Any nursing moms having issues with contractions? « Back to Group Discussions

[crazykittymomma]

I'm still nursing my 29 month old (35 weeks pregnant) and she's been very clingy lately...I've started having crampy contractions (sometimes all over, sometimes just on the bottom). Last time I had 2 weeks of prodromal labor (probably a positioning/membrane sweeping issue), but this is feeling like that and I'm not too happy about having to deal with that again. I went into labor at 39 weeks last time, so I guess this could be the start of something, but man...ugh. I'll be talking to my midwife today about it today at my appointment and I'm seeing my chiro tonight, but I'm just wondering if anyone else is dealing with something similar.

[meesh933]

I'm nursing my 20 mo DS, and 34 weeks. I have contractions every time he nurses, and sometimes they're WAY more than BH. I've had a few afternoons where I had to try to distract him and keep him from nursing because I was having contractions every 5-10 minutes for hours. My MW said not to worry about it too much, and that maybe it will help things along here in a few weeks. I had prodromal labor for weeks prior to his birth, too, and I've been so afraid that it would start up again because of all his nursing, but except for a few off days, it hasn't been that awful. Yet, lol.

[Krystal323]

Contrax with nursing, yup, every time.  Not calling it an issue tho--at least not this late in the game anymore, as I'm either 37/39 wks now.  I'm mainly hoping they get stronger and DO something--LOL!

Even a few weeks ago, they were strong and would sometimes turn into hours worth of BH/prodromal, but now they're even stronger.  So i dunno!

[Code Name Mama]

None here, and I wanted to share with you some research I did on this very subject: (click for more info + sources)

There are at least two physical reasons that breastfeeding contractions are normally nothing to worry about. First, clinical observation has shown “that breastfeeding contractions do not produce dilation of the cervix.”6 Second, the uterus changes throughout pregnancy – during the majority of pregnancy (until about 38 weeks), nipple stimulation causes even “less oxytocin to be released compared with” women who are not pregnant. The uterus is simply not as responsive to oxytocin. After the uterus reaches “full term” around week 38, suddenly the uterus becomes more sensitive to oxytocin, and therefore nipple stimulation can more easily cause uterine contractions in women who are term.7 In other words, “unless your pregnancy is term or the cervix is ripe, the released oxytocin stimulation is not sufficient to bring on labor.”8

Indeed, full-term women have successfully induced labor using nipple stimulation from a breast pump. But the amount of stimulation required is likely to be far more than any one nursling could sustain – the pumping necessary to induce labor ranges from 15 to 45 minutes of dedicated stimulation every hour for several hours. Even the most dedicated nursling would have trouble keeping up with that pace!9



I hope that puts anyone who is nervous about this at ease

[crazykittymomma]

lol, I'm not so much nervous as I am annoyed that I have to deal with prodromal labor again. Though, my kid can literally suck/twiddle all night if she's allowed access. :/