What is going on???

[Family4Christ]

My dd stop nursing frequently when she was around a year and pretty much kept it to nighttime and 1-2 times a day.

Last week we all got the stomach flu and it's been a week since anyone threw up. Anyway, my dd constantly wanted to nurse (totally unlike her) and I just attributed it to her being sick. However, she's still acting like a newborn and constantly wants to nurse.

The problem is, she is continually pointing to the other boob and asking for it and then getting mad and wanting the other a minute later. I know my milk has taken a hit, as I don't have strong letdowns for the last week and her swallowing is like every 4-5 sucks instead of every other. She acts like she can't get enough and she's really taking it hard. I find this strange for a girl who has always been somewhat indifferent to nursing and has never been a comfort nurser.

Is there anything I can do to increase my milk while pregnant? This sucks. I thought I'd get further along before taking a hit.

[MyFillingQuiver]

Aw, I'm sorry. I understand how that feels. I was watching for my return of fertility signs while EBF, and had none...I got pregnant at about 6.5 months PP with this baby. By 8 months my milk was totally gone. I tried supplements for increasing production-nothing...

I attributed mine to the fact that I was just pregnant, so my body switched into protection mode. I always have oversupply/overactive letdown, so I really didn't think it'd be an issue. So, when my little guy was in his 8th month (now 10.5 months) I weaned him to goats milk. While he didn't seem to mind, it was hard for me.

So, I don't have any advice, since my situation was a big fat failure on the tandem nursing I had planned when I found out about my pregnancy! I just wanted to offer you my support and commiserate a bit!

I hope you find the answers and help you are looking for.

[Family4Christ]

Thanks for the reply! Gosh, now that must of been tough! I thought I was pregnant when dd was 6 months and I remember how devastated I was, as she was EBF. Sorry mama!

I've always had a HUGE oversupply too, until dd lost interest and started nursing at night. I still had plenty of milk and never seemed to run short of what she needed. You would think with so much milk, it would be impossible to run out.

DD has been taking this so hard and is getting worse. The only thing she wants is to nurse - day or night. She's asking every 10 minutes. This is so unlike her. She was indifferent to nursing unless it was night. I wonder why she'd go from indifferent to acting like she lost her best friend?

Nighttime isn't going so hot either. She woke at 4:30am and didn't go back to sleep until 6am this morning and just kept pointing at one breast of the other and trying to nurse. This stinks! Well, at least there's something in there, as I hear her swallow occasionally and I'm thankful for that. It's been a week since my last letdown, so I know things have changed drastically.

[apmama07]

I think even if she seemed to be indifferent to it, the few times she was still nursing were kind of constants for her in her little life....And it can still be a bewildering and worrisome thing to all of a sudden have no milk or very different tasting milk. She has no frame of reference to understand what's going on - have you tried explaining it to her in some way you think is appropriate? Might help a little.

My DD is a lot older (2.5) and the farthest thing from indifferent to nursing. She really upped her demand/attempts at nursing in the same way you're describing for a couple of weeks at the very beginning of pg when my supply seemed to suddenly bottom out - she seemed desperate and I was beside myself. Luckily my supply seems to have rebounded a bit for now and she's gotten used to it too.

Even though your DD is quite different, perhaps it's still the same idea, that it's disconcerting to them when the milk changes unexpectedly, and she's doing what her instincts tell her to do - increase demand to increase supply. Does that make any sense?

[BlackSheepPDX]

My DD went through an increase in nursing at around 18 months, too....it's actually what drove me to night wean at the time, because I was going to lose my mind. There may be a supply issue component, but I've also heard a lot of sympathetic stories about similar upping in nursing interest at that age.