pregnant and nursing - how's it going?

[porcelina]

Ouch! The nipple pain is really bad again!! Not sure if we're going to make it through the next 20 weeks, especially given that there's no milk, and apparently no "water" (colostrum) to be found either. Seems like this makes him suck harder, looking for some tiny swallow. Ouch! DS of 28 mos still likes to nurse at night and in the morning. Next target to cut is the nursing every hour between 4 and 6 am.

How's it going for you??

[Chloe'sMama]

DD is just 22 months, so we are both not ready to give it up, but it has been a struggle at times. She nurses at nap and at bed and sometimes in the morning. Today she added a mid morning nursing in there.

My nipple and breast pain has come and gone. It is peaking again and that is hard, but I want her to control when she wants to wean.

Good luck to you.

[kryztuh]

I am in so.much.pain.

DS is 19 months and he still seems to need the nursing so much. I work FT and so he only nurses to bed, a few times at night, and at naptime on the weekends. Last night I was in tears it hurt so much and I popped him off and he just screamed and screamed and wanted more.

DH is not supportive and just wants me to wean, but how do I do it when DS will cry literally for hours???

I finally gave in and nursed him down to sleep while crying myself. The pain is definately worse this week.

[Chloe'sMama]

Originally Posted by kryztuh

DH is not supportive and just wants me to wean, but how do I do it when DS will cry literally for hours???

My DH wants me to wean too. It is a source of many fights actually. DD and I are both not ready and he is just so pushy about it.

Sorry mama that you are hurting so much. Lanolin helped last time (a few months ago) I had the bad nipple pain. I have not tried it this month though.

[etsdtm99]

my DS is going to be 2 in a few weeks..

we are in the process of night weaning, nursing in the night was seriously painful and keeping me awake..plus with the lack of milk he was wanting ot nurse for hours on end .. he stopped nursing during the day when my milk dried up around 13 weeks.. now he nurses at bedtime and in the morning.. i try to hold him off until 6am, but if he wakes up at 5 and i think he will cry and wake up for the day i let him nurse back to sleep.. he has also been waking around 10 and 1 or so and that is when i am not letting him nurse (we've been at this a week, 2 nights he cried .. like nights 3 and 5 were really bad.. but the other nights he has gone right bakc to sleep with only a drink of water!) i would just love for DS to start sleeping in his room until its time to nurse in the morning.. i've also found that even though he isn't much of a talked, the 2 nights that were really bad we didn't talk about the milk going to sleep before he went to bed, every night thati 've told him what is going to happen he has been fine..

[triscuitsmom]

I am still nursing too. Both boys actually. Nursing when pregnant is not a pleasant experience for me. Not as much pain (though I do get that too), but just I feel like they just need to be off of me because I have creepy crawly feelings.

I will stick it out though. I would feel too guilty weaning them because I'm pregnant because that isn't their fault. Also having done this once before I also know that it gets *waaaaay* better once the baby is born. All of a sudden it's "natural" to nurse again and everyone is much happier.

Only 18-22 weeksish to go. I am taking it one day at a time. One feeding at a time sometimes depending on what I can manage.

[AnneCordelia]

I'm still nursing our 22 month old. Leo pretty much nurses on demand still but he's drastically cut back on that over the past few weeks. I think it's my supply that's dwindling as I"m in the 5th month of pg now. I have noticed that my nipple pain has come back, but it's not too bad...not as bad as it was at 6 weeks pg, so I count my blessings. LOL!

[foodmachine]

I chose to wean in February (time to change my siggy). My skin was crawling, I felt sick to my stomach and was worse of all I was resenting DD for wanting to nurse. She was 2 years, 2 weeks and 2 days. Weaning took a day. The timing was obviously right. DH speaks lovingly of her "beeboosch" still. It was the right choice for us. I wish you all luck in doing what feels best.

[tribord]

My DD is also 28 months old. My nipples are hurting quite a bit. Worst when she latches on, and she likes to switch sides a lot so there is lots of latching on.

She's started biting in the last few weeks, and when she does I promptly end the nursing session. Even if it is bedtime and she's only nursed for a minute or two, she seems OK afterward (although she whines for about 30 seconds) and sleeps her usual amount (until 5am or so). That tells me that she is probably ready to wean if the pain gets so bad that I need to. She still asks to nurse every day, though, so I'm going to hold out as long as I can.

