[hottmama]

Ughh! I am 12 weeks pregnant and nursing my 28.5 month old son has become unbearable!!! My milk dried up completely a couple of weeks ago, yet he still wants to nurse about every 15 minutes (which is normal for him). It hurts like nothing you would believe. I do not want to force him to wean as I am sure it would be traumatic for him at this point and I want to let him self wean. I almost cry when he latches on, and on top of that, my abdomen is feeling tender these days and it's uncomfortable to have him straddle my lap which is how he likes to sit and nurse.
Is this going to get better? Am I going to suffer like this for 6 more months? Help!

 

[wendy1221]

It got better for me. I thought my milk had dried up in the 1st trimester as well, but it had really just dropped. ANd I started taking milk thistle for my liver and I suddenly had normal amounts of milk again! But then it completely dried up/turned to colostrum around 20-22 weeks.

Also ds quit wanting to nurse so much when he finally realized it wasn't making more milk. Nursing more often always worked in the past to increase supply. He'll figure out soon that it's gone and nursing all the time isn't helping.
I also was more irritated w/ nursing then than I am now. I am comfortable w/ it again, although I get really irritated if he wants to comfort nurse for long periods.

It will get better!

 

[BoobyMamma]

What pp said - I am 24wks pregnant and nursing a three year old - 1st trimester I was miserable nursing but it has gotten easier - there are times when it is fine and others when I can't tolerate it. Hang in there!

 

[jee'smom]

i HATED nursing during pg. but i felt that my dd was too young to wean (only 16 mo). so i did it anyway. i limited the amt. of times and for how long she nursed for, saying mommy's nursies have "owies... they hurt when you nurse for too long". it took some time for her to understand, but eventually she got it. she started nursing less and less anyway, b/c i completely lost my milk. she dry nursed for the duration of the pg. and i tandem nursed, which by the way, the icky feelings started going away at that point. she just weaned herself at 29 mo. (she never cared for the fact that i had milk coming out of my breasts after the baby was born. she nursed anyway for 5 mo. b/c she loved nursing so much, but eventually she just said "i don't like that" when she saw some dripping out one day, and that was it!)
i got through the nursing sessions by counting or taking a great book out of the library or taping a show i really wanted to see and then watching or reading them only when nursing. that way, no matter how horrible it felt, i wanted to continue (kindof) just so i could read, etc.
good luck!

 

[mama24-7]

I am currently nursing my almost 3 y.o. and am due any day w/ her brother or sister. I thought to take a pregnancy test b/c the nursing hurt so bad. Unfortunately, my breasts are still sore, while not as much as before.

I started in the beginning of the pregnancy only nursing at home and have slowly weaned her down to 1-3 times a day (nightweaning then weaning from nursing to sleep at bed time). When I nightweaned her, I told her that my breasts needed rest to make more milk. Luckily, she's never asked when they'll have enough rest b/c I haven't had milk since Thanksgiving.

My advice would be to take it one day at a time. Do the best you can and you'll both be okay. Can you nurse lieing down?

Good luck.
Sus

 

[nfpmom]

I am 38 weeks pregnant and still nursing DS. My milk dried up by 20 weeks and he cut himself down to nursing only a couple of times a day. I did night-wean him about 2 months into my pgcy so that was a huge drop in nursing just there.
I have to say that the last month of so has been by far the "miserablest" part of nursing during pgcy (which I have totally disliked to be honest) it realllllly hurts. Like shards of glass.... I have to be very particular and if the latch is not "just so" I tell DS to let go and try to get him latched on better.
All in all, yup, for me nursing during pregnancy is an annoying painful drudge that I do for DS' sake-

 

[hottmama]

So basically, it's probably gonna keep sucking. Yikes! Oh well, I can''t wait to tandem nurse, I'm sure it will be so much better and cute.
There is NO WAY I could get him down to 3 times a day, he would go insane. He spends several hours a day nursing.
It is better when i have a movie to watch, maybe I will just watch every movie I've ever wanted to watch over the next 6 months!
I cannot nurse lying down- I can, but I hate it. It is much more comfortable to nurse sitting up, for some reason. When he was a baby the side-lying position was the best, but since we night-weaned, I think I've grown to abhor the nursing to sleep and nursing half-awake in the AM so much that the whole position is uncomfortable.
Hopefully it'll get easier when my colostrum comes in, as it didn't start hurting like this until my milk vanished.

 

[MMP]

Can anyone offer suggestions to increase supply? My baby is only 11 months and I just found out I am pregnant. Don't know what to offer him to make up for the massive drop in my milk..I feel so bad for him, I wouldn't mind as much if I knew he didn't need it nutritionally.

The posts have been helpful for me seeing both sides. Thank you!

 

[hottmama]

MMP- There's a product called Mother's Milk Two that is made for pregnant nursing moms. Also, oatmeal and lots of water might help- you should be drinking 80+ oz. a day of water. No matter what you do, though, some people's milk supplies are affected during pregnancy and nothing helps to get their full supply back. If you do have to supplement, do you know of anyone who can donate breastmilk to you (to use with an SNS, preferably)? It'd be so sad for a boobie baby to have to get formula this late in the game.

 

[MMP]

I do have some milk frozen I can use and am hoping to get past the year mark without supplementing. I might start adding lots of yogurt for the calcium to his diet, he does love solids, maybe I can just stuff him full and then he won't want to nurse as long

. He can throw down a banana, some carrots, a few crackers no problem. He has even eaten a whole ice cream cone on a special occasions (my fist never had it that good..slacking on my second..my third will have ice cream by 5 months).

I will add more oatmeal, I have it often already, I do have to watch the water thing, its so hard to drink that much when you barely get a chance to sit. The Mothers Milk two is safe? must be different from regular mothers milk tea??

Thanks so much, I am hoping to make it work. Its all my husbands fault...I do blame him

I am happy, wanted a big family, never imagined being pregnant so close together. To top it off, my three year old has a new breast obsession, tried nursing when the baby was born, but quickly lost interest (he was weaned about 2). Now for some reason, he is always thinking about boobs. In fact, he pulled the tube tops down on three models at a department store and exposed them...eek. The joys of boys...

MMP

 

[MMP]

Mannaquins..not flesh and blood models. Thank goodness....

 

[ZeldasMom]

nak.

I am 26 weeks. Milk has turned to colostrum. Now 20 mo DS wants to nurse much longer (an hour to an hour and a half). This has been going on for some time (a few months at least). Had to put limits on the nursing relationship to allow it to continue at all. Have worked on finding other things to soothe him. DP has been really great about helping with this. One thing we did was make the dog's fleece blanket DS's blanket (he loves the dog--got another one for the dog). DP also rocks/reads to him more in the evening.

Hang in there. Experiment with different strategies to make this rough patch tolerable. It will get better!