Full-term/extended breastfeeding and fertility

[Kestrel]

I've got a friend whose fertility did not return for a long time after her first, because of full-term/extended breastfeeding (she was tested and it wasn't from any other cause). She waited and eventually her fertility returned within a couple of years, which she was happy about as she was keen for baby #2, but I'm wondering what others have done in regards to full term breastfeeding and waiting to return to fertility, and not being able to? Did you cut down on feeds? Did you wean? Or did you just hold on, trusting the nature knows what it's doing? I've never been in this position myself but sometimes I wonder if I will be at some stage down the track.

[aussiemidwife]

While for most women their cycle seems to return around 6 to 12 months when they are breastfeeding I've known quite a number of women whose cycles do not return until they had stop feeding their babies. This is natures way of natural family planning - but doesn't always marry up with a couples wishes for spacing of their babies. There has been some discussion on this very issue on this forum under the thread "When did you cycle return?". I personally can't comment - even though I exclusively breastfed my three babies until 7 plus months - my cycle returned 3 months with my first baby, 4.5 months with my second baby and 7 months with my third baby.