Nursing while pregnant « Back to Group Discussions

[sallyrae17]

Since I'm still nursing my 2 1/2 year old, I thought I'd start a thread where we can discuss issues we encounter while nursing and pregnant.

[blueviolet]

i'm with you!  my son is 15 months old and we're also still nursing.  no issues yet...but i've been pregnant for about three seconds, so we'll see what happens...

[Love Wins]

Still nursing almost 17 month old DD#1.  Haven't had any breast tenderness this time, but my letdown has been a lot more intense the last few days.  It's not horrible, but it's painful.  Thankfullly it only last for a bit!  I really, really, really hope to continue BF'ing!

[Knitting Mama]

Nursing with SNS at 20 months. I've been dry nursing, for all intents and purposes, for about 8 months now, but it's gotten a lot harder now that I'm pregnant. Nursing is driving me nuts most of the time. It's either painful or it is just annoying, like nails on a chalkboard. I am not giving up though, because my daughter is a light eater, and won't take milk or formula in any format other than from the SNS, and I am so not interested in forcing her to eat more or drink from a cup/bottle/whatever and give her food issues.

[pictureframe]

I'm here as well!  Nursing my 22 month old - I don't see it ending any time soon, she is attached to her 'nun'.  Thankfully it's not bothersome yet!

[Ninetales]

My 21-month-old still asks to nurse quite often.  More than she had been, actually.  I don't know if she senses something or it's starting to dry up or what.  I don't mind tandem nursing so long as it's easiest on everyone.

[texasfarmom]

I'm also nursing. My DD is 17 months and I haven't seen any changes in nursing yet. I'm hoping I don't. She still nurses many, many times a day and a lot at night as well. I will tandem nurse if we make it through to that stage.

I'm already getting comments from family and in-laws about nursing DD still, so I can only imagine that it might get worse when they find out I'm pregnant and *gasp* still nursing!

[Knitting Mama]

Originally Posted by texasfarmom 

I'm also nursing. My DD is 17 months and I haven't seen any changes in nursing yet. I'm hoping I don't. She still nurses many, many times a day and a lot at night as well. I will tandem nurse if we make it through to that stage.

I'm already getting comments from family and in-laws about nursing DD still, so I can only imagine that it might get worse when they find out I'm pregnant and *gasp* still nursing!

The horror! 

[major_mama11]

DS is just over 2.5 and still nursing. It's definitely getting more uncomfortable over the past few days. I'm planning to gradually cut back the nursing sessions over the next few weeks/months. I've been planning to wean for a while now, and did manage to night wean, but other than that, just haven't had the energy to fight him off. I know there's still milk there, so I might let him keep nursing through the winter, to get him through the cold and flu season. I guess I'll see how it goes.

My in-laws have given up on commenting on the extended nursing in this house- I think I'm a lost cause to them now that I'm on my second nursing toddler.

[sallyrae17]

major_mama11 - I also have a son who is 2 1/2 and night weaned (I weaned him during my last pregnancy). That was a huge battle and I've noticed that he wants to nurse more than ever when I'm pregnant. It's like some sort of crazy bug infects him and he wants milk ALL THE TIME. I can't escape. If he doesn't get milk, he throws a major fit and he's not the type to have tantrums. So...I've decided that it's not really worth the fight. I don't mind nursing when he's sitting still and not doing acrobatics. :) Otherwise it hurts like h*ll.

[shapiro-strano]

My daughter is almost two and primarily nurses to sleep at naps and nighttime. It has just started to be AWFUL these past few days. My whole breast isn't tender this pregnancy, but my nipples are so tender and sensitive. I find myself curling my toes as she latches on. 

Anyone that has nursed through a pregnancy before have advice on how to get through these early months of tender boobies? I don't really care to wean, mostly because she is so strong willed and I don't have the energy to fight her on it. Also because of the long flu season here in Denver and her being around a good number of people throughout the week. 

I am not sure I want to tandem nurse. My son was long weaned before my daughter came along, so I have no experience with it...I'd love to hear others stories and experiences.

Thanks, mamas!

[Knitting Mama]

The toe-curling sensation is SO familiar to me, too. There is no possible way Cecilia is ready to wean though; she still needs to nurse with the SNS for nutrition as well as for comfort. She's still not a huge solids eater, and she won't take milk or formula from cups or bottles.

[sallyrae17]

How to get through it? Hmmm. Well, I try to read a book or something to keep my mind off of my nipples. You could also try to listen to music or maybe fall asleep yourself. If you're sleeping, you can't feel it, right? Just kidding. That doesn't work very often. I found that reading was my best attempt at getting through the painful moments. If you think about how much pain you're in, you probably aren't going to have a very good letdown, which is going to cause your babe to suck even harder to get some milk. At least, that's what I assume happens. It was also helpful to explain to my son what was going on. I know that some people don't like to tell their other kids they are pregnant until later in the pregnancy, but once I explained to my son that there wasn't as much milk and it really hurt when he drank milk a certain way, he seemed to try a different approach. I mean, he didn't want to hurt me.

Those are my suggestions, but I would also love to hear some more. I've never made it to the second tri with a nursling, so I have no idea what to expect after 11 weeks or so.

