Breastfeeding and pregnant « Back to Group Discussions

[maggiemay81]

Just wondering if any of you seasoned mommas have tips for bf-ing while pregnant? My babe is 10 months old, still nursing around the clock. The last 3 nights have been awful and she has been very upset. My milk seems to be fine, but could the taste be bothering her? Seems more gassy than usual as well.

[pixelmixel]

Yes - this could be happening, taste could be changing with the increase in hormones. But I think it wouldn't happen right away...seems early! I've read several cases where the nursling weans because they don't like the change in taste.  I'm nursing two little ones still, and so far they don't seem to have noticed anything different... I was pregnant and breastfeeding a year and a half ago, and my toddler never did wean, even though the milk went away for the last half of the pregnancy. That was painful...

[Emmecat]

Hi MaggieMay :)

My DD1 was about 8/9 months old when I got pg with DD2. She was exclusively BF and continued to do so throughout my pregnancy (and for the next 3 years afterwards lol). The first trimester was very painful and I think from memory my hormones must've made her a bit restless. Throughout the rest of the pregnancy my milk certainly started to dry up and by the time 9 months rolled around, she was all but dry nursing (OUCH).  HOWEVER.....at the last moment, the colostrum must've started coming through and she was like a pig in muck LOL. I then proceeded to tandem nurse my 2 daughters for 2 years before gently weaning my older daughter.

Now I am pg with our 3rd child, I am still nursing DD2, but as she is 'only' 2, I'll keep going for a few more months if need be. If I'm honest, I hope she will wean soon once the milk starts changing. So far the taste hasn't bothered her but it's early days still lol

I guess my tips would be to be as responsive as you can to your baby but realise that you are pregnant and that BF is a 2 way relationship and that you both may need to make adjustments and compromises. For instance,I had HG (again) in my second pregnancy so with that and having a very small child to look after, I decided to gently night wean DD1 by 12 months, but BF her on demand during the day. We co-slept a lot of the time and she was happy being comforted by Daddy   I repeated this decision later with DD2...night weaned her at about the same time as I'd already been tandem feeding for a year by then and just needed a break. I continued to BF both childre on demand during the day. I finally weaned DD1 at age 3.5 at the end of last year.

There's no right way or right thing to do. Make the best decision based on how your pregnancy goes, how much energy and time you have and how you are feeling.

All the best x

[fourlittlebirds]

I'm also breastfeeding while pregnant for the first time. DS2 is 22 months and still likes to nurse quite a bit. I've been working on night weaning and he's doing well... only getting up about once a night or waking me up at about 5:00 am. He gets SO mad when I try to limit his nursing. I don't know if he senses the changes or it's just his strong-willed nature. I'm trying to be patient and gentle, but there are moments where I get so frustrated. I think it's the exhaustion and hormones.... I plan on continuing for at least a few more months, but want to help him wean before the baby comes.
So no advice here, as I'm trying to figure this out as go, too. It's nice to see other moms are choosing to breastfeed while pregnant. Most people I know IRL think I'm crazy.

[Emmecat]

LOL Littlebirds....I don't know what it's like to be pregnant and NOT breastfeed!   It's so individual, I can't say I lvoe BF when pg, but then I don't love bf anyway and do it cos its so good for my kids and I can. So it's no skin off my nose really. But yeah, if I'm honest I would say that I don't want to tandem feed again if I can help it. Should be easier this time around- DD2 will be nearly 3, so hardly a baby ;)

[Amila]

This will be my third pregnancy I am nursing through and DD2 is 2.5...she likes to nurse a LOT, but its kinda painful and annoying so I am limiting it.  I tandemed with my first two and can't say I loved it so if she chose to wean by 3 that would be great! :)

[Vaquitita]

This is my 3rd time nursing through a pregnancy, DS is 2.5. The other times I definitely found myself cutting back teh number of times I would nurse, and pregnancy seems to be my main motivator to night wean! Tandem nursing- there are times when it's so sweet and lots of times when it makes me feel crazy. But I plan to do it again, cause it seems to make the older one feel good, they haven't been totally bumped by the new baby. I rarely nurse two together at the same time though.  I can't handle the feelingof double nipple stimulation.

[Sleepymama]

I'm not much help.  I was BFing my son during my last pregnancy with my DD but she's 7 now.  With that pregnancy the milk had been gone for a while before I got pregnant and he was still nursing for comfort, and it was awful.  So painful, and made the nausea worse.  He also stopped the day my daughter was born--ironically he did not want the milk anymore and wouldn't nurse if I had milk.  I was not unhappy about this at all!  Good luck to all of you.

[hapersmion]

I nursed both my boys while pregnant, but they were each 3 at the time, so it isn't really the same.  I've just started getting sore today... You can tell a three-year-old, "Okay, time to be done!", but not a baby.  Sorry I don't have advice, but hopefully your soreness won't last long!  Mine usually only lasts a few weeks.
 

[maggiemay81]

Thanks ladies, the sore nipples are starting to subside and DD seems more content. Maybe a growth spurt. Who knows. It is an adventure. The nausea is what reminds me I am preggers everytime she nurses. Most of my symptoms have subsided otherwise.

I'm wondering how my belly will interfere with nursing/make it interesting in a few months!

