Separately, breastfeeding typically entails high levels of a hormone called prolactin, which can put the kibosh on ovulation (and periods)—generally a helpful measure for avoiding pregnancy right after giving birth. But even once you stop nursing, there can be a bit of a delay in the return of menstruation as your prolactin level comes back down, Dr. Dweck says. And while your hormones level out, you might have irregular periods, skipping a month here or there.
If you miss a single period, ob-gyns generally advise waiting it out and seeing if it returns the following month.
Because of the many variables that can cause a one-off missed period, it’s possible that it returns without a hitch next month. In the interim, it’s smart to keep a menstrual diary and write down any bleeding or spotting you may notice, Christine Carlan Greves, MD, a board-certified ob-gyn at the Orlando Health Women’s Institute Center for Obstetrics & Gynecology, tells SELF. If your period starts up again with no issues, awesome—you can just talk to your ob-gyn about things the next time you go in. If it’s still a little off, you’ve got more info to give to your doctor. (That said, if you’re experiencing any pain or other unusual symptoms alongside a skipped period, don’t hesitate to make an appointment.)
While you’re waiting for that period to show, it can’t hurt to abstain from drinking and take another pregnancy test after a week, just to be sure, Dr. Greves says. Those little pee sticks look for the presence of the hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), which the body produces during pregnancy. But if you just got pregnant, it’s possible that you don’t have quite high enough levels of HCG in your body yet for the test to detect it, Dr. Greves says. (Within a week’s time, though, there should be plenty of it to get picked up.) The first morning pee tends to be the most concentrated with this chemical, so testing right after you wake up will give you the most accurate result, Dr. Dweck notes. And be sure the test you’re using isn’t expired, she adds.
If you’ve checked all those boxes, you can trust that a second negative result indeed means no pregnancy given that these tests are “very, very accurate,” Dr. Dweck says. In this case, again, you’ll want to keep tabs on your period into the following month. “The majority of the time, there is nothing to worry about and your body will quickly reset without a trip to a doctor,” Dr. Ross says.
But if your period is still MIA after two months, it’s important to see your doctor to rule out a health issue.
Missing a period for two or more consecutive months could be a red flag that something else is causing your hormones to go wonky. In some scenarios, it could point to a condition called polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which generally causes you to overproduce sex hormones called androgens. The resulting symptoms include things like cystic acne, unusual hair growth, and, yes, sporadic or missing periods. You might skip several in a row and then bleed a ton, which Dr. Dweck says may not even follow ovulation, as in a typical period, but could be the result of uterine tissue having built up so much over time that it just breaks free.
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