How Does Pregnancy Effect Milk Supply?

[Marcimama]

Ok, I may or may not be pregnant. But, I suspect I am and I am usually right (I will test later this week). My nursling is only 9 months old and I really don't want to wean him any time soon. He will only be about 18 months old at the time of birth. What can I expect as far as milk supply goes over the next few months? Could it potentially drop or could I even dry up? What can I do to promote continued nursing? Thanks for the info.

[3girls1boy]

It can definitely drop although I know plenty of moms who have nursed through pregnancy.

[MaryJaneLouise]

Here's info from kellymom. I don't think it's bad at first, though it tends to drop as you go along.

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/tandem/index.html

[rellorba]

I am 5 weeks pregnant and have a 7-1/2 month old. My milk supply has dropped dramatically in the past 2-3 weeks despite frequent nursing. I now am having to supplement b/c my son was losing weight. This doesn't happen for everyone but it happened to me. I didn't even know it was in the realm of possibility so it's quite a surprise.

[pamama]

I've nursed through 2 pregnancies now, though my nurslings were both much older than yours. My milk supply drops to almost nothing really early, like by 8-10 weeks. But I also have hyperemesis with my pgs so I'm not sure how much the dehydration and lack of eating contribute to my milk supply dropping so soon since my morning sickness usually starts by 5 weeks and lasts the whole 9 months. However, desptite my lack of milk both my kids have nursed through both pgs. Ds nursed through my pg and we ended up tandem nursing for 18 months. He was 2 when I got pg (but still nursed all day long since he had feeding/oral issues). He self-weaned at age 4. Dd1 is 3 and nursed all through my last pg. We are tandem nursing again. Dd2 is 5 weeks and dd1 nurses about twice a day. When I was pg dd1 used to tell me she couldn't wait tll the new baby came and brought the milk back!

I do know people who did not see a decrease in supply while pg, though. So I think it's an individual thing.

[Dov'sMom]

My understanding is that over 70% of women experience a significant drop in supply during pregnancy. I got pregnant when DS1 was 5 months old; by the time I was 7 weeks, I noticed him nursing constantly and crying when he came off the breast, which he'd never done before. He absolutely refused formula, but he also dropped from the 75th to the 25th percentile in weight by the time he was 9 months old and started taking bottles regularly. Though he is heavily supplemented, he does still love to nurse, and I'm hoping to get him back to nursing exclusively (well, exclusively as opposed to bottles; he's welcome to drink water from a cup and eat all the solids he wants) when this baby is born (40 weeks tomorrow!).

I know a PP said it might be related to extreme MS, but I never had any MS at all, and I have always drunk at least 80-100 ounces of water a day, so it was definitely not dehydration for me. I'm really excited about being able to nurse DS back to sleep at night without having DH get him a bottle of milk in the middle...