Birth Control While Breastfeeding - Idaho Falls,ID

Whatever you decide, do something. I nursed my daughter and was really bad about remembering to take my pill too, so we put it in God's hands, whoops. We had trouble conceiving our first baby, so we weren't worried about getting pregnant easily. But almost as soon as we put her on solid food at 6 months, we conceived our little boy. They will only be 14 months apart, which is going to be just fine, but it's just all faster than we had planned and a little overwhelming. So I'm definetly talking to the Dr. about other options after this baby is born. I did wean my daughter at 9 months because I was so run down from nursing and being pregnant at the same time.

I agree with the mini-pill idea. I took the mini-pill from when I got married up until I wanted to concieve and had no negative side effects. I started the mini-pill back up when my son was about 5 or 6 weeks old and my milk was not affected at all.

The way I fixed the problem of taking the pill at exactly the same time every day is I set my cell phone alarm to ring every day at exactly the same time, so I would remember. I'm kind of a scatterbrained person and this solution has worked very well for me. Go for the mini-pill!

P.S . sometimes Doctors or midwives will discourage you from taking the mini-pill, but I think as long as you take the pill on time, there shouldn't be a problem. Good luck!

Have you thought about an IUD? I am 3 months post-partum and nursing and scheduled for an IUD later this month. My doctor tells me that it won't affect my milk and I won't have to remember a pill. I tried the mini-pill once and I was continuely spotting with it. My husband and I also don't have the self-control for condoms, we have at least 3 children of our 6 that were concieved while "using" condoms as our form of BC. But this is something that you need to discuss with your doctor at your 6 week check. Congrats and good luck.

You can use the mini-pill. It has different hormones than the regular pill so it's okay to use while breastfeeding (doesn't have an effect on milk production). However, the draw back I had with it was that you have to take it at the same time every day, preferrable 4 hrs before you are sexually active. So if you normally have sex around 10 pm, you have to take the pill every day right around 6 pm. If you take it even an hour late, you increase your risk of ovulating. It's a peculiar pill that way. Anyway, I had a habit of forgetting, so it didn't work for us. But if you are disiplined enough to never forget, it's a good option.

Addition:
Oh, I noticed some moms put they have Mirena (as do I) but it's not recommended for women with endometriosis. And they also don't recommend it for breastfeeding mothers. But talk to your doctor to see what he/she thinks.

I also have th Mirena IUC and have been very happy with it. There is only one draw back you may want to speak to your doctor about. My doctor told me it would not interfere with my breastfeeding, however about 3 weeks ago my milk stopped coming in. I don't know if it is a result of the mirena but cannot think of what else would have caused it. Besides that I like not having to remember to take anything and the light to non-exsiting periods is also nice!

I see that you've already decided, but I want to warn anyone else who reads this that the mini-pill can interfere with your milk. I didn't notice it myself, except DS seemed very fussy. And my son has always been big, so the pediatrician said not to worry that he hadn't grown very much since his last appointment (he was somewhere between 4-6 months). Hah! I stopped taking the mini-pill and almost instantly DS started sleeping longer, stopped fussing, and grew out of his clothes within a week. Poor thing had been starving!
So don't believe them when they say it won't interfere!

I breast feed and got an IUC (mirena). It is awesome!! No remembering, no interuptions and my husband is happy man. Lasts up to five years.