Experienced Moms: Pregnant mama nursing 18 month old - need advice!

[Jewels*]

Hello experienced mamas,

I'm in need of some help / advice.  I'm 9 weeks pg and nursing my 18 mo DD like a champ (5 ++ times per day and 1-4 times at night) DD eats a lot of solids too.  I'm hoping to tandem nurse if that works out for us.  I hadn't really planned this PG; and now that I am pg I feel very sad about how it will impact my BF relationship with DD.  I had planned on 100% child-led weaning.

I'm looking for advice on making sure that I *can* tandem nurse... mostly b/c I know that weaning is not the right thing for my DD now or in the near future.  Does anyone have any advice? Is there anything I should be doing / not doing? I hear so many people say "Oh she self-weaned during pg" I don't want that!!

People are saying that I should start to introduce cow's milk into her diet, she currently only drinks water from a cup, my gut tells me that if I do that it will replace breast milk and we'll go down a terrible cycle of no demand / no supply... I don't know - I've never know anyone who has tandem nursed or even heard of it before becoming a breastfeeding mother... ack!

Sorry if this post is all over the place!

[CStone1]

In the same boat you are. I read a book recently called Mothering your Nursing Toddler by Norma Jane Bumgarner and there was some good information about breastfeeding while pregnant and tandem nursing. I am about 7 weeks along and nursing my 21 month old who still nurses like a champ. I am just going with my gut which says that neither of us are ready to wean yet. I've read that the composition of the milk changes and so does the flavor and some toddlers my not like the taste anymore but many do not mind. Also most woman experience a drop in their supply around the 2nd trimester and may loose there supply all together. I've also read of toddlers who continued to nurse regularly despite the fact that the mother had almost no milk (nursing is so much more than just nutrition). The main things to keep in mind are to make sure you are getting enough rest and eating enough food - most things I have been reading say to eat as if you are carrying twins. So I would say, and this is what I am doing myself is to just go with your gut feeling and if it becomes too taxing for you consider cutting some feedings out, but if it is working and you feel good about it then keep going. Some toddlers also may cut back while you are pregnant but regain an interest once the baby comes and your milk comes in. Also if your toddler loves nursing and does not show signs of loosing interest its unlikely that replacing a couple feedings with something else would cause her to wean. I give my son coconut or almond milk in a sippy cup from time to time and he hasn't lost any interest in nursing and I've been doing that for a while.

[Carriebird]

I was still BFeeding my 2yr old son when I got pregnant with my daughter.  I had encouraged him to slow down a bit so I could get pregnant.  I wanted to continue to BF him throughout the pregnancy and then in tandem.  I managed for the first six months of pregnancy and then my nipples started to hurt while feeding him.  I had enough to deal with (nausea) so weaned him off, bribing him with favorite foods.  I figured I would let him back on after the baby was born.  Unfortunately, he wasn't interested then.  He'd gone four months without and I couldn't get him to even try.  Until he saw a friend of mine nursing her son the same age as him (3yrs old by then) and he asked if he could try.  He then nursed in tandem with my daughter which was pretty cute - they would look at each other and smile and giggle a lot.  He still didn't very often and then not at all after a few months.  I was rather surprised that he still knew how to latch on... and at least managed to talk him into it when he was sick a couple of times. 

I don't plan on getting pregnant again... so I hope to breastfeed my daughter for as long as she wants without interruption.  She is the same age now that my son was when he stopped.  2 1/2 years old.