breastfeeding while pregnant

[m4c10c]

Hi,
I'm new to this forum and was hoping someone could give me advice. I just had a little boy who is 5 months old and I am pregnant (I think 8-9 weeks along). I really wanted to bf my 5 month old for a year and a half but is there any complications I should know about?
How does it work when my colostrum for the next baby comes in? Is tandem nursing possible/painful/hard to do?
Thanks for helping a new mom out.

[fruitfulmomma]

The only complication I am aware of is that your milk may dry up.

Tandem nursing is absolutely possible! Sometimes painful and hard to do, but well worth it.

I am on my third tandem pair right now, though I think the older one of this pair is close to done, she only asks for it maybe once a week. They are 16mo and 3yo.

Your lo should be just about a year old when the baby comes and old enough to not need to be fed quite as often. Colostrum is fine for that age as well and I was actually very grateful a couple of times to have the older one who could help with the engorgement.

Here is a good resource http://www.kellymom.com/bf/tandem/index.html

[lunarlady]

I'm pregnant and breastfeeding right now. The only thing I can tell you is that my letdown became a bit more painful and my nipples got very sore near the end of the first trimester. I want to say that it lasted from about week 13 to week 18. But it is getting better now, although there is still about 20 seconds of "ow!" that I didn't have when not pregnant when DD first latches on. Don't know if that's normal for all moms, but that's been my experience. Congrats on the bun in the oven!

[m4c10c]

Thanks

Thank you both. I have noticed a little more pain in let down and many "well meaning" friends tell me to quit bf, so it helps that others are doing this too. Also, thanks for the website. My own googling couldn't find much info.

[ramama]

My milk dried up at about 20w, but DD continued nursing. She was over a year though, so she had nutrition from other sources. I did become really irritated with nursing while pregnant, like REALLY irritated, crying in the middle of the night frustrated. It just skeeved me out. This kind of thing is common, so if it happens, don't feel guilty, and come back here for support! When I went through it, I thought I was a freak and a bad mom, and then afterwards realized that it happens to a lot of pregnant nursing moms. Wish I had known that before!

We made it through and tandemed for about 1.5 years. I'm glad we stuck it out!

[mambera]

No personal experience to offer but (as nobody else has mentioned it) since your son is so young I would just keep an eye on his weight gain and diaper output bc if your supply drops he will need to be supplemented.

Congratulations on the new bun in the oven!