If your milk dried up when you were pregnant...

[citymagnolia]

I'm almost 9 weeks pregnant. DD is 3.5yo and still nurses regularly in the late night/early morning and occasionally at other times. Tonight she wanted to nurse after a long day so we did and we discovered that my milk has dried up. :( She didn't care. She still nursed and even fell asleep.

I would love to tandem nurse and I know she's not ready to give up nursing, so I'm just wondering what some people's experiences have been with dry nursing. Did your LO still want to nurse when your milk came back in? I'm afraid she won't like the taste anymore, especially if it tastes different. I know everyone's experience is different, but I'd like to hear how this went for some other people.

Thanks :)

[Marissamom]

I'm 22 weeks, and I still have some milk (though it's pretty much colostrum now), but I had a lot of colostrum when i was pregnant with my first. 

[babygrey]

I'm 18 weeks pg and my nursling is 19mo.
I still have a bit of milk, but really, just a bit. Most of the time, we're dry nursing. DD doesn't care. She'll nurse and, when there's no more milk, pop off, say "All gone!" and then pop right back on :)
Like you, I've wondered how she's going to handle the milk coming back in. I assume she'll like it just fine, tbh. She's not one who has ever seemed fussy about milk taste or quantity.

ETA: in the first tri- my milk supply was very dependent on my hydration and rest (or lack there of). Now, it seems to be steady low, but just something you might see if you can alter if you are interested.

[greenmama66]

My milk dried up pretty early in my pregnancies. My LO's didn't return to nursing after the new baby was born. Nursing on dry breasts during pregnancy wasn't fun for me but everyone has different tolerance levels.

[oneluvmama]

My first DD cut down to nursing twice a day, just briefly before nap and bedtime. My milk was just a trickle, but she kept nursing. It didn't really bother me too much.

She nursed like a newborn again when my milk came back in tho. :)

Good luck!

Edited by oneluvmama - 11/15/10 at 7:02am

[texmati]

My son stopped nursing when I started leaking colostrum around 20 weeks. Now I leak when he cries, but he won't latch on. I'm crossing my fingers that he'll take up nursing again, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up. He'll be 16 mos when the 'new' baby comes.

[Mrs.Music]

My DD dry nursed adamently through my pregnancy with my son. Unfortunately. Lol. Weaning her because of the contractions REALLY sucked and I felt awful, but I was pretty happy not to tandem, honestly. DS weaned so early (14 months) that I almost considered trying to talk him into re-latching when this baby comes (he'll be 22 months) but I've decided against it. I have to pump for a vacation late next year and since I need to get used to pumping in order to build supply before I really need to save the 300oz or whatever, I figure I can give some to each of my LOs in a cup.

[Peony]

Originally Posted by greenmama66 

My milk dried up pretty early in my pregnancies. My LO's didn't return to nursing after the new baby was born. Nursing on dry breasts during pregnancy wasn't fun for me but everyone has different tolerance levels.

Us as well. Both the girls did nurse through the pgs but by the end, they were barely nursing and they never picked it back up again. 

[Katie T]

I had a 12 month nursling when I found out I was pg. He dry nursed through all but the last couple weeks of my pg and then when he visited me in the hospital latched on and nursed. Then he didn't nurse for about a wk and I was shocked to find he had for gotten how to latch. He did (that very nursing session) learn to latch properly. I just kept unlatching and telling him to try it again. He nursed the most the first 5 wks after his sister was born and then would nurse about once a wk or every other week and then went to once  a month until somewhere between 3 and 3 1/2yrs. I can't remember for sure I would have to look back and see the dates on pictures to be sure. I am so glad I took those pictures on my phone of them tandon nursing.

I think every kidlet is different and I also think you will have a hand up because your nursling is old enough to understand a lot of what you are saying and communicate with you. Good luck, it is a fun experience.

[porcelina]

I am surprised that those who dry nursed gave up nursing when milk came in! My DS1 was 25 months when I found out I was pregnant. He happily (though frustratingly at first) nursed when my milk dried up, happily nursed with colostrum, and happily nursed with milk. For him, it was more about the connection I think than what was or wasn't coming out. As someone said in the tandem nursing book, I could have been producing motor oil and he would have continued nursing! :) I bet if it's the relationship more than anything else, your LO will continue!

