Apparently I dried up!

[WaturMama]

Ds, who is almost 5, and I were talking this morning and he said, "Mama milk isn't really a drink, it's just sucking." I was confused. After a bit more conversation he offered--"Well, for the last week it's been just sucking." (I'm not sure what a week means to him.) So I tried to squeeze out some milk myself, and nothing! Ack!

I asked him if this ever happened before. He said, "no."

I have just had a chemical pregnancy. I wonder if it could have anything to do with that.

We also have recently been working on him going to sleep without nursing, but he still has been nursing before reading books, and sometimes during the night, and always when he wakes up in the morning. We rarely nurse during the day anymore--but that has been the case for many months.

Has this happened to anyone else? I never thought the weaning would be led by my body!! Though I am trying to get pregnant and maybe this will help, today I am feeling really sad and discombobulated by this. It seems like we won't really get to CLW and see how that worked out. AND my body has been doing this really cool and handy thing for 5 years and is it just gone? It is such a part of being a mother to me.

Thanks for listening. I'd appreciate any thoughts or similar stories, or reading recommendations.

[WaturMama]

Update: last night and this morning ds said he got a little milk. I am relieved. I am still curious to hear about any similar stories.

[ElliesMomma]

hi WaterMama, sorry to hear about the chemical pregnancy. yes, i would bet that being pg even for a very short time dried up your milk. when i was first pregnant with #2, it was nursing DD who told me "empty" with regards to my milk, and that was the first HUGE clue that i was pregnant. it was five days before a missed period, too.

i would think that you can bring it back, however. oatmeal works for me. i get the "old fashioned" kind, and add some instant for flavor. i eat a HUGE bowl for breakfast, and another for dinner/before bed. this seems like the most "natural" way to keep my milk supply strong.

my DD nursed through my pregnancy, she was 2.75 when it started, and 3.5 when it ended. i simply told her, "keep nursing anyway (even though it was "empty") and the milk will come back.

good luck!