Breastfeeding and pregnancy

[justmandy]

Okay mamas, give it to me straight. I have a 10 week old who I exclusively bf and am very committed to bf for...ever. Okay, maybe not forever but at least 2-3 years.

I'd like to have one more baby and for many reasons, I'd like for it to be soon. Lets ignore the question of fertility while ebfing.

If I got pregnant soon, how likely would it be that I would have to suppliment? Do you think I'd be able to be ds's sole source of nutrition till he's ready for solids and then mostly till baby comes and I could tandem?

Thanks, any stories, for or against, are very welcome.

[zjande]

Well, the statistic is 70%. Approximately 70% of mamas lose their milk during pregnancy. You could check out the book Adventures in Tandem Nursing for all the details.

It's quite likely that would have to supplement. It's even quite possible that you would lose every drop of your breastmilk pretty quick upon a new pregnancy starting. But, some women don't, so, there's no way to predict!

FWIW, my milk always dries up in the 15-18 weeks of pregnancy range. My breastfeeders have always been over 12 mos old though.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

[justmandy]

Thanks for the book rec! I'll check it out.

[aylaanne]

My DS was 19mo when I got pregnant. My milk dried up at about 12 weeks, and I got colostrum back at around 30 weeks. I got a LOT of blisters. However, he kept nursing through all of that.

I'd be nervous about getting pregnant before at least six months, and personally I'd prefer to have at least a year between pregnancies, so if the milk does dry up, I don't NEED to supplement.

[liberal_chick]

My ds just turned one and I'm about 11 weeks pregnant. My milk is almost gone. If he waits quite a while between wanting to nurse (at least 3 hours), I'll have a let down, otherwise he barely swallows at all. I'm just glad I was able to get him to age 1.

[CherryBombMama]

i was EPing so i know exactly how much my milk went down. before i got pregnant, with my DS being around 8 months, i was pumping 8oz from each boob every 4 hours (i was a cow!)

when ds was 9 months i started pumping only 3x/day to keep my sanity, and i still pumped 8oz each boob (so i had enough for that day plus one bottle for the next day as opposed to having to freeze TONS of milk.) anyways, right at about 12 weeks, i started to only get 4oz each boob. then three. then maybe two. so at about 14 weeks i stopped pumping cuz the output of milk was so depressing.

we still have enough frozen milk to make it to a year though!