nursing while pregnant--no milk, but still nurses--your experiences, please.

[moonlightinvt]

My dd is almost 3 yrs old and I am 14 wks pregnant. She has been complaining for the last two months that there is no milk. Of course, the nursing can get uncomfortable (ok...painful ) but she is pretty good at lessening her suck and latch when I ask.

She is still very much in need of our nursing time together which primarily revolves around sleeping times (and during) and maybe twice during the day (and of course, when ill). I wish to continue CLW and don't mind if she tandem nurses.

My questions...

How has your milk changed through your pregancy...at what point did you start to produce it again...was it hard to tolerate the soreness and did that go away once milk came back...how did the your child transition to sharing the milk with the new babe?

I'm sure there are more questions I don't even know to ask yet. Your experiences and advice are greatly appreciated.

[galadriel]

I've been nursing pregnant for 6.5 months now; dd (22 months) has never slowed down. I think I was finally really almost dry (just a tiny trickle) for just 2-4 weeks, then turned to clear colostrum 2-3 weeks ago, now whiteish stuff is dripping down her cheek. I haven't had much soreness, but a bit touched out now and then. That's been my experience!

[eilonwy]

My milk diminished steadily through my pregnancy until there was nothing significant left; my son kept right on nursing. Emotionally, his nursing needs were met but he wasn't physically mature enough to do without breastmilk when my milk dried up. He had a difficult time digesting food and got several colds, which were longer and much worse than when I had milk. He also caught the measles! :

Anyway, I didn't start to experience pain until he started biting me in an effort to get more milk out. He also developed a really awful latch for a while (we started giving him bottles of Pediasure when he started to lose weight) and that was painful, but we were able to correct that.

My milk came back three days after my daughter was born, and the two of them tandem nursed for the first time that day. BeanBean was mad at me (he had to sleep with grandma while I was in the hospital; he loves her, but she's not mamma and dadda) but when he realized that there was milk again, he was thrilled to nurse. He also really wanted to be close to his sister; he loved her to bits right from the start! Nursing together was a great way for them to connect. He would try to put my nipple into her mouth, and they still hold hands whenever they nurse together (not often these days, but occasionally),

[Mom2baldie]

My milk supply decreased until by the early 2nd trimester there was nothing really left. My daughter continued to nurse for comfort many times a day and a few at night also, it didnt bother her that she wasnt getting any milk.

The only way I knew to deal with the soreness (which in my case is caused by a bad latch!) was to shorten the nursing sessions and otherwise just deal with it. My baby is 3.5 months old now and its still hard to nurse my 3 year old because of her latch! One good thing about nursing through pregnancy though is that I didnt have any soreness for the 1st week when the baby was beginning to nurse since I had already been doing it for so long.

I never really noticed any colostrum before my baby was born and Paityn never mentioned anything until my milk came in on the 2nd or 3rd day. Then she was very excited and would say "Milk! Milk!" in between sips.

As far as sharing with the baby, Paityn did great. We really tried to prepare her by talking to her about it a LOT, I showed her the pics in Adventures In Tandem Nursing of tander nursers, she watched tons of videos with births and babies nursing.........

When the baby was born, Paityn was there and it was very natural when they 1st nursed together. We were on my bed resting afterward and the baby was on one side trying to nurse with Paityn watching, then she began to on the other side. It was a very easy transition for us.

[spirit4ever]

My ds nursed through my whole pregnancy, my milk dried completely up by my 2nd month and my clostrum came in during my last month. It was pretty much painful throughout the whole pregnancy, I just shortened the feedings. Ds #2 is now eleven days old and I've been tandem nursing, it deffinately has helped transition Isaac to the new baby, I have to still shorten his feedings though, I find his suck to be strong and he asks to nurse more than the baby!! Which is driving me a little bonkers!
Good luck!

