Nursing pregnant mamas support thread - Page 9

[SaraBravo]

can i do this?

im only 9 weeks pg but when dd (5 mo) nurses im starting to feel sore. some times its really bad but not often. my nipples are starting to become sensitive. last time they were extreamly sensitive until my 3rd trimester. i don't know how im going to deal with nursing if they get as sore as they were last time. im not having any problems with my supply yet thank god! im just scared that as they get more sensitive and she starts to get teeth i won't be able to keep nursing.

[mommajb]

Originally Posted by NoNicChic

I'm 19 weeks pregnant and still nursing my almost two-year old. And it's agony. My husband can't bear that I'm in such pain, it feels almost as bad as when I had thrush, and he really wants me to wean. She nurses at naptime and bedtime, so good luck trying to get her to quit! I tried putting her down for her nap without nursing today but it was a disaster. Tonight I nursed her before bed on both sides, but briefly. It is especially unbearable on my left side.

Will this pass? Can I expect it to still hurt this much when the new baby comes? Because I just can't see myself able to meet the nursing demands of newborn when my nipples are hurting this much! I really want to continue nursing my daughter, but the pain is just so excruciating! Will it get better before I give birth?!?!

I think for many women the pain and irritation waxes and wanes during pregnancy. After delivery it should be much better assuming both nurslings have a nice latches and there are no other issues. For me I could feel the difference between the two but neither one hurt.

I hope you are feeling better soon.

[flowers]

I am 13 weeks nursing my 2.5 year old. Latch on is very painful but then it becomes more tolerable. However, I don't think I have much milk and I find the sensation of dry nursing to be a bit uncomfortable while he could just go on and on. He used to only nurse 2x daily but now he asks all day.

In other words, I feel for you mama!

Maybe this is you saying you are ready to wean? I believe there is a fine balance between child-led and mother-led weaning. Both parties are involved and both parties at times move forward or backwards respecting the other.

I have always nursed ds to sleep, but I started nannying and laying down with him for naptime became too difficult. It took some time but I just started doing different things around naptime....taking a walk in the stroller...taking a drive in the car...letting him watch a video.... and eventually he started taking naps on his own. I am not sure what kind of a napper your dd is, but ds has never taken a huge nap. As long as he catches at least 30 minutes he is good to go. I just had to stop looking at nap as him falling asleep in a bed in a room at a specific time. If they are tired enough they will just fall asleep. This may take a few days (or weeks) of craziness though.

Keep us updated on what you decide.

[indiemamma]

Feeling bad again...

... I'm at 13 weeks now and nursing 19mo Jonathan. Yesterday afternoon, I was in the middle of studying (I have finals this week) and it was nap time. I often nurse while reading my assignments, going over notes, etc, and Jonathan is used to it, I think. So when he asked for "ni-night milk", I propped my book up on a pillow and lay him in my lap and started nursing. But he started CHEWING on my nipple with his razor sharp teeth. I broke latch three times, told him he needs to be nice and not use his teeth, which will usually remind him to change to the "right" latch, but he wouldn't stop!! I finally stopped and asked if he wanted some water and he said "no, milk!" but I was way too bruised at that point to bf again. So I gave him (gasp!) cow's milk in a bottle and rocked him to sleep (I just donated all my EBM and had none for him!). I feel really bad about it, but what would you have done??

Then to make it "all better", he slept snuggled next to me last night and nursed "nice" with no problems. Maybe I shouldn't try to to multi-task anymore???

[flowers]

Come on mama, no guilt! You did the best with what you had...bruised nipples and no back up milk. I wouldn't sweat it.

Ds is a little older, 29 months, but when he does that I give him a chance or two and then say, no way and put my shirt down and tell him I will not nurse him if he is going to hurt me. Usually he smiles a dirty rascal smile and runs away so he knows....you know? I made that policy pretty early into toddlerhood....hurt mama...no nursies.

