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22nd April 2019
08:10am BST
My GP - in fairness to her - gave me a quick biology lesson and I look back now bemused at my ignorance.
Still, on both my children I didn't get my period again until after I stopped breastfeeding - so what are the facts?
Here, HerFamily takes a look...
1) There IS truth to it
If you're exclusively breastfeeding you can use a type of birth control called Lactational Amenorrhea Method - or LAM, because constant, regular breastfeeding means you won't ovulate.
However, you need to be feeding every four hours during the day and every six hours at night - and you can't express milk or give your baby formula. In the early days when your newborn is feeding a lot, this is probably fairly manageable. But as your little ones grows your feeding routine will change and you'll go longer in between feeds.
Indeed, irrespective of how often you're feeding, LAM also only works for the first six months postpartum.
2) But you need to plan
For all of the above reasons - "mothers should not wait until the return of their menstrual period before starting contraception as ovulation precedes menstruation making pregnancy possible," warns breastfeeding.ie.
So what are you contraception options if you are breastfeeding and don't want to run the risk of another pregnancy so soon after giving birth?
Immediately:
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