I'm lucky that we only nurse two or three times a day. I had gotten down to twice a day back in November in hopes of bringing back AF so we could TTC again. I don't think I could stand it if she was nursing through the night or every couple hours.

Finally, my empty, floppy-looking breasts of early first trimester (I think we had a thread about that earlier this year) have blossomed again over the last few months. Nice! It was a little scary to have that preview of what my chest will look like after I finish weaning my last child (probably this one). I'll take this nice full bustline for as long as I can.

[claddaghmom]

So far so good. DD went through a horrific teething/earpain/fever episode...actually she's still in it minus the earach and fever. It's been a week now. *slump*

For three days solid she only nursed...and nursed constantly. It was horrible but I was so so happy that I had kept nursing for cases such as that!

Other than that trial though it doesn't seem any different. Oh wait, at night she twiddles and lately I've been trying to stop her. I felt so...ugh unexplainable icky feeling and then I realized it! That was the creepy crawly, angry feeling I've heard other mamas talk about! LOL So now she can hold my hand while nursing.

<3 Nurse, baby nurse! LOL Don't give up!

[lolliegee]

Although this is my 5th baby, this is the first time I've been pregnant and nursing at the same time. My other babies were just spread too far out. My two oldest boys both nursed til they were around 3 1/2 and it just faded away in the night. My little guy right now is 29 months and shows no sign of stopping whatsoever. He has, however night weaned himself (that was super wonderful for me while I was still in so much pain from the herniated disc and surgery). He's the first of my kids to ever sleep through the night this young. He will occasionally wake up to nurse, but it's so rare, I can't even remember the last time he did.

I've been lucky so far, other than having nipple pain at latch-on, things are going pretty well. I did have some of the creepy-crawlies, but I think that may have been heightened by the pain meds I was on from the surgery. Now that I'm only taking them at night, I don't feel that much any more. The nipple pain has come and gone, but it's definitely back right now. He also likes to switch sides a lot, so it hurts, but I'm determined to let him lead the weaning process as I've done with all but my first (and she nursed til she was 2 1/2). I also have always thought the idea of tandem nursing would be great, so I'm really hoping to get to experience that.

He has a couple of times in the last week now, said something about the milk. One time he said "Mom, neets!" (that's his way of saying nurse). The left side apparently wasn't giving him anything. And then the next night, on the same side he said it tasted yucky. Hasn't complained again since, so we'll see what happens.

Good luck to all of you in this journey.

[dmpmercury]

I'm starting to notice some pain and I think my supply is going down. My little guy is 18.5 months. I have been gradually cutting back and he is not ready to give it up but he has been ok nursing a lot less. He asks a lot less now. Early in pregnancy he nursed a lot still at least every 2 hours during the day and now he nurses a few times a day mostly at bedtime and nap time. I think my supply is really dropping. He been really thirsty lately and eating a lot. I am kinda hoping he slowly weans and it goes smoothly but we will see what happens. I'm playing it by ear and I am open to tandam nursing but kinda hoping not to.

[aikigypsy]

I still don't want to tandem nurse, but it's looking likelier and likelier every day. DD is almost 29 months and still nursing to sleep at night and nap-time and a bit in the early morning. I am trying to phase out the early morning one, but it's going to be very slow. She did nap yesterday when I was away, so at the moment it looks like there's hope for nursing without naping.

I haven't had much pain, just at latch on in the last week or so, and I think my supply is mostly the same, but sometimes now DD asks for a drink of water or juice after she nurses (when she's not asleep) which makes me wonder a bit. We'll see how the next few months go.

[tracyb928]

OMG it HURTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DD (3 and 4 months) has cut WAY back to morning and night basically, but in the morning when she wakes up too early, she nurses every 15 minutes (but only latches on and then falls asleep). When I unlatch her, almost every single time, she slides off and nips the end of my nipple. OUCH. What a way to start the morning!!!!!! Not sure if she's going to wean or not. I guess we will see!! I haven't had milk for about a month now, and she obviously doesn't seem to mind.

[porcelina]

Ouch! I guess we're all in the same boat -- little to no milk and lots of pain. I just got the book Adventures in Tandem Nursing from the library at the birth center. It's somewhat helpful to hear how others have gotten through it. I think they downplay the "reduction" in milk supply -- I know I'm completely dry, and have been since week 16. From what it sounds like, many of us have nothing left! However, DS is not interested in stopping. Sometime mid- to end of pregnancy, the colostrum is supposed to come in, which may make it at least slightly easier.