[Elecampane]

My 3.5 year old stopped nursing when I was about 18 weeks pregnant, mostly because it was not fun for either of us at that point...it was excruciatingly painful for me and she could tell.  :(  When the baby came, she expressed interest only once or twice in nursing again, and I let her try, but she made a face and ran away after a few seconds.  She is now four and I think she's done for good.  She will drink expressed milk in a bottle sometimes but won't nurse.

[kittywitty]

My 2.5 yo stopped nursing when I was...5 months? pregnant this time. I was totally dried up and it was so horrendously painful that I had to stop. She asked once post-birth this time but decided not to.

[redvlagrl]

I nursed through my pregnancy, though my supply did dry up at around 28 weeks (it had been dwindling). I encouraged DD to continue because i wanted to tandem nurse, partially because of her age (18 mths between kids) and partially because we'd had such terrible problems initiating BFing with DD that I thought it might help to have her keep going (6 weeks before latching). She basically dry-nursed for quite a while and then the colostrum came in around 38 weeks or so i think.

I will say this, though. Think very, very carefully about whether you actually want to tandem. i thought it sounded so great with the sibling bonding etc. In reality I don't really enjoy it. I frequently get touched out. I have a good friend who is also tandeming and it is also driving her crazy. When DS was a newborn, DD would want to nurse all the time and I ended up being horribly engorged for about 2 weeks until I cut her back. She had been nursing twice a day before DS and then she went to about 10++ times a day. It caused the most terrible poo blowouts (think toddler appetite BM poos with solids mixed in. not fun). I had to cut her back to twice a day to keep myself sane which was hard on both of us. I found it very very hard with 2 kids at first and tandeming definitely made it much harder. That said, we've had no problems with jealousy or violent behavoir toward the baby. I don't know if tandeming is the reason or not.

I'm sure there are other mamas who've had a much better time of it than me and my friend, but I wanted to let you know that it isn't all it's cracked up to be.

[Peony]

Originally Posted by porcelina 

I am surprised that those who dry nursed gave up nursing when milk came in!

 DD1 had developed just a poor latch that she couldn't actively suck/swallow anymore. DD2 apparently didn't like the taste anymore after nursing the entire pg with no milk. She would literally just let the milk run out of her mouth, she wouldn't swallow it. Crazy kid. 

[Carlyle]

Dd just turned 4 last week and the baby is now 6 weeks old.  Dd nursed right through the pregnancy although I had to set some pretty big limits from about 5 months on (we only nursed a couple of times a day, I would distract her often, and when she did nurse, I limited it to 10-20 seconds per side).  I asked her whether there was milk, and mid-way through the pregnancy (forget when) she said "no."  But she still nursed right through--I asked her if it just helped her relax and she said yes.  Now that the milk is back, she's totally nursing again.

I think it helps that she's so old, because she really understands when I say that the baby has to nurse and when I set limits.  Sometimes she's bummed about it and gets annoying (pouty, half-hearted tantrum), but it's never too bad (yet).

The funny thing is that now that the milk is back, she's totally in it for the milk again (after several months of dry nursing for comfort only).  A few days after dd2 was born, she said "Mommy, where did you get all this milk from??"  Now when my let down is slower, she gets annoyed and wants to switch to the other side (just like she did as a baby)...she'll say things like "when is the milk coming?" 

I've really been enjoying tandeming to be honest.  I think it helps that dd is older and that dd2 is very mellow.  Surprisingly for me, it is okay for my body to nurse them both at the same time.

[sunfish21]

I lost my milk a few months pregnant and mu daughter was around 15 months at the time.  She comfort -nursed through the rest of the pregnancy and although she completely lost her latch she is still nursing and baby is 9 months old now.  I was waiting for some big excitement from her when my milk came in.  If I hadn't asked she wouldn't have said anything. She just nodded a 'yes' to my question, "are there lots of nummies now?" as she nursed.