question for nursing moms

[gen24]

I have a DS that is 20 months old that I still nurse about 6 times a day and I am 5 weeks pregnant. For the past couple weeks, nursing has been REALLY uncomfortable. My nipples hurt so bad. I feel like I barely have any milk left already. Does this pain usually last throughout the whole pregnancy or does it stop at one point? It makes me sad because I don't feel like we are ready to stop nursing yet. I wanted to nurse him until at least his 2nd birthday.
Can anybody talk to me about their experience of nursing while pregnant?

[at_the_hip]

To be totally honest, I found it really really tough until I got a little colostrum, and then it seemed better than nursing 'dry'. What helped me the most to cope with nursing when it was so painful, was to provide a bottle of water at night and encourage night weaning. I seemed better able to tolerate the nursing during the day if my breasts had a rest all night.

My dd is 19 months old and I'm pretty certain that is going to wean herself soon. I'm 21 weeks now and she nurses once or twice a day, for a minute or two at most...a lot of the time she just snuggles up to my breast and sucks on her tongue for comfort. TBH I feel badly that she will be weaning before she would be ready for it otherwise, but am relieved that she is nursing less.

[Astraia]

For me the first trimester nursing was painful, the second was a breeze, and the third was a nightmare. Third tri it started to hurt again but then I got those creepycrawly feelings, this "GET THIS CHILD OFF OF ME" feeling. THe only thing that got me through nursing sessions with my daughter was kegels. It was the only muscle I could tense without my daughter feeling it and thinking something was wrong. I kegeled like mad.

[Peony]

It always has felt that way for me during the entire pg, it goes away when the baby is born. The first tri is always the worst, then improves slightly after that.

[1babysmom]

I only get slightly sore during the first tri. I think I actually had MORE soreness last pg when I was only nursing one as opposed to this time (nursing 2). But I find the pain is really bad for the last month or so. Latch hurts something awful. However, last time (can't speak for this time yet!) the instant DD1 was born the pain went away, and I had no "new nursling" discomfort at all. I guess I got it all overwith ahead of time.

I do wonder if the reason I don't have much pain for the duration of the pregnancy is because I have had a pretty decent supply the entire time (be it milk or new colostrum) and don't have much of a period (if at all) of "dry nursing." But then again, the time that DOES hurt me certainly isn't dry nursing. Not sure...

[khaoskat]

For me the pain was constant during the first tri, and then comes and goes during the rest of the pregnancy.

It was usually the worst during the initial latch and first few minutes. What I had to do was the visualization and breathing we learned in Bradley and that helped so much.

I also can tell more when children are not nursing right, because I can actually feel their suckling/licking.

If you are hurting some in between, I suggest using the soothies or lansinoh.

[aylaanne]

tl; dr: Yes, I had nipple pain. Yes, it went away, but it took a while. Yes, I'm still nursing.

My nipples were SO sore I was convinced I had thrush. About two weeks ago (30wks) the pain suddenly vanished. DS was about 20mos when I got pregnant. I did discourage "boredom" nursing, and at times I just said no when the pain got to be too much for me. We are still nursing, however. He nurses less, now, but he's also over two, and I think that's normal regardless of whether I discouraged it.

I work part-time nights and go to school full-time, so I had some natural respite periods built into my schedule. Taking the 16 hour breaks sometimes really made a difference. If you're home with your kiddo all day, it might help you to limit nursing to naptime and bedtime, and for "emergencies" (falling down, doctor visits, etc). You don't have to feel guilty about this, because in approximately 35 weeks you're going to be saying "no" to nursing sometimes anyways, because your newborn will have priority on the milk.

The biggest criticism I hear when I share with "mainstream" people that I'm still nursing my now-26mo is that they've seen older children walk up to their mothers and lift up her shirt without asking. I don't know how other women feel about this, but I feel it's important to teach my son limits and boundaries. Yes, we can still nurse, but you have to ask (and use manners!) and sometimes it will be inappropriate and I will say no, just like I would say no to another cookie, or an extra cup of juice, or a flashy toy in the grocery store. I think we are sensitive about it because it's such a special bond we have with them, and we're worried that saying "no" to nursing is somehow saying "no, I don't love you." and that's not the case. Which isn't to say that DS didn't get really upset when I said no to the nursing, but I would distract him with something else, or, if he was absolutely single-minded about it, DH would distract him.

Anyways, that's my take on it, and we're still happily nursing, so you can take whatever you want from that.

[thefreckledmama]

I ended up needing to wean my now 2y/o when she was 22 months or so. I just couldn't take the pain anymore, and it had become a negative experience and I didn't want to have those feelings about breastfeeding her. My milk is definitely dried up, but she'll still have a quick nurse on each side for a few minutes a few times a week-generally if she needs to be comforted (and I cringe in pain). I have every intention of letting her start back up if she wants to once the baby is born and it doesn't hurt. I've also told her that, but I don't know if she really understands, because the baby itself is still a rather benign concept to her. Either way, we only have 3 months to go, and I have no doubts that she'll still want to by then.