Breastfeeding And Menstruation

Pregnancy brings out a lot of changes in your body. Right from hormonal changes to physical changes, your body goes through a rollercoaster of transformation before you step into that delivery room to have your baby. Every woman knows, reads, and is told about these things, but have you thought about what happens after childbirth? Sure, every parent reads about how to take care of their newborn, stocks up on baby essentials, and has a hard time keeping up with feeding, sleeping, changing, eating, and cleaning schedules. But have you ever stopped to think about how childbirth affects your body physically and how much time it takes for you to recover from it fully?

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Recovering from childbirth doesn’t happen overnight; it takes time and requires a lot of rest. The one drastic change that happens to you ever since you conceive is the change in your menstrual cycle. You stop bleeding every month because you’re pregnant. In fact, missing your period is the first sign that you might be pregnant. Another significant change is lactation. New moms start breastfeeding, which happens after childbirth. These are things we all know. But do you know how long it takes for your period to return after birth? How does that affect your breast milk supply? Scroll below to know the answers to these questions!

In This Article

First Period After Childbirth

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It’s hard to give a definite timeline to begin your period after childbirth because it is different for different moms. If you’re exclusively breastfeeding your baby, it might take a little longer for you to start your period. But if you’re breastfeeding and bottle-feeding your baby, your period is likely to return after the first six-eight weeks after childbirth (1).

It takes longer for exclusively breastfeeding mothers because the hormone responsible for the production of breast milk, prolactin, causes fluctuations in the production of other hormones like estrogen and progesterone, leading to abnormalities in your menstrual cycle (2).

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If you breastfeed your baby both night and day, it may take up to a year before your period starts again. Even after your period returns, they might not be regular. Lactating mothers are known to have irregular periods for varied durations of time. It’s also completely normal to skip a few cycles before you have your next one after your first post-delivery period (3). So, don’t be alarmed if you get your period for one month and don’t bleed for another few months — it’s absolutely normal!

How Does Menstruation Affect Breastfeeding?

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As long as you’re lactating, irregular menstrual cycles are normal. However, if you do start menstruation, you can continue to feed your baby. It’s not harmful for you or your baby to continue breastfeeding while you’re on your period. However, research shows that breast milk composition changes during ovulation (4).

Some factors that play a role in your period returning to normal while you’re still lactating includes — how often you bottle feed your baby, how long you breastfeed your baby (whether it is only during the night or if it’s the day too), and how your body responds to hormonal changes (5). Depending on these factors, your menstrual cycle may return to normal.

Note-Worthy Mention

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When you start menstruating, it means that you’ve started ovulating again. Ovulation is an indicator of fertility or your body’s way of saying that you’re ready for another baby. However, what’s interesting to note is that, even if your period is irregular or absent, the chances of you getting pregnant after childbirth are as soon as three weeks post-delivery (6).

Now that we’ve cleared some of your long-standing doubts about breastfeeding and pregnancy, we hope you have a fair idea about the different changes that occur in your body after childbirth. Were you aware of the implications of breastfeeding on your menstrual cycles? Let us know in the comments below! Share this article with new moms so they can learn something new, just like you did!

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