Pregnancy and young baby?

[Just1More]

My baby is 3.5mo old, and I, apparently, am pregnant.  I think I'm only about 4 weeks. 

I have nursed my other 3 until a year (ebf) and then started solids.  But, I also know that my supply dries up around month 4 or so.  So...what do I need to do to get my little baby enough milk?  I really, really, really don't want to give her formula. 

I wondered if I started pumping now if I could get at least half of what she needed.  Or, maybe at the very least get her enough so that she kept her "taste" for breastmilk and would nurse after the baby is born.  Oh my..."the baby is born."  Really?  I just did that. 

Anyway, any advice?

[Baby~Braatens~Mama]

 Hello, there! First, just, wow! Congrats!

Pumping now to get your lo past the yucks sounds like a great idea to me, but have no personal experiece. I kow that several of my friends have tandem nursed and nursed through pregnancy so it can be done. :)

Really, I just wanted to offer you my virtual support.

[JudiAU]

I don't have any advice other than to tell you that your milk doesn't always dry up. I had a friend in very similar circumstances (early son nursed until 3, found out she was pregnant at 3 months) and thinks that she matintained her milk supply throughout the pregnancy. Or, at least the baby had good weight gain throughout the first year and they did not need to supplement with formula which isn't quite the same but all that matters. The older baby tandemed for a few months with the newborn and then self-weaned at around 16 or 18m.

I would watch weight closely and then hope! If you do loose your milk supply, it usually happens at around 20w and previous supply is not much of an indicator.

Gently, I don't think it is very likely that you can pump enough milk in advance. You might need to make peace with needing to supplement with donor milk or formula or transition to them entirely. An SNS system might be helpful at a certain point.

 However, it would be really helpful to have a nice stash to supplement or transition later. I found double-pumping to be helpful when building a stash. Nurse baby in the morning, wait an hour, pump 10m take a shower and pump 10m. I did this in the evening too.

[texmati]

I pumped for while when I first became pregnant-- and we were able to hold off using forumula with my stash for a few months. I say, give it shot if it's not too uncomfortable-- pumping will only increase your supply further.

[Laurski]

No advice, just a congratulations!  We were in the same DDC for our September babes!