I never thought I would be hoping to get my period back since as all women know, periods are no fun. However, I was over a year postpartum and we were starting to think about baby #2. Before becoming a mom, I actually had no idea that breastfeeding delayed the return of fertility and actually acts as a natural form of contraception. While I loved not getting my period and all the other lovely PMS symptoms for such a long time, I started to look up ways to get my period back when we started to think about trying for the second baby.

Breastfeeding delays your period because when the baby is nursing, prolactin is released and it inhibits ovulation (in super simple terms). The term is called lactation amenorrhea. If you are exclusively breastfeeding and breastfeeding on demand, the chance of getting your period back is quite low. However, once you start introducing solids and you are no long exclusively breastfeeding, the chance of pregnancy increases and you should use other contraceptive methods IF you don’t want to get pregnant.

Lex is a total MILK MONSTER and loves nursing day and night. Therefore I was a bit worried that I would not be able to get my period back soon. We were definitely not ready to wean and I also did not want to deny Lex milk just so I would get my period back. I tried the “not offering but not saying no” approach where I wouldn’t offer milk to Lex but I would also allow him to nurse whenever he wanted. This worked out ok in the beginning but soon he was getting so demanding and he would rip at my shirt whenever he wanted milk. He was also teething A LOT (8 teeth in 2-3 months) so he really needed the extra comfort and was nursing nonstop.

I decided to do a deeper dig into the research and see what else I could do to try and get my period back instead of decreasing Lex’s nursing. I was really excited to find these amazing two articles, which provided some very interesting research on how to get pregnant without affecting your nursing at all! Both articles mention the Metabolic Load Hypothesis, which basically means that a woman gets her period back when her energy level is positive again. Breastfeeding and childbirth takes a big toll on your body, so essentially the hypothesis states that a woman will get her period back when her body feels ready and has enough energy. Both articles recommend basically eating more and lessening structured exercise.

I was really excited to find out that there was another way to get my period, but I was still in my postpartum fitness journey and had just gotten back to my pre-pregnancy weight and fitness. I didn’t really feel like intentionally lowering my exercises or increasing my food intake. However, the timing worked out really well since Lex’s teething caused his sleep to be absolutely horrible so I became very tired for a few weeks and naturally decreased my exercise. We also had a staycation and some extra dinners so I did increase my caloric intake a little. I also did try to be a bit more relaxed about my eating and exercise in general. I noticed that after the few weeks I did gain a bit of weight like 2-3 pounds.

At 13 months postpartum, I noticed that my cervical fluid was quite watery. I was excited and felt that maybe this was a sign that things were happening. At 14 months, the cervical fluid was quite thick and I also had mild cramps for around 4 days. Two weeks later my period came! I was ecstatic! While I am not 100% sure whether it had to do with my relaxation of food and exercise or that it was just because I was 14 months postpartum and Lex’s nursing patterns had changed, I am very glad that it returned and I hope that this information also helps other moms who are trying to get their period back while breastfeeding!