I believe less than 10 days is considered a short LP. Your body needs at least that amount of time for the lining to be in the correct alignment for implantation.

I'm breastfeeding and TTC#2. Breastfeeding is all about the hormone prolactin, which suppresses estrogen and progesterone production, and increases FSH. It is common while breastfeeding to have delayed ovulation and a short LP.

One herbal treatment option is to use Vitex, which adjusts the amount of prolactin in your system.

I've read that too much stress can also elevate the prolactin level, as can too much sex (go figure). Trying to reduce the amount of stress on one's body is a multi-faceted endeavor - including significant diet and lifestyle changes.

Another approach is to try acupuncture/TCM, which can adjust your hormone levels, but TCM will also require diet and lifestyle changes.

Someone I know had short cycles and she opted to try Clomid and that worked for her. She made no lifestyle changes, but the she had a rough time while she was pg with hyperemesis gravidarum and the baby had intrauterine growth restriction and had to be born early by c/s. I wonder if she tried a different, more healing approach for her body if she wouldn't have had a better, healthier time during pg.

No wonder I'm not pregnant

I just got done updating my TCOYF program and since I started using my fertility monitor again we have a clear ovulation date and luteal phase length.

The last cycle was 30 days, close to my normal non-nursing, pre-pregnancy cycle length. My ovulation date was CD23 however, about 8 days later than normal, and my luteal phase (LP) length was just 7 days. Well that sure isn't a recipe for success.

A normal luteal phase is around 14 or so days, which gives time for an egg to implant and get settled. With such as short LP my hormones are obviously not even close to the task of conceiving.

This next cycle I'm already on cycle day 12 and I'm still spotting (why is that?) and TCOYF is predicting ovulation to happen July 24, on CD 25. I'm sort of expecting this cycle to be longer, as I seem to alternate between long and short cycles. My acupuncturist said that sometimes one ovary can be more sluggish than another -- being as women's bodies typically alternate between ovulating from one side to the other from cycle to cycle.

I'll just keep taking my vitamins, going for acupuncture and doing qi gong and see if that doesn't help turn things around. I am feeling less sluggish since I bumped up my vitamin intake which I'm happy about.

J is also nursing a little less, he's dropped a session or two so we are down to 6-7 times a day now instead of 8-9. He just turned 29 months on Thursday.

More about Progesterone Testing and the Value of Pooled Progesterone Testing for Luteal Phase Defect

"Single or multiple pooled serum progesterone values have been used between 21-24 days into the menstrual cycle. A progesterone level greater than 10 ng/mL may represent adequate progesterone support from the corpus luteum. Most authors now agree that a single mid luteal phase progesterone level is not sufficient to evaluate the adequacy of the luteal phase."
From: Lutenizing Hormone Deficiency

"Among women who present with a history of infertility, approximately 3-5% of those with infertility have a true luteal phase defect, with repeated cycles lacking adequate luteal support. The incidence of luteinizing hormone deficiency is higher (10-15%) in subsets of patients who are infertile and have had [repeated miscarriages]."
From: Lutenizing Hormone Deficiency

"As with many hormones, progesterone levels fluctuate hour to hour and day to day, so that a single level is not always an accurate reflection of ovarian function. Also, it is important that progesterone levels are sufficiently elevated for an adequate number of days after ovulation. For these reasons, it is ideal to check more than one blood progesterone level during the time in your cycle when progesterone levels are the highest, approximately 5 to 9 days after the LH surge. In the pooled progesterone test, blood is drawn on three days between the 5th and 9th days of the luteal phase. Blood samples will be "pooled" together, and a single progesterone level will be determined, representing an average of your progesterone levels."
From Pooled Progesterone Test (PDF)

"The results suggest that the most sensitive and specific prediction of low integrated progesterone (and therefore of LPD) was a value of <30 ng/mL for the sum of three (midluteal) serum progesterone measurements (100% sensitivity, 80% specificity).

Even a single (midluteal) progesterone result of <10 ng/mL was highly predictive of LPD (84% sensitivity, 82% specificity). However, a diagnosis based on a single progesterone determination continues to be controversial. Progesterone is secreted in a pulsatile manner, and serial samples obtained over a 24-hour period can range from 2.3 to 40 ng/mL.3 Such fluctuations raise questions about the reliability of a single progesterone determination for the differential diagnosis of LPD. The pulsatile secretion of progesterone argues for either assaying multiple specimens separately or pooling multiple specimens for processing in a single assay."
From: Progesterone: Physiology and Clinical Utility (PDF)

With a pooled progesterone test you should do it fasting, on any three days during your mid-luteal phase -- 5-9 dpo.

I've also read that luteal phase dysfunction is best tested in tandem with an endometrial biopsy and basal charting.

Luteal Phase Dysfunction - Low Progesterone Info

I found this article which talks about low progesterone in the post-ovulatory (luteal phase) and saw that it does mention fibroids in the clinical section.

Luteal Phase Dysfunction

I know that not everyone has the same hormonal cause for their fibroids, and that they don't really know very precisely which they are and in which combination but for some of us progesterone supplementation might be helpful.