Delayed Period After Breastfeeding & Birth Control - Is It Normal?

Question
I gave birth almost sixteen weeks ago. I breastfeed my baby until I went back to work about 4 weeks ago. My question is I was using an oral birth control for breastfeeding and switched to YAZ when I stopped breastfeeding. I am on the white inactive pills and have one left to take before starting a new pack. I am concerned because I still haven't got my period. Can it be because I was breastfeeding or can I be pregnant? I haven't had a first period at all even before I switched to Yaz.

Answer
Dear Gen,

After breastfeeding/weaning it is not unusual for your body to take a few cycles to get regulated again into a normal cyclic pattern similar to what you had pre-pregnancy - and some never quite do. But because it is possible to ovulate before actually having a period, I'm always leery when breastfeeding moms start to wean. For you, with the changing of BCPs - you may have a little bit of an adjustment that your body will need to go through this first cycle or two.

I would suggest testing for pregnancy - just to be sure since you are on BCP. If those results are negative, I would go ahead and start the new pack of YAZ like normal and wait and see what happens with the next cycle. If you begin to experience any other symptoms which lead you to suspect pregnancy, test again. Otherwise, wait it out and see if your cycles normalize after a month or two on the YAZ. If you have any additional concerns, I would suggest contacting your GYN to see if they want you to have a quantitative blood pregnancy test run for further confirmation.

I hope this has helped you and answered your question. I wish you well.

Brenda