Any advice for nursing through pregnancy?

[stacey2061]

i'm in so much pain and my supply is already dropping...i'd love to hear any tips you have. pain management, anything...thanks!

[tuansprincess]

read "adventures in tandem nursing" by hillary flowers. there is some great info in it from other mommas about pain while tandeming through preg, etc. It really helped me and I think that mine are about the same ages as yours will be.

[AccidentaLactivist]

Hi Stacy--

I don't know if you're in touch with a local La Leche League group, but they're very good at these kinds of questions. The link below lists all of the groups in BC with web info.

http://groups.lllc.ca/groups.php?prov=BC

Good Luck!

Marie

[Bellejar]

good luck

I didn't make it through pregnancy the first time, so I am a bad source of help. I also didn't want to tandem nurse so I thought it was okay when my daughter gave up about 6 months into my pregnancy. My nipples were so sensitive at that point, I felt like it was a godsend.

[timneh_mom]

I second the book!! I'm at the end of my pregnancy now and DS has nursed straight through it. Fortunately I did not have much nipple pain, it seemed to come and go, but my supply did really suffer. DS was about 18 months old when I got pregnant and he nightweaned himself right around that time. Some moms find it helpful to use labor pain management techniques to get through the nipple pain, and others find it helpful to teach their children to accept a limit on nursing (getting through a song, counting to 10, abc's, whatever you decide).

I don't think there is anything you can do about the supply drop, the usual herbs and other things moms can do for supply really won't work well in pregnancy. I found that increased water in take and oatmeal helped temporarily but my milk was pretty much gone by about 12-14 weeks. Fortunately, I started getting colostrum in around 17-18 weeks and have had it since. DS has gone from nursing about 7 times a day when I got pregnant down to once, and occasionally, twice per day - but when he figures out I have milk again once the baby is born, I have a feeling he will want to nurse more. I really don't think he was ready to give it up when I got pregnant. So I am really glad he made it through. Since I am almost due, I think we'll make it through to the end now.

Best wishes to you!

[Mama Meesh]

Adventures in Tandem Nursing - a must read! This WAS my support system as I nursed through my pregnancy and now juggle two nurslings. Invaluable information, non-judgmental, thorough - love this book! If you want to wean, it tells you how. If you don't want to wean, it tells you how to make it through the rough patches. It anticipates problems, emotions, all of it. I highly, highly recommend it!