How will I know if/when I ovulate, if I'm breastfeeding? My son is 5 months old, I'm exclusively breastfeeding... I still haven't had a cycle, and I'm rather confused about the whole mucus pattern thing. I want to be able to tell when I ovulate, if it happens before my period!! Thank you.

When you are ovulating your mucuous looks just like egg whites and is very stretchy between your fingers. Also a you should take your temperature each morning before getting out of bed. If your temp falls below 98 degrees, it is a good sign you are ovulating.

CHANCES ARE you won't start ovulating until you introduce solids to your son. (Though I've known exclusively breastfeeding moms who started as early as three months. Me? I started around 9 months.)Fertile mucus is rather like egg-whites: You can stretch it into strings between two fingers.You might also consider getting a saliva-microscope http://www.ovulation-calculator.com/microscope.htm, so you can just check your saliva in the morning. Since you're working over a rather long term here (you could ovulate tomorrow, or in three months), this may be the cheapest testing-method for you.Finally, all the Dollar Stores carry cheap -- as in $1 each) ovulation test kits. (As opposed to $10 each at the drug store.)