NFP during breastfeeding

Question

My wife is nursing our first child and we want to know how can we use NFP if she is not menstruating?

Answer

Last Updated: June 9, 2013
Yes. You and your wife can use NFP while she is breastfeeding. It doesn’t make any difference whether she is menstruating or not; the instructions for achieving or avoiding a pregnancy are the same. If you are already an NFP user you should resume charting and at the same time call your practitioner for a refresher appointment so you and your wife can review with her the instructions for achieving or avoiding a pregnancy. If you have not received instructions in NFP previous to your pregnancy, now is the time to begin. Do not assume that because your wife is not menstruating she is not fertile.

A breastfeeding woman will more often than not, ovulate before she has her first menstruation and menstruation’s return varies from woman to woman. The signs her body gives her are easy to learn and interpret if she knows how. Once you have learned Natural Family Planning it can be reliably used during all the phases of your couple fertility.

Judy Wilmurt

Answered By:

Judy Wilmurt
Judy Wilmurt, Professional Member of CANFP, and past member of the Executive Board, taught the Creighton Model FertilityCare System of NFP in the Oakland region, wherre she resides with her husband Eric.

Read more related questions

How Do We Use NFP While Breastfeeding?

My wife and I would like to know how to successfully practice NFP during the nursing phase. We have been in NFP for six+ years…

Want to Use NFP, But Fearful if it Will Work for Me?

Hello I was referred to this website from my parish pastor. I am confused regarding birth control. I understand it is not approved by the…

Yellow Stamp Question

Hello, I am six months post-partum, and my Creighton Model instructor just recently moved me to yellow stamps because I am having consistent mucus discharge.…

Need Postpartum NFP Refresher

My name is Amanda and my husband and I are devout Catholics looking into starting NFP. I have 15-month-old boy/girl twins and just had another…

Is My Temp Accurate After Poor Sleep?

I am a breastfeeding mom of a 5 1/2 month old baby who just started rice cereal a week ago. I go to school full-time…

Temp is Behaving Oddly

My husband and I have been practicing NFP for about 2.5 years now, since we married, and the last few months we have been actively…

Cervix Position Confusing Me

How important is the cervix in interpreting your chart for Phase 3? My last chart had the following temps… 97.1 97.2 97.1 S 97.6 S…

45 and Heavy Periods

I’m a 45 year old mother of six. My husband and I practice NFP. For a long time, my periods have been very heavy and…

Confused by Mucus and Temperature Conflicting

Hopefully you will be able to help me clarify my chart right now. I am nine months postpartum, and started cycling 37 days ago. I…

Serious Health Reasons to Avoid Pregnancy

Our 28-yr. old niece in CA is married with children aged three yrs. and another nine mos. She has always had irregular and difficult periods…

Am I Officially in Menopause?

I am 53 and have not had a period in 205 days (the one I had was very light bleeding). My temperature has not exceeded…

Continuous Mucus Post Partum

Hi, I am a fairly new user of NFP. I had my second baby six weeks ago and have been breastfeeding exclusively. For the past…

Create An Account

This is not a membership, this is an account for our CANFP website. If you decide you would like to sign up for one of our memberships later, you can do so with or without this account.

First Name *
Last Name *
E-mail *
Username *
Password *
Confirm Password *
Edit Profile
Information
Subscriptions
Payments
Order History
Downloads
Shipping and Billing
Donations
Settings
Login Information
Notification Settings
Notification Subscriptions
Profile

CANFP conducts varied outreach programs to the community at large, in addition to serving our members (NFP users, teachers, and advocates).

CANFP provides education programs tailored to the audience, not only on Natural Family Planning, but on the wide variety of topics related to it.

Programs can be continuing education for NFP Professionals, introductory information for a lay audience of youth or adults new to the topic, or specifically tailored to the interests of a professional audience, such as educators, physicians, or clergy. Content is faith based or secular, whichever is suitable for situation.

CANFP offers a variety of resources for those just discovering Natural Family Planning, as well as to meet the varied needs of our CANFP Members. Most resources are available to any visitors to our site. Some resources do ask you to register as a site user in order to access them, others are available only to CANFP Members.

CANFP statewide conferences, regional events offered in collaboration with local partners, events featuring CANFP speakers, or exhbit, as well as other events throughout the state of interest to our NFP community.  Come meet one of our experts at one of these events or book a speaker for your own upcoming event.

CANFP depends on the gifts, talents, and generosity of our members and supporters. The success of our mission depends on the collaboration of our members. Please consider contributing your time treasure and talent through CANFP to share the good news of NFP with the world! Both volunteer and contracted positions available.

Stay informed by joining our email list

* indicates required
Which role(s) best describes you?