Expert: ruth kraft - 11/23/2008

Question
QUESTION: It's been 2years after my son's birth. Suddenly my breasts are producing milk. It's never happened before. My husband and I are planning a new baby. I ovulated less than 2weeks ago,my period should start next week. The pregnancy test was negative. I also had my loop removed the monday before my ovulation. Is pregnancy possible. Why am I lactating? Is there a reason other than possible pregnancy. I did breastfeed my son for less than 2months. I hope you can help. Regards.

ANSWER: I am going to give you my best guess here as this gets into more medical information to give you a for sure reason why this is happening and I don't have the ability to do such detailed medical assessments.

My guess would be that after taking out your IUD ( I assume thats what you mean by your loop ) your hormones are fluctuating . your ovulation and preparation for getting pregnant again is what your body is getting used to. I would imagine that this sudden leaking will go away on its own as your hormones balance again. It isn't anything you should worry about  unless you start having an over abundance of milk and are sure you aren't pregnant. the test might be negative now, but if you miss your period you might test again...

my guess is, its really just your hormones trying to balance themselves. :) Best of luck getting pregnant again :)

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Could you possibly tell me how exactly do you calculate your ovulation. As far as I know it's calculated this way. You count 14days on from your first day of your last period. Is this correct?

Answer
the answer to this isn't as simple as it sounds. each person has their own set of hormones that change cycle dates often. there are some people who have 28 day cycles and there are some people who have 40 day cycles. or anywhere inbetween. because of this not everyone ovulates on day 14.  many factors can come into play of when you ovulate. from hormones to stress, wether you are nursing and how much you are nursing ( that's all hormones ) ... the reality is , its all hormonally based and there are a million factors that can affect your ovulation.

So...the best way to know when you are ovulating is to learn the signs and symptoms of your own body language. You can go to ovusoft.com or buy the book taking charge of your fertility.

this book/site can teach you how to look at things like cervical mucous change, cervical position, temperature variations, physical twinges that will tell you what day you ovulate . Once you chart your own cycle for a few months continually, you will have a very clear picture of how often you ovulate , when you do, when the best time to get or avoid being pregnant  etc... I highly recommend getting to know your own body and your questions about what is going on inside your body you will eventually be able to answer yourself without expensive hormonal tests :)