies on purpose because I also think it took my body longer than that to recover and may result in a less healthy second (or third, fourth) baby, I had horrible sickness with both and like you, doubt I could take care of an infant or deal with pregnancy combined with sleep deprivation , and while I know kids adjust fine and there are social benefits later on, I think a young toddler or infant with a newborn sibling is going to inevitably miss out on some of the nurturing and attention they need - it can affect breastfeeding, co sleeping, and bonding in general [name_f]IMO[/name_f]. At 2 a child is much better equipped to handle waiting for mommy’s attention than at 11 months old.
That said, I went off the mini pill and just used natural family planning. My periods are quite regular. Breastfeeding’s success will depend on how often your infant is feeding (or you are pumping) and if they sleep through the night. If you are still feeding very frequently it’s closer to 100% than 70%, but as soon as you delay a feeding it becomes iffy.
I’ll likely use a diaphragm next time around, as I can’t really take hormonal BC because of health issues.
I used the mini pill with my first daughter and thought it made my joints hurt, but I learned with my second that it was just the breast feeding! We use condoms as contraception. Less than ideal, but I didn’t want the hormones and hubby has yet to get snipped. With my breastfeeding the second time, I didn’t get another period until 11 months post partum, and after that first light one didn’t get another one for 7 weeks. So who knows if I was ovulating at all. But I was exclusively breastfeeding and pumping around the clock at work, so it probably would have been an effective birth control method for me, but we didn’t want to chance it.
Breastfeeding was ridiculously effective as BC for me, I had to drastically reduce my feeds with my eldest and stop feeding entirely with my youngest and then I still waited more than a month afterwards for my fertility to turn back on 
I didn’t take any birth control because I wanted the babies to be as close together as possible, but they ended up a little further apart than I’d wanted. (17 months and 19 months)
Having them close in age is amazing for them (in my experience). I’m close in age with my sister and we are and have always been best mates. My daughters are 2.5 and 1 now, and already they are great playmates. They are very close in ability which really helps them play together, which they do famously. The eldest also helps a lot in caring for the youngest which helps me manage them day-to-day.
With that said, it was very very hard in the beginning and I wish I planned and budgeted for it better. Sometimes I don’t even know how I survived. I highly recommend putting money aside for a bit of housekeeping, or a meal delivery service, particularly around the four month sleep regression mark.
Over all it is worth it, and you can do it, and it can be awesome. [name_m]Don[/name_m]'t let people tell you not to if it is something you really want, but be your own best friend and have a good plan for how to manage the bad days.
I got a copper IUD after my twins. It worked great for us and when I had it removed to try for a second pregnancy I was pregnant in 2 months. After she arrived I got another. I highly recommend it!
I haven’t had kids yet, but I’ve had a lot of success with the Sympto Thermal method of Natural Family Planning and I know many others who used it successfully between children for spacing. It takes a little bit of research and getting to know how your body specifically functions, but I love that it’s effective and I’m not putting hormones in my body.
We’ve had three planned pregnancies and used condoms in between pregnancies until we felt like we were ready to conceive. Like one of the PP said it’s not ideal, but they’re cheap, effective, and have no hormones. That’s my experience, hope you find something that’s right for you and your family.
[name_m]Even[/name_m] though we don’t plan on having any more kids (ok, hubby isis leaning toward no but I keep getting baby fever so who knows, I just love [name_f]Maeby[/name_f] and Saela so much I just think why not? ) but the idea of the IUD scares me. Pregnancies that I would have to abort and could also kill me? I’ll pass. Same with it growing in a bad spot and leaving me unable to have more kids. I know those things are rare, but I can’t get past it.
I used the mini-pill before pregnancy and plan to do the same postpartum as long as my milk supply is good.
@stephykneejo
I’m a lot more worried about that kind of stuff than I was before I got my IUD… I think I decided kind of impulsively when I was starting birth control. A friend got hers a few months before I did, and she told me all about how nice it is not to have to worry about taking a pill or doing anything else, and it lasts five years! But there are some scary situations that they didn’t really detail… I guess there are potential complications from most forms (my [name_f]MIL[/name_f] got the depo shot and then never got her cycle back, and I’ve heard of complications from the pill too)… I have had zero issues with it, and neither has anyone else I’ve talked to, but I might think twice before I get one again. I don’t think I would do it unless I wanted a pretty big break between my kids (like 2-3 years), otherwise I don’t think it would be worth it.
Thank you for the replies! Still haven’t decided, but I have the mini pill prescription just in case. I’m hoping bf works for at least several months but we’re prepared for whatever is meant to be 