Breastfeeding 4 1/2 Month Old, Could I Be Pregnant?

I have to tell you that it is extremely likely that you are pregnant. I am a L&D RN and have been in this field for 7.5 years now. You can get pregnant the 1st time you have sex after delivery, even if it's only a week or two later! Breastfeeding is not at all a contraceptive so I would repeat your pregnancy test and if it turns up negative again, I would schedule an appt with your OB/GYN to have a blood test. The fluttering feeling in your stomach could easily be a baby - most women feel kicks closer to 16 weeks with their 2nd child as they now know what the feeling is like and tend to notice it faster than a 1st time mom does. You could easily be 16 weeks pregnant now since you delivered Dec. 1st - it depends on how quickly you had sex after delivery.

To everyone: If you are not interested in getting pregnant quickly after delivery, there are many options your doctor can offer you while you are still in the hospital on the postpartum unit. We often give shots of Depo-Provera so that women are covered with birth control for the 1st three months after delivery. This way when you have your follow-up at 6 weeks, you won't be pregnant already.

I have delivered many patients who have babies 11 months apart, so don't think this isn't possible. Talk to any L&D nurse and they'll agree - you need to use protection from day 1 after delivery if you're not looking for another baby in the next year!

Best wishes - either way, it's good for you to know so if you're pregnant you can continue to take good care of yourself to have another healthy baby.

If you do not have enough hormones in your system may be it may too early for a pregnancy test. Wait another week and do it again. when i became pregnant with my son i did the pregnancy test on 10/31 and it was negative and when i did it again on 11/5 it came up positive. if any other doubts then make a doctors appointment.

Hi,
I breast fed my daughter for a while then weaned her. I had reagular periods that started right away. I was feeling the same thing you are feeling when my daughter was 6 months old. Took a test and it was positive, the thing was I never missed a period. Turns out I was two months pregnant with my son, which means my daughter was 4 months at the time. I would definatley take another test to rule it out. If your still unsure it wouldn't hurt to see your doc. If you are don't panic, things happen for a reason. I know that's hard to understand now. It was hard for me too at the time, but now I have my son and wouldn't have it any other way. Good Luck.
C.

I agree with Sarah, the L&D nurse. I knew of a OBGYN DR, who should have known better, that got his wife pregnant again while she was still in the hospital after delivering their newborn. So yes, it is very possible to get pregnant right after delivery. I had another OBGYN Nurse Practicioner tell me that you are actually more furtile the first 6 months after delivery. I would go to the doctor and get a pregnancy test done, if you are feeling flutterings already you could possibly be 3-4 months pregnant. Do not be concerned about being the only one this happens to, you are not the only one out there. ;)

Once you introduce anything other than breastmilk (food or formula) your chances of concieving during breastfeeding goes way up. Even if you are exclusively breastfeeding you can concieve. I knew someone who had 4 or 5 children, and never had a period between any of them and nursed all of them. She got pregnant while nursing each one. She wanted several children close together, so she was not trying not to get pregnant.
That being said, I have not been pregnant for 4 years, and for the last 8 or 9 months I get pregnancy symptoms with every period- cravings, morning sickness worse than with any of my pregnancies, "flutters" in my abdomen, the whole nine yards.
I would take another test in a few days, if you are still concerned, you can ask the dr for a blood test.

I had a baby a few weeks prior to you. I'm going through the same thing! Negative test, but lots of symptoms. I guess it's just hormones and muscles twitches.

I've had the same problem with several of my kids when nursing. I would get a morning sickness type feeling. It may mean that you aren't eating enough. You may really feeling gas. It's amazing how it feels sometimes. Seeing as how you are a new mom. Sometimes it can feel like there is fluttering going on.
But it could also be some type of involuntary muscle twitch as you mentioned.
But don't think that because you are nursing full time that is a safe method of Birth control because it's not.

I breastfed my daugther for a year and I didn't have a period until I started weaning her. That said, you can still get pregnant while breastfeeding. I don't know how close in time you took the pregnancy test which read negative to when you felt the fluttering, so you may one to take one more test to rule it out. (I know a mom who got pregnant within a month of giving birth -- talk about a surprise!)

Enjoy your baby boy!

K.

It is definitely possible. Though it is not unusual to not have a period when you are breastfeeding. (I completed weaned my 2nd child from breastfeeding at 9 months and did not get a period until around her 1st birthday.) I would keep checking because you can still get pregnant while breastfeeding even without a period. Good luck.

Dear L.,

You could absolutely be pregnant if you think breast feeding is a form of birth control. IT IS NOT!!!! Because your hormones are adjusting rapidly after giving birth and while nursing, you could drop several eggs at one time, at any time. Please talk to your ob/gyn about birth control and obtain a blood test for pregnancy.

