Hello, I would be happy to help you with your question.

From what you are saying, your wife is 23 years old and had a child by Cesarean Section over 7 months ago. Unless there was some concern that you are not telling me about, there is NO REASON why she cannot have sexual intercourse at this time. It is completely safe from the standpoint of a Cesarean Section that long ago.

With regard to recent intercourse, while it is possibly to get pregnant while breast-feeding, the chances are very low. What I think that you are asking is whether it is possible to take emergency contraception to avoid pregnancy with the recent unprotected intercourse. The medications typically used for this would NOT be harmful to take while breast-feeding. I would say, though, that you should consult a doctor regarding the medications that are available to you and to make sure that she takes it correctly

If I have mis-understood any part of your question, please let me know with a followup question. I hope that this helps you!

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Yes, if you are referring to emergency contraception medication, then I would recommend asking a local doctor about what is available by prescription or over-the-counter. You could certainly call a local Pharmacist (anonymously) and ask the same question. Emergency contraception should be taken within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse, so I would not delay too much more on this.

With regard to signs of pregnancy during breast-feeding, this is a great question. The signs might be a small amount of bleeding (implantation bleeding) and eventually symptoms of breast tenderness and nausea. These symptoms would probably occur about 2-3 weeks after conception.

I hope this helps. Let me know and I will help you until you are satisfied.

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Thank you for the followup. Here are the answers to your questions:

1. Implantation bleeding occurs when a pregnancy is "implanting" in the wall of the uterus. It usually occurs about 2-3 weeks after conception and involves a small amount of spotting and cramping over the course of a day or two.

2. Birth control can be used while a women is breast-feeding. Traditionally we have stuck with either non-hormonal methods (IUD's) or progesterone only forms of birth control (the "mini-pill", or the Depo-provera shot).

3. As I stated before, the chance of pregnancy is extremely small. You are beyond the window to use emergency contraception to abort a potential pregnancy, so I would proceed as follows:

a. Check a pregnancy test in a couple of weeks as I stated above
b. Consider having an IUD placed or start some other form of progesterone only birth control (available through her doctor)
c. Until she is on birth control, use condoms

I hope this helps. Please ask if you have additional questions!

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