Just curious, are your eggs preserved during breastfeeding? Obviously you don't get your period during pregnancy (and according to my OB/Gyn your eggs are preserved during pregnancy) and if you're breastfeeding it might take a while for your period to return.
I was told last year March by my FS my egg reserve is very low and I'm just wondering whether my eggs will be preserved a bit longer now that I'm breastfeeding..?
us girls are born with all our eggs. as apose to males who produce sperm as they use it. so when you are born you have millions of eggs already in your overies. i read somewhere that this reserve is aleady halved by time you reach puberty (might need to confirm that im on my phone so cant atm). some women it takes a while for their period to return after having a baby.
in fact im going to do some research and get back to you with proper facts ratger than trying to remember stuff i use to know.
I think so. I remember someone saying that when you take the pill constantly (so that you don't ovulate) then you are preserving your eggs.
Don't quote me though! Will be interested to hear.
It's not just numbers of eggs you have to worry about though. Quality of eggs is more important IMHO.
I am not aware that pregnancy, breastfeeding or the pill will do anything to stop the natural degradation of your eggs. It also follows that the less you have, the more of them will be not good quality as your body "uses up" the best ones first.
ok so when the sex organs are developed in utero there is about 6-7million potential eggs. xome birth there is only 1-2million. come puberty there are only a few hundred thousand. so there is a natural decrease without even taking into consideration ovulation.
n2l is right aswell as we age the quality changes too.
I wish that were the case!! How great would it be to be able to preserve your eggs by bf! I hadn't heard that pregnancy preserves them, that is very cool.
How did you find out that your ovarian reserve is low? Just asking because I have had pretty terrible AMH results from when I was bf and then immediately after pregnancy. My FS told me that there is now more doubt about the reliability of AMH as an indicator of ovarian reserve, which gave me some hope as I would like to have one more baby... It turns out that AMH is affected by pregnancy and possibly bf too.
I was told this once by a non medical counsellor but I don't think it's so. Gave me hope at the time. But BFing IMO and experience may have contributed to my miracle pg at 42. I used an egg donor previously as my eggs and system were shot from years of endo and age factor. I was still BFing DD at 20 months when I fell pg naturally. So I reckon you're giving yourself a great chance by BFing now. I hope that may give you some comfort. Also I think a lot more people are being tested for low egg reserves these days, it wasn't so common a few years ago, and women are finding themselves in the position of being told they have 'low reserves' but I don't think this means you have a lesser chance of a successful pg, you just have more info about your possible fertility journey ahead over time - I can't back that up scientifically it's something I've observed personally.
Interesting Dusty. I have a theory that pregnancy makes it easier to get pregnant iykwim. It's like your body knows what to do and does it. Also people who have had a lot of pregnancies seem to be able to achieve pregnancy later in life more easily. Like you though, all conjecture on my part.
FWIW, my AMH is pretty good and my FSH excellent. Still no baby and a poor responder to ivf meds to boot.
N2L - My FS told me that this is true, having had successful pgs makes it easier for your body to get pg again. The process of conceiving and being pg primes your body for it, and makes it easier next time. This gave me a lot of hope that I may be able to have my dreamed-of number three baby. Obviously it's not true for everyone, or there would not be secondary infertility, but it was what I wanted to hear!
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Preserving fertility?
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