[Emmecat]

Originally Posted by maggiemay81 

Thanks ladies, the sore nipples are starting to subside and DD seems more content. Maybe a growth spurt. Who knows. It is an adventure. The nausea is what reminds me I am preggers everytime she nurses. Most of my symptoms have subsided otherwise.

I'm wondering how my belly will interfere with nursing/make it interesting in a few months!

LOL Nursing at 9 months pregnant is interesting alright! Depends how big your bump is but I remember a lot of different positions and contorting to get to a semi comfy possie lol

[mom2son]

Hi, I have a five year old son who just weaned three months ago. I gave birth to my second son a month after first son weaned. Now when ever my five year old see's me nursing my new born, he wants to nurse agaain. I'm not sure if it would be good to allow him to go back to the breast or not. Do you feel he will want to continue, and I'll be tamden nursing, or will the taste of my milk will not be to his liking? He comes into the bedroom while I'm nursing and just sites there and whines about why can't he nurse too. What can I do? Thanks.

Jillian

[hapersmion]

It probably wouldn't hurt to let him try, it might be enough to make him happy, and you don't have to let him do it every time even if he does like it.  It might be different for you because yours weaned more recently, but when I let my four-year-old nurse after about six months weaned, he said it tasted like "warm, bad milk".  :P

Of course, now that he's seven and sees his brother nursing, every now and then he thinks it would be hilarious to try to nurse too.  But I tell him no, he has too many teeth!  :)  He's just being silly anyway.

[SilaMarila]

Huge applause to all of you that are currently pregnant and nursing! My breast hurt SO badly lately that I just can't imagine...

[Emmecat]

Yes, gotta say I am getting a little over it ....although to be fair I think my milk is already drying up   It does really hurt when DD2 BF's, but it feelds more like dry nursing now so maybe it won't take her long to wean. It will be bittersweet though, for sure. :-/

[hapersmion]

Even though I haven't been particularly sore, I just feel icky and don't have a lot of patience for it right now.  So I haven't been offering.  My three-year-old hasn't been particularly interested, either, I'm wondering if my milk is drying up too.  He's still asking to nurse every other day or so, for now.  That's how my first did, too, when he was weaning.  He just had other things to do, and he gradually went longer and longer until he would just ask every couple of weeks.
 

[Ablemec]

Wow.  You mamas all rock for nursing so long and continuing to nurse while pregnant!  I'm still nursing DS at 17 months, and it was really painful for the first few weeks of this pregnancy.  In addition, he wanted to nurse all. the. time.  And he would be absolutely furious when I would try to distract him with something else occasionally.  Then we found out he had an ear infection and his molars were bothering him, so I think he was just extra comfort nursing.  Since the ear infection has gone away and the tooth pain seems to be subsiding, we're back on a more normal schedule, thankfully.  I don't think I could have taken much more of the around the clock nursing.  

I was super pleasantly surprised by my midwifery office's reaction to my nursing.  They're part of a hospital group, supervised by OBs.  I had a great experience the first time around, but there were the occasional few gems that came out of their mouths that really had me scratching my head.  I thought for sure I would get some kind of response to nursing while pregnant.  My cycles are still wonky from nursing, so I wasn't sure when I conceived, and told my midwife that.  She asked for a reminder of how old my son is, and when I told her 17 months, her response was "good for you."  That's it.  I know, my expectations were low, but it's still nice to be surprised.

[Manachu]

My 21 month old is still nursing. She asks for "beebees" several times a day, marathon nurses before  bed, and nurses once or twice a night still. Honestly, I was sort of hoping that she would wean during this pregnancy, but I suspect she won't and I'll end up tandem nursing for a while. I've also been joking that she'll probably be latched on while I'm pushing out this baby :)

I am getting very sore though, especially because she uses the nipple she's not on as a comfort object. It really gets to me at night. I've been trying to keep myself distracted by playing games on my phone while she nurses, but that makes me feel bad for trying to tune her out. I hope the soreness will go away at some point.

[Caitlin0919]

I nursed DD through my last pregnancy and weaned her about 9 months after DS was born and now DS is nursing through this pregnancy, though I'm not sure how it's going to go once my milk supply drops. DD turned 3 during my last pregnancy and wasn't nursing very often so the supply drop didn't really bother her and she just comfort nursed after that. I haven't had any issues with nursing during either pregnancy so far, just sore nipples at the beginning but that hasn't been nearly as bad this time around. DS is only 16 months and nurses a lot more and DD did when I was pregnant with him, plus isn't STTN every night so I'm worried about how that will go. Tandem nursing wasn't very pleasant for me(like I had hoped) which is the reason I ended up weaning DD. I'm not ready for DS to wean, whether on his own or with a push from me but I don't know if I can handle tandem nursing again. I'm just trying to relax and and wait and see.

[Ablemec]

Originally Posted by Manachu 

My 21 month old is still nursing. She asks for "beebees" several times a day, marathon nurses before  bed, and nurses once or twice a night still. Honestly, I was sort of hoping that she would wean during this pregnancy, but I suspect she won't and I'll end up tandem nursing for a while. I've also been joking that she'll probably be latched on while I'm pushing out this baby

I am getting very sore though, especially because she uses the nipple she's not on as a comfort object. It really gets to me at night. I've been trying to keep myself distracted by playing games on my phone while she nurses, but that makes me feel bad for trying to tune her out. I hope the soreness will go away at some point.

I feel you on the using the other nipple as a comfort object. Owie!