Karen,
>1) If a nursing mom is trying to get pregnant what is most important to
>control, frequency of nursing, timing of nursing or length of
>nursing?The nursling is 2.5 years old and is weaned from night nursing, ...
Daytime
>nursings are very variable, ... may only nurse 2-3 times total.
There is a great deal of individuality in how much nursing interferes with
fertility cycles, but if she has her cycles back and her charting is not
showing that she is annovulatory, then there is less likelihood that the
nursing is the problem. Eliminating the night nursing seems to have the
most impact, if there is going to be one, and she's already done that plus
lowering the number of nursing sessions/day. If she is really worried that
this is a problem, she should get a prolactin level - or a couple of them to
compare - with 2+1/2yrs of nursing, her prolactin level should not be high,
except possibly immediately after a nursing session. No?.
> 2) ... The temp is to betaken at the same time every morning, before
moving from bed, and must
>be taken after 3 consecutive hours of sleep. This mom has 2.5 year old
>who makes this rigidity hard to adhere to. Is there another time of day
>that the temp could be taken to help get an indication of ovulation
>success? ... charts cervical mucus and position, but
>these do not assure that she is in fact ovulating,
It has to be after her longest rest period of the day, waking for night
nursing, or even early am nursing would not interfere with this. Some women
can even get up, go to the potty and lie back down again with no affect to
the basal temp. If her morning wake times are variable and the consistency
is the problem, then the general advice is to set the alarm for a time 1/2
to 1hr before her earliest rising. Use a digital beeping thermometer with
memory so that she can plunk it in the mouth, the beeps keep you alert and
w/n a minute or so it beeps 3 times to indicate it's finished. She can plop
it on the nightstand and go back to sleep to read it later when she is truly
awake.
As far as the charting details go, temps during the follicular phase in a
bfg cycle can look like "a side view of the Himalayas" (as it was explained
to me.) Temps during the luteal phase are generally not affected by bfg -
although the luteal phase itself can be shorter.
But there should be a low point (often called peak day) and then if not a
dramatic rise, the trend toward the rising temps that sustain the luteal
phase. To determine a valid thermal shift, you look for the first 3 rising
temperatures to be or reach 4/10 of 1% above the Low temperature Level --
which is set by is the highest valid (undisturbed) temperature among the 6
days (temps) prior to the shift. [There are at least 3 different acceptable
thermal shift patterns to analyze the shift.] if you achieve this signpost
of a valid temperature shift then it is generally accepted that ovulation
has occurred ( for ttc (trying to conceive) purposes only, if trying to
avoid pregnancy the rules are more strict.)
All charting info is only valuable in hindsight but after keeping charts for
3 or more months one's patterns do begin to emerge. Interpreting the
cervical mucus and position is very valuable to assess and cross-check the
temps. With these methods you can't pinpoint ovulation day but you can use
those signs to get a good idea which group of 3 days most likely contained
the day of ovulation.
Invaluable resources for this process are the books (in which I have no
financial interest) "Taking Charge of Your Own Fertility" or "The Art of
Natural Family Planning" (Note the Art is produced by the Catholic
organization The Couple to Couple League and has their religious and family
planning viewpoints espoused throughout.)
Lisa Dugan
LLLL, Southern NJ
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