[ainh]

I'm weaning my 35 month old boy.  He nursed a lot in the first week after I got my positive.  I would love to just keep nursing him and did nurse through all of my last pregnancy (and tandemed for awhile too), but he's almost three and my husband was asking for him to wean in the next couple of months.  I had joked that I might wean if I got pregnant again (not expecting to!) and then bam.  The nursing was hurting, plus, I really need some heavy nighttime sleep, which wasn't happening with the nighttime nurse-a-thons.  I hope that the weaning does help him sleep better in the next few months.  I'm going on three years of basically no sleep....  I have experience with nursing through pregnancy though if people have questions...and experience with tandem too if anyone is curious how it is in the beginning.

[~Demeter~]

I'm still nursing my youngest, she just turned 1 on November 14th. I don't foresee weaning anytime soon... I nursed her big sister throughout her pregnancy and tandem nursed for about 8ish months afterward. :) My oldest daughter had a lazy (though efficient) latch, Marah has a beautiful so I'm hoping that she keeps it throughout this pregnancy because I think that was hardest overall for me with tandem nursing.

[Knitting Mama]

I don't know how much longer I can nurse Cecilia like this, and it's making me sick to my stomach to think of stopping. I've been basically dry nursing her for ages now, ever since my supply tanked, and it hasn't been a huge deal-- we've nursed with an SNS since the start anyway, so it was just a matter of more milk in the SNS. It was a little painful before pregnancy, but this is just over the top. My nipples hurt SO BADLY. It's like this horrible lingering soreness that keeps going long past the end of the nursing session. Generally about 15-20 minutes after she's done nursing, the pain starts to subside. It's not always actual "pain," either, sometimes it's more like the way you feel when you hear nails on the chalkboard. It makes my toes curl. I find myself clenching and bracing myself before each session, and that can't be helping.

I don't WANT to wean her now. I don't want her to not have the comfort and nutrition she gets from the SNS. She still is a light eater and I am afraid that she'll have growth problems without the calories and nutrients from the formula she gets every day. And she's still under two and I really wanted to make it at least until 2, though I guess that's sort of a nebulous thing. 

Selfishly, I also don't want to lose my easy way of getting her to go to sleep. I have no idea how I will get her to sleep if we don't nurse. She has always nursed to sleep. She'll fall asleep in the car, too, but I don't want to make that a habit so that she always needs to be driven around to fall asleep, KWIM?

I just don't know what to do. I had hoped and hoped that I would be able to nurse fine throughout pregnancy, and it's devastating that it's becoming so hard.

[sallyrae17]

Oh Cecilia's Mama, that's just awful. I know that feeling that you are describing and it's absolutely horrible. With my last pregnancy, I would seriously grit my teeth and try to breathe through each nursing session. My son was getting milk, but he would keep trying after it ran out and I just wanted to scream. It was hard for both of us. He wanted milk and I wanted to tear my hair out. So far this time around it hasn't hurt as badly..but I'm only 4 1/2 weeks. I can't remember when it started to hurt so badly the last time.

My advice: try to start a different bedtime routine. Try taking a bath and reading a couple of books and just snuggling until she falls asleep. When I started to nightwean my son, he actually went nights without nursing before bed. It was absolutely crazy! I was really honest with him, though. I told him that my body was trying to grow the baby and that it made me not have as much milk. He seemed to understand that. I also explained that it hurt sometimes and that really got his attention. He's way too sensitive when it comes to things hurting me. He actually starts screaming and crying if I sound like I'm going to throw up. Anyway, you don't have to stop nursing immediately, just stop offering and try to do other things aside from nursing. Also, make sure that Cecilia eats enough before bed. I know that my son was actually hungry in the middle of the night (even at the age of 2 - he has a super fast metabolism), so we would have a good snack right before bed. I just tried to limit liquids so I wasn't putting him on the toilet 4 times throughout the night. I don't know if your daughter is out of diapers yet (I can't remember exactly how old she is at the moment), but that adds a completely different twist. :)

I wish you luck and really hope that you find a solution that isn't too painful on either of you. I have confidence that you will! Mamas are, if anything, incredibly creative in moments of stress!

[Knitting Mama]

She's 20 months and not out of diapers, so that's not a huge worry. She doesn't nurse at night anymore; she's been nightweaned since she was like 10 months old (not on purpose either, she did it herself). But I am going to think out a new nighttime routine and see if I can start disassociating nursing from going to sleep for her. 

[marinak1977]

I'm just starting this journey, but I'm nursing my almost 2 year old. He is night weaned but nurses about 5 times a day. So far it's ok, so I'm going to go forward and see where we end up.
Cecilia's Mom, I'm sorry it's so painful for you. :

[texasfarmom]

Well I've decided night weaning must begin tonight. I can't do the all night nursing every 20-30 minutes any longer. I don't sleep while she nurses and I'm not getting much sleep at all. Today I'm such an exhausted mess I can hardly take care of myself and my family. I hope that it goes well, but I don't think it will. I want it to be as loving and gentle as possible. DD is 17 months and has always coslept with us. We all go to bed together around 10. The best thing we know to do is put DH and DD in another bed, in another room. I'll nurse her to sleep then move back to the master bedroom. DH will console her through the night until the sun comes up around 7. Then I'll nurse her and hope she goes back to sleep for a while.

Any comments or advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm looking forward to getting more sleep but really dreading the work and tears it will take to night wean. It must be done though-for me!