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how many of you have conceived twins whilst still breastfeeding

Hi all,



I would like to know the chances of conceiving twins naturally whilst still breastfeeding. Would love to know how many of you this has happened to and whether it's common especially if there are no pattern of twins already in the family.



Thank you very much.

Replies

  • hi hun



    sorry ive not got answers to any of your questions as have never conceived twins! However, i have a four month old who im breast feeding and am not using contraception - so am interested in the answers. Has this happened to you?
  • One of the girls from my FB group is now 13 weeks pregnant with twins. She has a 18 month old who she still BF's regularly, ie 5 -6 times a day, so it is possible. Good luck x
  • I also do not know the answer to this question, however, my midwife told me, in no uncertain terms,not to rely on breastfeeding as a method of contraception. She said the amount of women who do and fall pregnant before their 8 week check out weighs the number of women for whom BF seems to work as contraception. I only BF for a short time as I had to mix feed due to not producing breast milk properly, but my cousin exclusively breastfed (her baby was born 4 days after mine) and is now pregnant with number 2. When this baby arrives she will have 2 children under 1 xx
  • Hi ladies thanks for your replies, it hasn't happened to me yet, but I and hubby have started to tcc this month and wanted to know if it was more common to conceive twins whilst still breastfeeding, so that I'm aware before hand of the possible outcome.



    My DC will be i in jan and I know a lady who conceived triplets whilst her DC was only 6-8 weeks old, she gave birth in October this year however, one of the three didn't make it. I have never used breastfeeding as a form of contraception because my cycle went back to normal a month after giving birth.



    I have also read that if you are breastfeeding it is possibe to conceive twins but I just wanted to know how common it is, because if it is very common then I would have to start considering triple buggies :lol:



    Thanks ladies
  • it happened to me!!!!!!!!!!! My son was eight months old when i got pregnant again, was still bfeeding but he was only having a bedtime feed by this point.



    We had wanted them close together so thought we would just wait and see and i didn't use any contraception after having him so when i was pregnant again although i was a little shocked i wasn't surprised that was yet to come when at twelve weeks we saw two little babies, ha ha!!!



    We don't have any twins on either side these are the first, we ended up with three boys and a sixteen month age gap!! Whilst it has been incredibly hard work it is all worth it!!



    Good luck
  • Wooow Thank you very much lennie for sharing it with me, my DD is 11 months, I am tcc but I think I'm secretly hoping for twins this time round.
  • Hello ladies,



    Interesting thread. I used breastfeeding as contraception until my daughter was about 5 months old. All I knew was that I had to feed her regularly so I ended up with a very chubby baby (She's fine now!)



    Since then, I've come across the official guidance which is that breastfeeding is over 98% effective as contraception so long as your periods haven't returned, your baby is less than 6 months old, and s/he is not receiving any other food or milk.



    It is also important to avoid dummies and expressed milk and to feed your baby at least every 4 hours during the day and at least every 6 hours at night. This is all according the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.



    Unfortunately all these criteria aren't communicated very well - or maybe midwives aren't aware, or think they're too strict and complicated..or they have enough on their plates already...



    Any views? Does that all sound a bit much to take on?



    Glitterbug - do you know if your cousin met all the criteria? (2 under 1 - yikes..) Or maybe she was just one of the unlucky 2%..



    Thanks all - would be great to hear from you.
  • hi sarah



    im glad you've commented on official advice as when i asked the nurse at my 6 week check she just kept saying don't rely on it! Just don't rely on it! Without really answering my questions (i don't think she knew the answers). I feed my baby all day long - my OH and i really don't have sex that much due to our now very busy lives (lol) and i don't really like the idea of unnecessary hormones, particularly in my breast milk going over to LO. However, neither are we ready for another baby and im not disputing that as with all methods of contraception breast feeding can fail. At 98% its not as effective as the pill but its still fairly effective! Interesting what you say about dummies and expressed milk - sometimes i express to try and get LO to take a bottle, so far ive been unsuccessful so it only ever gets thrown away (so im sure this can only help stimuate the hormones that surpress ovulation further) and i guess a dummy can stave off a hungry baby from feeding, although we occasionally use a dummy my ds loves his food and i dont think this would ever stop him if he was hungry!



    my LO does, though, go more than 6 hours at night so i think my level of effectiveness will be lower than 98%, but he feeds hourly in the day so there must still be a fairly decent level of effectiveness. A lot of my friends never had a period until they'd stopped feeding completley, even breast feeding just morning and night was enough to stop ovulation but i guess there are other women who are less sensitive to the hormones and could ovulate without realising and get caught :/



    i think once lo is having food i will use contraception as ive seen lots of people get pregnant at this point. after going through so much though i don't fancy more hormones - will have to go for something old fashioned like condoms i think! x
  • I think my cousin was in the unlucky 2% x
  • Hello,



    Thanks for this. You're right not to rely on breastfeeding once you start to give LO anything other than breastmilk as that will reduce effectiveness. My LO wouldn't take a bottle of expressed milk either (I think she knew more about how to make breastfeeding work as contraception than I did!)



    I'm not surprised that your midwife just said to not rely on breastfeeding for contraception. The easily accessed official advice is a bit of a muddle. In the 0-5 section, The NHS Choices website (which is usually v.g.) just says you can get pregnant while breastfeeding. This is of course true (if not fully bfding etc), but not the whole story.



    On the same site, the natural methods of contraception page does mention using breastfeeding as contraception - it's called LAM (Lactational Amenorrhea Method - catchy huh?)but then nothing is said about effectiveness declining if you give up night feeds or use a dummy...



    I've used natural methods for 17 years - to achieve and avoid pregnancy (my LO is now nearly 5'9"!!) If you're interested in avoiding hormones, you might be interested in Toni Weschler's book "Taking charge of your fertility" (I'm not on commission!) x
  • She is thrilled actually, clearly barking mad, but thrilled none the less!!
  • Ah, that's good. It takes all sorts!!
  • I know this is an older thread but since I ended up here thought I'd this in my two cents.



    While breastfeeding may work for some as BC I really wish people would stop promoting that it works for everyone "if you just do it right."



    With BOTH of my children my AF returned between 2-3 weeks after postpartum bleed ended. My midwife didn't even want me using the mini pill because it wasn't as effective once your flow returned. Some people are just "super fertile" as she put it so we relied on a different form of BC and I got pregnant while my son was still nursing at 19 months.



    After many classes (was in school to become CNM) the final scientific consensus is, while at one point in history exclusively breastfeeding could prevent pregnancy, we have as a species surpassed that safety mechanism through better nutrition and sanitation. 1000 years ago when drought, famine, AND ESPECIALLY MALNUTRITION and sickness were the norm, yes the body had a safety mechanism to shut off the baby maker to increase the chance of survival for the new baby. In most industrialized countries these problems just aren't relevant anymore.



    I suggest, if you're going to rely on this method:



    ???USE in combination with natural family planning techniques - record daily basal body temperature AND record cervical positioning/mucus type- or another form of BC



    ???become malnourished so you have a better chance of not becoming pregnant-please don't mistake my sarcasm



    ???OR -be prepared for and welcome the idea of becoming pregnant again, possibly, very soon after your current pregnancy ends.



    PLEASE ask and trust your providers (you get to choose them after all) over well meaning, but misinformed, moms off the internet.
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