Counting Cycles While Breastfeeding

There are 2 ways you can count your cycles while breastfeeding since many breastfeeding mamas have a short luteal phase while breastfeeding. First, I'll give you a brief overview of trying to conceive my 2nd and how you would count it in the two different ways and what a midwife told me about counting your cycles. 

Trying To Conceive My 2nd

I had 9 menstrual cycles between my 1st and 2nd pregnancy. We tried for 6 cycles out of the 9 menstrual periods. We had a 3-month break between cycle 5 and cycle 6. I became pregnant on my 9th menstrual period  / 6th cycle trying. My luteal phase became a 10 - the minimum I needed to become pregnant on my 8th menstrual period The midwife said, out of all my 9 menstrual periods, I only had two opportunities to become pregnant. My 8th menstrual period, where my luteal phase became a 10 (which was part of our 3-month break) and my 9th menstrual period - our 6th cycle trying, which is the cycle I became pregnant with my 2nd. She said I became pregnant on the second opportunity of becoming pregnant.

Count All The Cycles You've Tried

The first way you can count is starting from all the cycles you have tried after you have a postpartum menstrual. For example with trying to conceive my 2nd, I counted the 6 cycles I tried out of the 9 menstrual periods I had. I am currently trying to conceive my 3rd, I am counting my first postpartum cycle to the current cycle I am trying. I had my first postpartum August 2. So August, September, October, November, December, January, and February. So that is 7 cycles.

Count When Your Cycles Are Regular

Because many breastfeeding mamas have short luteal phases, some have opted not to try to conceive until their cycles are regular / or more regular. Some won't count the cycles with short luteal phases as being able to actively try to conceive since a short luteal phase will prevent some women from becoming pregnant and many of those short luteal phase cycles can be without ovulation. Also if you become pregnant with a short luteal phase, you are at a greater risk of having a miscarriage. Using my example of trying to conceive my 2nd, going by this approach I would say, I had 9 menstrual cycles in total. I had 7 irregular menstrual cycles and It took me 8 menstrual cycles to have a regular cycle. Lastly, that would mean it took 1 cycle to become pregnant once my menstrual cycle was regular. I actually find saying it this way more complicated. However, this may be helpful for some people to know that once my cycles were regular while breastfeeding, I became pregnant in 1 cycle.

The Midwife's Advice

Unless you think or need drugs and interventions to help, she says clinically is doesn't matter which way you count. She personally counts from one bleed to the next bleed, whether a cycle is ovulatory or not. To her, they still count. She also says you don't know when you will become regular until you do. (I find that statement to be true, because for a few cycles when trying to conceive my second, my luteal phase stayed consistently at a 9. Since I never charted with my first, I didn't know what my luteal phase was prior to becoming pregnant the first time and I certainly didn't know after my luteal phase became a 10, I would become pregnant with my 2nd the next cycle.)

My Final Thought
Whichever way you decide to count, as long as you're keeping track of your cycles, you will be able to determine if you have a short luteal phase and start to notice when your cycles make the shift become regular with a long enough luteal phase. Also by tracking, you will know how many cycles it took to become pregnant after your cycles became regular and about how many cycles it took your cycles to become regular.