I don't agree with Jennifer R! Every "body" is different and there are no "rules" for ovulation! It is irresponsible of her to suggest otherwise! She has merely been lucky not to have gotten pregnant with her "method".

I wish you good health which comes with medical knowledge, not wive's tales!

D.

If the only contraceptive you've been using is the fact that you're nursing, I'd wait a week or so and do another test. It's been proven that lactation is NOT a valid method of contraception, despite the old wive's tales.

Breastfeeding isn't really a form of birth control because there is still the possibility of getting pregnant even though you haven't had a period. It could be just some weird cravings but I would probably call the doctor just to put your mind at ease.

You could be pregnant, although if you are still nursing at least 8 times a day and have no longer than a 6 hour span at night without nursing it is unlikely. Adding in the cereal might be decreasing his nursing frequency though?

I'd encourage you to test again in a few days if you are still unsure, and then discuss with your partner and midwife/OB what birth control options you want to consider if you don't want to be pregnant again so soon. I know that for me, hormonal birth control caused my milk supply to plummet, so that just wasn't an option. So we used Natural Family Planning (read the book "Taking Charge of Your Fertility") with condoms & spermicide during my fertile time. This is a great method only if you will not be devastated if you get pregnant. If it is more important to you to not get pregnant, then you are going to want to use birth control for every sexual encounter, not just those when you believe you are fertile.

Good luck!

P.S. Its not really an "old wives tale" that nursing can help to prevent conception. It is true that nursing delays the return of fertility. Its just that the way we nurse in America--with early introduction of solid food, supplemental bottles, and a push to get babies sleeping for long stretches at night, fertility often returns while a mom is still nursing. For me, I went back to work when my babies were 8-12 weeks old, so was working & pumping. That brought my period back earlier than is "average" for an exclusively nursing mom (10 months is average--I generally got mine back at about 5 months), but I still wasn't really "fertile" because I ovulated too close to when I had my period. I would be fertile at about 11 months...and get pregnant that month or the next. I was nursing when I got pregnant with my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th children...but I wasn't meeting the "requirements" to consider myself infertile, which are:

*nursing at least 8 times a day, 10 times for some women (I was generally at 8 times a day at that point, although 2 sessions were pumping, which aren't as effective)
*no period longer than 6 hrs without nursing (a couple of my kids nursed a lot at night, so sometimes I was meeting this, sometimes not)
*after your lochia stopped, no spotting or bleeding has occurred (as I said, I got my period back at 5 months. If you get even one day of spotting, you should take that as a sign that your fertility is returning).

If you meet these 3 rules, you are 99% likely to not ovulate before having your first post-pregnancy period.

I have three children, that I breast fed. I breast fed exculsively, for the first year of their life...the first one is now a healthy 26 year old, my second, 21, and the last, is 13. I got my period at different times with each one. The longest time was a year after their birth. The shortest time, was 3 months. It can vary alot. I wouldn't be concerned about not getting your period yet. If you continue to have "feelings", I would try a pregancy test again. Good Luck!!

Most likely your period is just delayed. I do not remember the reason, but your Dr. will tell you. With my first daughter, I did not get it again until she was almost 1. With the second it was around 6 mos, but everyone is different. Enjoy it while you can. After the insult of being pregnant and bleeding after the birth, it is nice not having to worry about it. My main worry was always leaking milk; small price to pay for your baby. Still, you can get pregnant even when your period is off like this, so be careful. Congratulations on your baby!

yes, breastfeeding is not a form of birth control

I got pregnant when I was breastfeeding. My daughter was 6 months old at the time. I would get a pregnancy test and would always use protection even while breastfeeding, if you don't want to get pregnant again anytime soon.

Breastfeeding is NOT a reliable method of birth control. From what I learned when I was nursing from a lactation consultant was that you should not rely on that, even if you do not get your period for a while. You could be pregnant and should take another test. I might also call the OBGYN if it again comes back negative since you might just be taking it too early for the test to detect the hormones. Good luck!

You could be pregnant...here's the rules for Lactational amenorrhea:

Women who have all three of the following criteria present:

* Exclusively or almost exclusively breastfeeding
* Have not had menses since giving birth
* Are less than six months postpartum

To use LAM, a woman should breastfeed:

* Soon after delivery
* Frequently, upon request, not on schedule
[b]* Without bottles or pacifiers
* Without long intervals between feeds, both day and night
* Without supplementation[/b]
* Even when mother and/or baby are ill

Unless you had sex without protection. You know it's very easy to get pregnant right away after having your baby. For atleast the first 6 months or maybe longer.
My daughter was born dec 2nd of 04 and i'll tell you, i thought the same thing as you about the flutters. I still feel them. It's really weird. So i thought i was pregnant a couple of times. But it was a false alarm.
You not having your period could be stress related. I hope this helps a little bit.