Lisa asked why her menses returned at 10 weeks PP despite very frequent
breastfeeding.  The answer may be that it is just how her system works.
The bad news is that she is likely to repeat the same pattern with
subsequent children.

Dr Barbara Gross of Sydney, Australia has been researching in this area
for 21 years. Her PhD was on the role of prolactin in breastfeeding and
fertility, but she now believes that prolactin is not the responsible
agent, only a "marker" for other activity of the hypothalamus (modulated
by breastfeeding).

Her studies on Australian women have shown that there is a great
variability in the time menses resumes if breastfeeding on demand and
introducing solids at around 4-6 months. The average was 8-10 months, but
some women were 8-10 weeks, while others were 12-14-18 months. What was
interesting was that each woman tended to repeat the same pattern with
each baby, providing she fed the baby in the same way.

Her more recent study (as yet unpublished) closely monitored a wide range
of factors which might influence return of menses and fertility, in a
group of long-term breastfeeding women. Three were significant.  Narcotic
medication after delivery (thought to interfere with the establishment of
breastfeeding in some way); baby sick more often (presumably changes
suckling pattern); and eating more chicken. The last factor was a surprise
to the researchers - does Australian chicken have more hormones in it than
we are led to believe?

She did not mention the mother's weight or maternal age at first baby as
factors, but I could ask her. Kathy D will hear her present this work at
the NMAA Conference in Sydney in October.