We also have the situation where if he doesn't get it when he really wants it, he screams and cries. The other night, I nursed him at 4 am for about 10 minutes, gave him the limit of 2 more minutes, and when it was time to let go, he wailed and got so upset that he was up for TWO hours!! We had gotten it down to only night nursing between 4 and 7 am (this down from every 2 hours), and had planned on the complete night weaning in the summer. I just hope we're able to do it, because he seems really attached to nursing at that time!

I guess I'm lucky that it doesn't hurt more -- I can usually stand about 5-7 mins per side before it hurts too much to stand (apart from the initial latch). At that point, the "icky" feeling kicks in, but it's more that I just feel no sympathy or desire to give in after cutting him off, rather than a disgusted/yuck feeling that others describe.

[mamavanholmes]

My dd2 is only 11mos, so I am nowhere near ready to wean. I weaned dd1 at 18mos as I was pregnant also and was having so many emotions, all the creepy crawly stuff and resentment that was breaking my heart. It was so much easier on her than it was on me. But I am determined to let dd2 lead this time. I would however like to somehow slow her night nursing down. I have no milk so we are really tossing and turning all night, side to side. I am pretty exausted. She still gets to nurse whenever she wants and I am just giving her some water throughout the night to help her out. I do fell lucky that she is a good eater and has some teeth already so I am not her sole source, that was the case with dd1. No teeth till 13 mos and had no interest in food unroll my milk started to change, that was tough! I am holding dh off on his idea of when "I should" wean dd2, he isnot tottaly on board, but he trusts me to do what is right fir everyone. Mostly he hates to see me so exausted

[heatherRN]

Originally Posted by kryztuh

I am in so.much.pain.


DH is not supportive and just wants me to wean, but how do I do it when DS will cry literally for hours???

Man, that was so hard for me last time, but DH hasn't said anything yet this time around. Sorry mama

Originally Posted by etsdtm99

.. i try to hold him off until 6am, but if he wakes up at 5 and i think he will cry and wake up for the day i let him nurse back to sleep.. .

This is my struggle too!

We are still going strong, ds#2 is 20 months (4 year-old only nurses very rarely) and has mostly started sleeping through until the early morning. I think we unintentionally night-weaned because I was barely able to nurse him because of the pain and after a lot of rough nights he just started sleeping more. However, he potty-trained at 17 months and wakes up at night to pee almost every night, but always at a different time. So, I need to nurse him then too. It is hard, but I think we will make it through! and hopefully, my dh will be supportive through the postpartum tandem nursing too!

Nice to check in you all!

[newlywaaz]

we're done. DS is 23 months, and still asks every few days ago, but his latch is TERRIBLE, he only sucks (chews, really) for about a half second, and then says "yummy mommy" and giggles and walks away. There hasn't been any milk for about a month now, so I'm glad he's finally getting the picture that it's time to move on DH is glad to have me to himself for a few months, lol.

[luckysgirl]

3-year-old DS is done , but my DH managed to stretch my frozen breastmilk long enough and a two mom friends of mine donated some of theirs as well so that 1-year-old (yikes! where does the time go?) DD was able to re-lactate with amazing ease.

I contribute that mainly to my before-mentioned mom friends who actually not only donated milk, but nursed my baby when I could not. I will forever be in their debt.

I've never really suffered any pain while nursing, tandem or otherwise minus one bout of mastitis that nearly killed me when DS was three-months-old. I like to think it's the universes way of paying me back for all the other crap it puts me through.

Sorry to here it's so rough for you, mamas. Kudos to you all for sticking through even when faced with so many difficulties. I know so many people who have never even given it a chance. You're all an inspiration.

[Megamum2008]

We're done too and DS is only 16 months... his choice though. I thought he was a boobie monster, but when my supply went down, he got MAD. I started supplementing him with Goats milk at daycare, and at night because he wouldn't go to sleep otherwise.
Now he has become a bottle monster, and if I try to nurse him, he sucks for a few seconds, screams and points desperately at the bedside table (where I often have a bottle for him). It is sad because he obviously still really needs the milk, but I don't think goats milk is nutritionally ideal. At least he's a good eater... and maybe he'll remember how to latch still by the time baby is born. I wanted to tandem nurse, and I wanted to nurse him for a long time yet.
Sad mommy, but a he doesn't seem to mind at all!