[richella]

One thing we started doing is offering dd soy milk every night before bed. She has learned over the months that nursing doesn't give much milk, she mostly does it for comfort, so esp. if she is hungry she will drink the soy milk and not need so much nursing. I was surprised how fast she learned to substitute food for mama milk once I began working with her, explaining that I was sore and it wasn't her fault in any way, but that I had to limit how much she nurses. She would go on for 30 min. if I let her, I try really hard to give her at least 10. I don't usually even have to delatch her anymore, I just say, "I'm pretty sore, I'm going to have to stop you." Then she pulls off on her own and says, "I want to cuddle!" Or she has me sing her a lullaby (50 times).

Still, there are times when the pain is awful, and I start to feel resentful that I have to go through this. I hold on as long as I can and then make her stop. If I feel that way, she will certainly know it and it does not help her. She has really adjusted to this style of nursing.

One other thing -- when there is little or no milk, she definitely nurses differently, and that can make the pain worse. The flip side is that when she is working so hard to get anything, she will not fall asleep anyway, so I think that's part of the reason she has accepted cuddling instead of nursing to sleep.

[willow659]

Sometimes the latch on really hurts, especially when my dd grinds her teeth. A lot of times it's not bad, different, but not bad. I've always wanted to tandem so I'm going to hang in there. I don't know exactly how far along I am (no af). My dd is 12 months.

[Eaglevoice]

I'll be tandeming, too. I had a lot of pain with latch on earlier in my pregnancy. It was hard to stick it out. Now, I've just got a little bit of colostrum and it seems like dd isn't swallowing much. But she's all about nursing again. So I am definitely preparing myself for tandeming. Kinda scary thought sometimes. Especially when I hear about how the older child will regress a bit once the new baby comes. I can't imagine nursing two all day long, I'm afraid of feeling "touched out".

[kirk_heidi]

I am still nursing my 17 month twins and we just found out we are expecting another one around December 2nd. So far I don't have any problems but I am just barely pregnant so we shall wait and see what happens.

[sunnymw]

I have a 5.5mo DS who still nurses all the time and hasn't received anything else...

Does anyone know, if my milk supply drops, when would water or goat's milk be okay, and how much? Or would I have to supplement with formula, and how much? He has a cow's milk allergy/intolerance so would goat's milk not work at all?

He has refused formula in the past (tried once) so I don't know if he'll take it... he's only had a bottle once or twice of EBM, and that was before he was a month old...

I'm still not sure if I am pg (haven't missed my next period yet), but I'm feeling the hunger, some nausea, exhausted, sorer nipples, and a slight drop in supply esp. at night. Basically the same as when I have AF.

Thanks
Sunny & BoobieBoo

[soybeansmama]

So grateful for this thread!

I am 22 weeks pg and I did not expect to have such a hard time bf my 3 year old son. I fell apart at the last LLL meeting that I went to because I just started talking about how resentful and angry I feel when he nurses and it has really taken me by suprise. I was balling like a baby in front of 15 women who were staring at me like "poor crazy hormonal lady"

I am still stuggling with the discomfort and my son's whiney begging lately. We have limited nursing to just a couple minutes on each side, but like other pp's have expressed one side hurts soooo much more than the other. I feel bad for him that he has to deal with me, But I keep reminding him that the baby will bring the milk back and that he can have as much nursing as he wants when that time comes. It seems like so far off!

Hugs to all the mamas in the same boat. I have to keep reminding myself that this is just a blink of the eye in the bigger scheme of things...

[richella]

Jessica, I'm glad you got the opportunity to express your feelings, it can make such a huge difference. Sometimes I feel it is such a huge undertaking to prioritize everyone's needs, I wonder if I can possibly do it with 2 children, 1 is plenty of a challenge! Then I figure, well, so many other people do it okay, surely I won't be so much worse than they are!

[sunnymw]

bumping because a mama is about to need it


Hope you found it north_of_60

[timneh_mom]

I wanted to bump this even though I'm not pregnant anymore. I've been wanting, and asking for a pregnant/tandem nursing subforum for a while...

[thewaggonerfamily]

I'm sad, but in a bittersweet way.... my baby (3 years old) just weaned herself. I have nursed through pregnancy twice and have never had anyone wean themself while I was pregnant and my nurslings usually wean around 4 or so. This is the first time I've had my breasts to myself in 14 years. (Well I guess I have to share with hubby ) When I told hubby today that I thought she had weaned (Its been 5 days) I started bawling. She hasn't slept with me since then either. <sigh> Even though I know this is a good thing, I'm just so sad. Well, I just wanted to share with some ladies who would care and understand. Thanks for listening.

