QuestionQUESTION: Hello,
I had my first child this past Jan '09. Before I was pregnant my cycles were very irregular, between 35-100+ days. I only ovulated 5x a year.
After I had my baby my cycle returned when my daughter was 5 months old. It again, has been irregular but now it when I do get it it lasts 10-14 days (before it lasted 6-7 days).
During this time the flow is medium-heavy pretty much start to finish.
Should I be concerned?
Why is my menstrual flow so long?
We would like to start trying to get pregnant again.
Thank you!
ANSWER: I am not a medical doctor so I can't give you medical advice. I can give you my educated guess and opinion. It will be a start. Some women have much more irregular cycles than others but I think a regular cycle is somewhat less normal that people would like to think. Since you've just had a baby and may even be still nursing, those hormones are still in flux and getting back to normal and that can effect your cycles, too.
If you got pregnant with the first baby you may not have any trouble getting pregnant with the second (aside from only ovulating 5 times a year). Are you charting your cycles so you know when you ovulate? It could be that having another baby will help regulate your cycles and getting older may also settle things down. If you do not feel bad and don't have any other symptoms and don't have trouble getting pregnant when you start trying, there may not be anything to worry about. If you have a medical practitioner or a midwife or an naturopath who can help you get as healthy as you can be (eating well, sleeping well, supplements as needed, etc.) than you should be fine.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thank you.
I am still nursing, but obviously not as much as near the beginning (3-4x in 24hrs now).
I was charting before I got pregnant, but have yet to start charting again.
I was working that maybe a specific hormone (too little) was the reason for the long carried-out cycles.
Thank you for your time!
AnswerToo little progesterone makes the post-leutal phase short. That's the time between ovulation and your period starting. That could also make it harder to get pregnant. My thoughts are that if you got pregnant the first time that your hormones are OK. At least relative to fertility, maybe not to regularity. That could be a whole different issue. Hormones run the whole show so your nursing hormones are doing something now, too. I would start charting just to know what is going on. I don't think you were asking me another question but the system will think you were so I have to answer it. I wish you well. Enjoy your babies!~!