[Mama2ABCD]

my third preg i had low to no supply issues. i had a great nursing experience thru my 2nd preg so i was suprised at how difficult it was this last time, though i understood why. my boys hung in there. as i learned ways thru the preg to lesson the pain (drinking lots of water at night so that the morning nursings would not hurt because i could not drink in the morning without puking). my oldest would tell me if there was milk or not. after the 2nd half of the preg, he would let me know if i had milk. which was the colostrum because he said it tasted different. but, he always let me know if he got some milk or not.
after the baby was born there was plenty of milk and any discomfort disappeared. and actually more and more of the discomfort disappeared the farther i got into my pregnancy.
so hang in there, and each day will get better and better. and drink extra water because your body really needs it and that seems to be the cause of soreness if you don't get enough (at least for me)
congrats on your pregnancy!

[DaryLLL]

When my nursing dd was almost 3 yo I got pg with her brother. My nipples were excruciatingly sore througout the pregnancy. My dd hated for me to set limits however. I was willing to nurse twice a day for 20 mins each time. More than that was unbearable. She was/is highly spirited and had very black and white viewpont at that time. She was literally going insane when I tried to limit her nursing to twice a day. She wanted 4-8x/day. She wanted to decide how long she would nurse--whether 10 seconds or 45 minutes.

We struggled with this issue for months.

Finally, we were in a stand-off. For her peace of mind, and my comfort, and to protect our closeness and mutual respect, I made the difficult decision to lead in the weaning process.

She adapted after a tiny fuss for 2 days and never looked back. She was happier and started sleeping through the night (which naturally made a big difference for my pregnant tired self). She was much happier with books and snuggles at bedtime than an unfulfilling nurse, and more refused requests all night long.

She did not ask to resume bfing after her brother was born, altho I would have been willing. She had just forgotten all about it.

If your child is more adaptable/laid back than mine, and your nipple soreness decreases, you may be able to continue the bfing relationship. I think my situation is unusual (extremely sore nipples throughout pregnancy and highly spirited child).

[mamamoo]

I have nursed through three pregnancies, my first time my ds was only 7 months old, and I never lost my milk, he was exclusively bfd until almost a year, my 2nd time I lost my milk around the fourth month, and my dd nursed right through(she was about 3.5)...she told me there was no milk, but then my colostrum came in during about my 8th month, and she was happier. With my last pregnancy there was a definate change in the milk almost immediately, ds would say yucky, and then keep nursing. :LOL But I lost my milk around 13-14 weeks, and he continued to nurse. I had EXTREMELY sore nipples the last time around throughout my pregnancy, and did put some limits, but the more I limited the more he insisted, and when I backed off the limiting he evened out his requests. It is definately possible to continue nursing through a pregnancy, even with pain...use your labour techniques if it gets really bad, but mostly it will probably be ok. And really their nursing time is so short in the grand scheme of things, I would hate to end it prematurely. Anyway...my colostrum came in at about 7 months with a vengence, I had so much I could actually squirt it. :LOL Sam was very happy and was adamant that it was not milk, but juice. LOL When my milk came in a couple of days after Violet was born he was in heaven! He gained 5 pounds in a matter of a couple of weeks and is still nursing like fiend(in a good way). LOL

Good luck mama, it can be challenging, but most things that are worth doing are.

[carrietorgc]

I'm 11 wks pregnant and have hardly any milk left. unfortunately i think my 19 mo old dd is going to wean - she shows less and less interest. i offer all the time too. she will ask to nurse, but won't actually - i think she wants to make sure she still can. the pain has gone away by now, i just wish the milk hadn't as well!

[moonlightinvt]

Thank you all very much for your responses and sharing your experiences. This has made it easier to understand what may happen with my milk supply and how to approach the "no milk right now" issue with my daughter.

We have worked on a way to ease the discomfort when she first latches and sometimes, at night especially, she just can't nurse. I have told her that when the baby is born that there is something else to look forward to--drinking "milkshake" with the baby. She smiles at that.