Oh my this is painful.

[editornj]

Hi!

Being pregnant my milk supply has plummeted. I had an oversupply problem I never did anything about. Until recently DS would just get really, really full after nursing. (When he was little he vomited/spit up quite a bit.) It was kind of nice because he ended nursing sessionsafter 5-10 minutes and would run along and play.

Now, he nurses--literally--for hours. It is so painful I'm often in tears. It's really painful during the latch-on, then after a minute it's just bearable, then after 15 minutes I want to cry. After an hour I want to throw my poor DS across the room.

He wakes up at 4am and basically nurses until he decides to get up for the day: anywhere from 4 to 7.

Thank goodness for pregnancy hormones, because I'm in a fairly good mood. But when I'm nursing him, I definitely hit some low lows. I seriously thought about buying pacifiers in the store yesterday, which he's never taken. Sounds silly to be introducing a pacifier at 18 months.

It also seems he's been slow to pick up the slack from less breastmilk. It's been many weeks and he's finally starting to eat more. Before I could hear his tummy rumbling a lot, but all he wanted was to nurse. Ah!

So in a nutshell. DS is nursing more than ever. Never seems satisfied. Throws a cup/bottle if I try to offer that before or during nursing. Anyway, thanks for "listening." I appreciate any thoughts/ideas/advice.

P.S. Could oversupply be hormonal? I thought it had to do with my ductwork. But my supply drastically dropped very early in pregnancy with no changes to our nursing habits...

[BabyA'sMom]

Oh my, can I relate to your post. I am also pregnant (N 9 weeks) and my breastfeeding LO is almost 22 months. Arghhhh! it hurts! She is actually alot more boob obsessed than she was a couple of months ago!

Even though I committed to breastfeeding her for two years, I had no idea how hard it would be to do it during pregnancy. I am sooo tired and nauseated at times, that having her grabbing and wanting the boob all the time is pushing me toward insanity.

Are you planning to do tandem nursing? If so, then I guess just making through it is the only option. I am NOT planning to tandem nurse, so I am really concerned about weaning far enough in advance so there isn't major upset when older LO watches new baby nurse.

I have been trying a few things that work fairly well.. First, I absolutely must limit time nursing because it hurts terribly, I get nauseated and I simply can not handle her grabbing and pinching and prodding me while feeding. I usually delatch and offer some other activity, like water, a cookie or playing with bubbles. If fall else fails, my husband steps in and takes her into the other room., especially early in the morning.

The second piece has been talking to her about the changes in my supply and taste of the milk. She used to actually make my boob squirt milk in her eye. Now it doesn't work. So every day I tell her several times that the boob doesn't work the way it used too and the milk isn't nearly as tasty either. She usually says "yeah!" and half the time will wave to my chest and say "bye bye".

LA leche league also has a weaning book geared toward toddlers who are still nursing. I'm going to get her that and read it to her daily.

My hope is to prepare her for the bottoming out of supply that hits in the second trimester. I have about a month to keep reminding her that "the boob is going to quit giving milk"

I wish I could say that I can be one of those self-sacrificing mothers who can co sleep, breastfeed on demand and tandem nurse until the kids decide to stop on their own. Although I never had firm deadlines in mind, I ended up night weaning at 12 months, putting baby in own bed and room at 15 months and now weaning from breast before new baby comes.

Out of all of those transitions, this one is by far the hardest. We thought about a pacifier for a moment then rejected the idea out of fear of her getting ear infections. We have started giving her a sports bottle with ice water and that has proved to be a good substitute at times.

Starting with potty training has also helped. She's getting alot of satisfaction and praise out of going potty. We don't push it, but the past couple of months she has really embraced responding to her own cues and using it when she feels like it.

well, I hope this helps. If nothing else, I feel your pain!