Help!!

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ericka Soileau on May 11, 2009 at 1:43pm

I wish I knew more about this, but I do know that mucus patches and irregular periods are common with breastfeeding, particularly ecological breastfeeding. And you can definitely have mucus and spotting and not ovulate. Likely if your temp increase isn't sustained, you probably haven't ovulated; however, do you have contact with your teacher for symptothermal? Or did you self-teach? If you have a teacher, I would definitely ask them...If not, you can find one through the couple to couple league at http://www.ccli.org/learn/tcsearch.php

Permalink Reply by Jamie Bond on May 11, 2009 at 8:25pm

If you have a chance, you should pick up the book Taking Charge of your Fertility by Toni Weschler. I think the recommendation is that you should use backup if you are not sure. If you are experiencing any type of fertile cervical fluid, you should be using some type of contraception. Breastfeeding can be a really tough time for charting. I hope this helps :)

Permalink Reply by Briana Manthei on May 13, 2009 at 9:03pm

Ugh, postpartum charting is so frustrating! I had some very long cycles after my first 2 kids were born and I was transitioning back to normal fertility. It's no fun and I'm not looking forward to it again. If you haven't had a sustained thermal shift that is cross-checked with a dry-up then you have most likely not ovulated. Are you avoiding pregnancy? I would second the recommendation to get in touch with an instructor and go over your charts.

Jamie - just FYI - the recommendation for NFP during the fertile time is to abstain. Each method has very specific rules laid out for identifying the fertile and infertile times and abstaining accordingly, even if you have ambiguous mucus, are in the postpartum stage, etc. If those rules are followed, the method is still 99% effective.