[timneh_mom]

Katie, I know I will be sad when my babies wean... I would have been terribly sad if my son had weaned while I was pregnant! 14 years of continuous nursing... that's so wonderful!! It's been said that when a child weans, you move on to a different phase of your relationship with them... I hope yours blossoms into something very special!!

[Lohagrace]

Originally Posted by soybeansmama

I am 22 weeks pg and I did not expect to have such a hard time bf my 3 year old son. I fell apart at the last LLL meeting that I went to because I just started talking about how resentful and angry I feel when he nurses and it has really taken me by suprise. I was balling like a baby in front of 15 women who were staring at me like "poor crazy hormonal lady"

I am still stuggling with the discomfort and my son's whiney begging lately. We have limited nursing to just a couple minutes on each side, but like other pp's have expressed one side hurts soooo much more than the other. I feel bad for him that he has to deal with me, But I keep reminding him that the baby will bring the milk back and that he can have as much nursing as he wants when that time comes. It seems like so far off!

Hugs to all the mamas in the same boat. I have to keep reminding myself that this is just a blink of the eye in the bigger scheme of things...

i feel the same way a lot when nursing dd who is about 2.5 months younger than your ds. it was really bad when i was pg. its better now, but i still have those feelings sometimes. i think its nature's way of letting the baby get "more" than the toddler--i often get the creepy-crawlies when she nurses. its different when you are nursing an older child while pg (i mean older than 2). i think it does make you feel resentful some of the time. i try to just ignore the feelings...sometimes i say "you need to stop nursing now. its hurting." i don't tell her my real feelings--you need to stop nursing now, its creeping me out!! its better for me to limit/cut short nursing than to wean her, and i had to do those things to remain sane. now that ds is older (4 mo) those feelings are better.

[Eaglevoice]

Originally Posted by Lohagrace

i feel the same way a lot when nursing dd who is about 2.5 months younger than your ds. it was really bad when i was pg. its better now, but i still have those feelings sometimes. i think its nature's way of letting the baby get "more" than the toddler--i often get the creepy-crawlies when she nurses. its different when you are nursing an older child while pg (i mean older than 2). i think it does make you feel resentful some of the time. i try to just ignore the feelings...sometimes i say "you need to stop nursing now. its hurting." i don't tell her my real feelings--you need to stop nursing now, its creeping me out!! its better for me to limit/cut short nursing than to wean her, and i had to do those things to remain sane. now that ds is older (4 mo) those feelings are better.

Wow, I'm glad you wrote about the creepy crawlies. I've been getting that too. I was nursing her today and I was trying to remember what if felt like to enjoy nursing. I couldn't figure out why I was so annoyed with it these days. Maybe once the milk comes back in and I've got tandeming all figured out I'll enjoy it again.

[wwisdomskr]

My dd2 is 16.5 months and I'm 8 weeks pregnant with #3. I've always supported tandem nursing, but never imagined that I would find myself doing it! lol. My dd1 and I weaned at a little over 3.5 years and she wanted to try nursing a few times after her sister was born...but that's it.

My nipples are tender and dd2 likes to nibble on food and sip breastmilk. That hurts! The other thing is that I think I'm getting hyperemesis again, as I had with both previous pregnancies, and having a toddler climb all over me during acrobatic nursing is rough!

We're going to tough it out though. Everyone keeps asking if we're going to wean, but, especially with me being so sick, I don't know how I would meet dd2's emotional needs without nursing. KWIM?

Ugh. The only thing I'm worried about is what to do if I have to go on meds. With dd2, I lost 20 lbs and had to start taking Zofran. I don't think I can take that while breastfeeding.

Gotta run, dd2 is trying to dismantle the blinds!

[Eaglevoice]

I'm getting so close to having this baby. I had some bloody show. I can't believe I made it through the entire pregnancy nursing my dd and now I'm about to embark on the tandem nursing journey!!! Wish me luck, mamas!