Need Help Re: Pregnancy and CLW

[prancie]

I fully intended to let my ds wean himself. I am THE most commited extended breastfeeder I know. I chose not to get pregnant until I was sure that he would have 2 full years of breastfeeding. When I did get pregnant her was a couple of months until 2 and I figured that if I lost my milk it would not be until the 2nd trimesterish. Well, the first trimester breastfeeding was hell. It HURT!!!!!! But I kept at it. My supply dropped and he lost a lot of interest in anything but comfort nursing for weeks. Then I lost all my milk and he still nursed, but not as frequently. Then, he started teething and I got colostrum in and he's back to being avid for the boob for about a month or two now. My problem now is that I hate nursing . It's no longer painful but in an indescribable way i am completely averse to it. I have been letting him nurse a little to sleep at night and nap and he's nightweaned (but not happy about it). And we nurse maybe once a day otherwise. But the last 2 days I just can barely bring myself to do it. I can only bear it for a couple minutes.

I've heard of this happening the other women and I am wavering in my resolve to let him wean himself. I only have 2.5 months to go before new baby is here but I feel done now. Is my body telling me I need to wean him? Could the aversion be a nutritional issue?

I would love any experience and advice in regards to this. I want to hang on but I didn't know it would be this hard. My commitment is being severely tested.

[alegna]

Nursing in pregnancy is HARD. My dd was older when I was at that point so it was both easier and harder. Easier because I could limit her time and she better understood that but harder because I couldn't distract her as easily as I could have if she was younger.

Stick it out a bit longer if you think you can. I found that the aversion went away when I had the baby and it was back to just logistical issues

-Angela

[Lunaloca]

No real advice, but I am in the exact same boat as you, and I"m finding myself really conflicted about the fact that DD has gone from 1 nursing session a day (since my milk had disappeared mid-pregnancy) to now wanting 4-6 since my colostrum came in this week. I am not sure that I want to tandem-nurse, and was thinking that my older DD was on her way weaning herself.

I am interested to hear other responses

[ElliesMomma]

i made it through pregnancy still nursing. DD is 3.5. for me, it only hurt-hurt the last few days before i went into labor. now that DS is here, there have been times that i've felt the "aversion" but i just limit her time. i remind her that to her the milk is a nutritional snack, whereas for DS, it's his only food, and he needs it to live.

but that doesn't really answer your question. i don't know. in some ways i would have to say that aversion to nursing is possibly a sign to stop. on the other hand, you are very close to the finish line. for me, i think i felt a little guilty being pregnant at all, even though DD was 3 yo. i just made a commitment to myself (and her) early on in the pregnancy, that i was going to keep nursing her. i told her there would be lots of good milk once the baby came.

[etsdtm99]

i faced this with my DD and now am again as i just found out i'm pg and my DS is 20 months old.. anyway, i know its coming, i know that i will hate nursing again.. and that just sucks. that was the hardest part about nursing while pregnant.. not hte pain, or the fact that my milk dried up completely.. it was the aversion, the creepy crawly feeling. the not liking it anymore .. i am absolutely dreading that this time around.. but i really feel like sticking with it was worth it with DD..

[Finnsma]

Hugs mama! You're doing an amazing job!!! I experienced the same thing when I nursed through 2 pregnancies. DD was 12 months with DS was conceived. Hurt REALLY bad through the first trimester then was ok, then toward the 3rd trimester I had that skin crawly so just don't wanna feeling about nursing. It sucks! I tried not to limit her as much as I could because I really wanted her to nurse for as long as she needed but honestly it was extremely difficult at times! I had to mentally go to my 'happy place' to get through but some how managed to stick it out. It started to get better when my colostrum started to come in and she was back to nursing just as often as my newborn once he was born! lol She weaned herself at about 3 1/2.

The exact same thing happened when I got pregnant with DD2. DS was 2 1/2. He weaned himself at 4 and then DD2 weaned at about 4 too.

Hang in there! It's ok if you need to limit sessions, it's ok that you don't want to nurse, this is a common and Temporary unpleasant side effect of nursing through pregnancy.