Our section arrives: Ask the midwife With a new topic that will answer a question that is sure to be of interest to you. Midwife Marina Fernández collaborates with Babies and more and every week answers a question related to pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum or breastfeeding that our readers leave for her. This week we are going to talk about the when the period should come after childbirth or breastfeeding.
Marina Fernandez She is a midwife, specializing in home birth, a lactation consultant and an expert in complementary therapies. She is a member of the Professional Association Born at Home and a founding partner of Multilacta.Each week he will collaborate with Babies and more by answering a question from our readers. You can know her better on her Marina Matrona page.
The question we have selected this week to answer the midwife Marina Fernández it is something that breastfeeding moms can raise doubts. This is when the period should come in breastfeeding or postpartum:
I have my 1.3 month old son and I was menstruating until two months ago and from nowhere my rule does not come to me and I would like to know if I have something else ...
Midwife Marina Fernández answers the question, and will explain to us the relationship between breastfeeding and return of menstruation.
"While the mother is breastfeeding her child, prolactin is produced. This hormone is one of the fundamentals for breastfeeding. It stimulates and maintains milk production. In addition, this hormone causes a decrease in the production of two other hormones that they are LH and FSH, and as a consequence produces anovulation and amenorrhea, for a more or less long period, while breastfeeding lasts.
This is one of the great advantages of breastfeeding, it helps to recover from anemia, since it is for a few months without blood loss. And it is also without ovulation. For this reason, there is a contraceptive, called the lactation and amenorrhea method (MELA) that is used while the following circumstances occur:
- The baby must be less than 6 months old.
- There should be no bleeding.
- You should breastfeed exclusively (without infusions or water).
- They should not spend more than 6 hours without breastfeeding at night, nor more than 4 hours during the day.
If these conditions are met, the possibility of pregnancy is close to zero during the first twelve weeks postpartum, and between 1-2% during the second trimester of the baby's life, according to studies carried out.
Most nursing women who meet Mela requirements do not have the first rule before 6 months postpartum, and some maintain amenorrhea until the child's second birthday.
In fact, up to 14 days before the first period you don't ovulate for the first time and there is no possibility of pregnancy. But of course, we do not know that we have ovulated again until we have the rule again ...
You may have had your period and continue breastfeeding, since there is no problem with dairy production. The first menstruations can be irregular, and over time they are gradually regulated, or there are also women who, from the first menstruation, all the others are completely regular. Some women have the first periods more abundant than before or longer.
Sometimes, there is a circumstance about the month of having had the baby and having already stopped expelling the lochia after childbirth, there is a bleeding that looks like a menstruation but it is still the end of the blood remains that were in the uterus. It is called "The Partillo."
I hope I have resolved your doubts on this issue. Normality regarding the return of menstruation during breastfeeding is very broad. "
We encourage you to keep leaving here ask our midwife and next week will answer another question left by our readers for her.
