Quick question about ovulation

[Phloston]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I've found this in a resource:

"The ↓ fertility following parturition is only temporary. In lactating women, ovulation may return within 10 weeks postpartum, and the birth control protection afforded by lactation is ensured for only 6 weeks."

My question is that if birth control protection were afforded for only 6 weeks post-partum, then wouldn't that mean that ovulation could potentially occur at that time also? If ovulation weren't occurring for four additional weeks, then why would the birth control protection not be present for ten weeks also?

Perhaps I just need to touch up on my repro, or am I missing something obvious here?

Cheers,

 

[Go Ducks]

I've found this in a resource:

"The ↓ fertility following parturition is only temporary. In lactating women, ovulation may return within 10 weeks postpartum, and the birth control protection afforded by lactation is ensured for only 6 weeks."

My question is that if birth control protection were afforded for only 6 weeks post-partum, then wouldn't that mean that ovulation could potentially occur at that time also? If ovulation weren't occurring for four additional weeks, then why would the birth control protection not be present for ten weeks also?

Perhaps I just need to touch up on my repro, or am I missing something obvious here?

Cheers,

You're not crazy; you can't get pregnant without ovulating. I think that they're saying ovulation may star happening regularly after 10 weeks, but you can get a random early ovulation thrown in there as soon as week 6 (not uncommon for postpartum women to have irregular ovulation at first). Thus you shouldn't rely on lactation for more than 6 weeks.

True story: my grandmother managed to have 6 pregnancies bearing 5 live children in 6 years while breast feeding. Thus in my family's experience, it is not a terribly reliant form of birth control!

 

[doclemon]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactational_amenorrhea

From wiki,
Although the first post-partum cycle is sometimes anovulatory (reducing the likelihood of becoming pregnant again before having a post-partum period), subsequent cycles are almost always ovulatory and therefore must be considered fertile. However, some women find that breastfeeding interferes with fertility even after ovulation has resumed. Luteal phases being too short to sustain pregnancy is a common example.

This is the principle of LAM (lactational amenoorhea method). Hope it answers your question.

 

[Go Ducks]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactational_amenorrhea

From wiki,
Although the first post-partum cycle is sometimes anovulatory (reducing the likelihood of becoming pregnant again before having a post-partum period), subsequent cycles are almost always ovulatory and therefore must be considered fertile. However, some women find that breastfeeding interferes with fertility even after ovulation has resumed. Luteal phases being too short to sustain pregnancy is a common example.

This is the principle of LAM (lactational amenoorhea method). Hope it answers your question.

Hmm... this is actually saying the opposite of OP. OP's post says that people are fertile before ovulation begins (which is obviously impossible). This says that people remain infertile even after ovulation begins (which is very possible). Not sure how to reconcile these two statements...

 

[ipizzy]

I would just interpret it as a range - i.e. you could potentially ovulate any time starting around 6-10 weeks. There is no magic absolute number of days between giving birth and ovulating. I think this is just a poorly worded flashcard on GT and it appears as though they very recently amended their card to be clearer 😉

 

[beeitchness]

I've found this in a resource:

"The ↓ fertility following parturition is only temporary. In lactating women, ovulation may return within 10 weeks postpartum, and the birth control protection afforded by lactation is ensured for only 6 weeks."

My question is that if birth control protection were afforded for only 6 weeks post-partum, then wouldn't that mean that ovulation could potentially occur at that time also? If ovulation weren't occurring for four additional weeks, then why would the birth control protection not be present for ten weeks also?

Perhaps I just need to touch up on my repro, or am I missing something obvious here?

Cheers,

Uh, the statement seems pretty simple to me..

Ovulation returns WITHIN 10 weeks, but NOT until AFTER 6 weeks. It's essentially saying ovulation may occur anytime from 6 to 10 weeks postpartum, and should be regular ovulation AFTER 10 weeks

6 weeks < ovulation possible < 10 weeks < regular ovulation after that

 

[Phloston]

I would just interpret it as a range - i.e. you could potentially ovulate any time starting around 6-10 weeks. There is no magic absolute number of days between giving birth and ovulating. I think this is just a poorly worded flashcard on GT and it appears as though they very recently amended their card to be clearer 😉

I wasn't even aware that this is on a flashcard. I'm working on just blasting through the questions right now. Yet again, nice to see that you noticed this from GT too.

 

[JackShephard MD]

I wasn't even aware that this is on a flashcard. I'm working on just blasting through the questions right now. Yet again, nice to see that you noticed this from GT too.

Looks like you're a GT fan now. Figured you would like it.

 

[Phloston]

Looks like you're a GT fan now. Figured you would like it.

Hah, yeah..

I'm improvising right now. I just want to see about getting through the GT questions first, then I'll possibly look into more of the actual flashcards/study material. I'll be starting Kaplan QBank in about a month's time. Depending on my pace by the time I get to that point, I'll figure out how much time I have to go through the GT flashcards. I can feel that I might gain a few points by hitting GT, so I'm trying my best to move through it quickly.

 

[tigress]

Uh, the statement seems pretty simple to me..

Ovulation returns WITHIN 10 weeks, but NOT until AFTER 6 weeks. It's essentially saying ovulation may occur anytime from 6 to 10 weeks postpartum, and should be regular ovulation AFTER 10 weeks

6 weeks < ovulation possible < 10 weeks < regular ovulation after that

No. Most women don't ovulate for months after childbirth, up to 1+ years while breastfeeding. SOME women ovulate as early as 6 weeks post-childbirth (or even earlier, it's been known to happen lol), even when breastfeeding. I think the statement was vague. It was my experience with GT that they had a lot of weird vague stuff like that.