So you are ready to look into your options for birth control after pregnancy. Maybe you are 5 months pregnant and wondering how to prevent pregnancy once you have a baby. Maybe you just gave birth and realized, oh shoot, I did not think about how to prevent another pregnancy. Or maybe you are not even pregnant but just curious about what family planning looks like after having a baby.
Lucky for you, I am here to help. For those of you who do not know me, my name is McKenna, and I am a doula and expert in natural pregnancy prevention. I have dedicated years of study to birth control and family planning options, and am here to give you all of the details on birth control after pregnancy.
We will look at why you may want to plan to prevent another pregnancy after birth, what fertility will look like after birth, what your options are, and what my #1 recommendation is for birth control after pregnancy.
Why You May Want to Plan on Birth Control After Pregnancy
Weston A. Price traveled the world, looking for the healthiest people on the planet. He found some very distinct patterns among those who had the healthiest skeletal structures, lowest health issues, and most longevity. While much of this centered around nutrition, there was a key lifestyle factor that held true among the healthiest of these people.
This factor was child spacing. It is just like it sounds. Child spacing means that you space out your children, usually 2 to 4 years between pregnancies, in order to give the mother’s body adequate time to recover so that she can thrive, and so that any future babies may thrive as well.
You can learn more about Weston A. Price and his discoveries here.
While I am not saying that you have to space your children out by 4 years, I am saying that there are legitimate reasons that it might be wise to wait at least a little but before conceiving again so that your body can replenish itself in the way that it needs to thrive.
Having a plan for birth control after pregnancy can help you to plan your family with a healthy timeline, and no early surprises.
What Does Fertility Look Like After Pregnancy
There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this. Fertility post-birth depends on several different factors including the type of birth, hormone interactions between mother and baby, how the baby is fed, if the baby is breastfed, how exactly is it breastfed, and more. So a woman can ovulate within the month following her birth, or she may not ovulate for 18 months.
It truly depends on the mother, and her individual circumstances.
Hence, planning for birth control after birth can be pretty overwhelming because there are so many different factors that can influence when ovulation will begin happening again.
What Are Your Options for Birth Control After Pregnancy?
Simply put, your options before pregnancy are the same options for birth control after pregnancy. You can take a deep dive into different birth control methods- both hormonal and hormonal free- in these four posts:
Hormonal Birth Control: Everything You Need to Know
Copper IUD: The Full Truth with Pros and Cons
Fertility Awareness Method: The Complete Guide with 4 Biomarkers
Ecological Breastfeeding as Birth Control
I will briefly mention each option below, but for full risks and benefits please check out my comprehensive posts above!
Hormonal Birth Control After Pregnancy:
Before diving into these I want to note that a pretty big issue with hormonal contraceptives is that post-pregnancy hormones are all over the place, and need time to move back into balance. Taking hormonal birth control after pregnancy can play a direct role in further throwing hormones out of whack. This can lead to a more difficult recovery postpartum.
If hormonal contraceptives are the best option for you, then great, I am glad you found something that works! It is good to be aware of this though, because it is not something that is often discussed before women go on birth control after pregnancy.
If you choose to go this route, please speak to your doctor about the best time to begin your hormonal contraceptives!
The Hormonal IUD
This releases small amounts of progestin, thinning the uterine lining in order to prevent implantation of a fertilized egg. This means that ovulation is not completely suppressed, but it also means that sperm can still fertilize the egg.
This is something to think about if you have any personal, moral, or religious beliefs about when life begins. It also thickens cervical mucus to limit sperm mobility. It can also lessen the amount of periods a woman gets in a year (or completely stop them) which can have issues with iron build up in the body.
The Vaginal Ring
This is a flexible ring that gets inserted into the vagina for 3 weeks at a time. The vaginal ring will contain estrogen plus progestin (two synthetic hormones). It directly suppresses ovulation and thickens cervical mucus.
The Pill
This is a synthetic progesterone (progestin) – only pill, taken once per day, that It directly suppresses ovulation and thickens cervical mucus.
The Mini Pill
This is a progestin (synthetic progesterone) only pill. It does not directly suppress ovulation, but indirectly does so through thinning out the uterine lining and impairing sperm from moving up to the uterus through a change in cervical mucus.
The Combined Pill
This uses combined hormones of progestin and synthetic estrogen, taken once per day that It directly suppresses ovulation and thickens cervical mucus.
The Contraceptive Patch
The patch is placed on the skin each week. It directly suppresses ovulation and thickens cervical mucus through synthetic forms of estrogen and progesterone.
The Injection
A shot is given once every 3 months to a woman. It directly suppresses ovulation and prevents sperm from entering the uterus through thickening cervical mucus.
Arm Implant
The implant is a small rod that gets placed under the skin and releases synthetic progesterone (progestin) into the body. This directly suppresses ovulation and prevents sperm from entering the uterus through thickening cervical mucus.
Non-Hormonal IUD as Birth Control After Pregnancy
The Copper IUD
The Copper IUD is a T-shaped plastic material, wrapped in copper and inserted into the uterus. The copper creates an inflammatory reaction within the uterus, creating an unstable environment for a fertilized egg to implant in, as well as a toxic environment for sperm to swim through.
This inflammatory response boosts white blood cell production due to the body’s immune response to the inflammation in the uterus. As white blood cells will kill anything that is foreign to the body, they will kill sperm as they enter the uterus. This prevents eggs from being fertilized.
Copper also works to change the consistency of cervical mucus inside the body. As cervical mucus thickens, it prevents sperm motility, preventing sperm from even entering the uterus. Copper also acts like a spermicide, being toxic to sperm.
The copper IUD can also prevent an embryo from implanting in the uterus, due to the toxicity of the environment to both sperm and egg.
Often, doctors will offer to place IUDs directly following the birth of the baby, which seems pretty invasive to me since everything would be super sore and tender at the time. Most women are not ready to be intimate directly following birth, so I have always wondered why doctors do not wait until at least the 6 week check up to put the IUD in, as this would be more the time when birth control after pregnancy should be considered.
My #1 Recommendation for Birth Control After Pregnancy
If you know me, you probably know exactly what I am going to recommend for birth control after pregnancy. Yep, you guessed it right! That method is the Fertility Awareness Method, and is an incredible method to use as birth control after pregnancy.
It can take so much of the guess work out of knowing when fertility is rising, and allows mothers to be more in tune with their own personal rhythms. It will not mess with the natural flow of their postpartum hormones, and allows for ease of transition into this new stage of family planning. It is also 98% effective with typical use.
It can seem overwhelming when you first look into it, but it is super simple and empowering once you learn the method, which truly is not that complicated to learn.
As I am a doula who understands the ins and outs of both pregnancy hormones and postpartum hormones, and as someone who spent a year of her life becoming specially trained by the experts to teach this method, I am fully equipped to teach you how to use the Fertility Awareness Method as birth control after pregnancy.
If you are interested in learning more about it please do not hesitate to contact me. Learning this method changed my life, and it has changed the life of many of the women that I have worked with.
