Risks of BFing while pregnant

[Messing]

Hi,

I've just found out I'm pregnant with DC2 (early days still - around 6 weeks) and am still BF-ing DC1 (9 months).

Can anyone advise me of what's likely to happen during pregnancy - will my milk stop/change taste at some point? Is there a higher risk of miscarriage if I continue BF? (I am at quite a high risk of m/c anyway due to age and various other things).

I was hoping to get to at least a year with BFing DC1, so that would take me to 18 weeks pregnant. Are the risks present in the first/second trimester or only later on?

Sorry for the barrage of questions but I'm worried about any harm to my unborn child. I would like to continue feeding DC1 but wouldn't take a risk with harming DC2 if that was involved.

TIA

[Shallishanti]

no risks afaik

not uncommon for women to bf 1st and 2nd dc together. I have heard the taste may change but not that its a problem

[TruthSweet]

I believe that if you have been put on complete pelvic rest (i.e.no intercourse/orgasms) you should be alright but I would talk it through with a trained BFC so try giving NCT/LLL/ABM/BfN a call and talking through your options.

FWIW I have bf through one pg and tandem nursed through another (DD1 self weaned when I was 8m pg with DD3). I have no milk between week 14-24/26 when colostrum returns - never stopped the DDs feeding. Everyone is different though and some women have a good milk supply through out their pgs.

[EauRouge]

No serious risks- sometimes people say about the oxytocin released when BF can cause uterine contractions but so does sex. It's worth mentioning this to your MW if you are high risk but if you've not been told to abstain from sex then it's probably not risky to BF either.

I'm 25 weeks pregnant and BF DD (I told a new MW about it yesterday and I thought she was going to get the pom-poms out she was so pleased!) and I've found that this book answered all my questions and had some useful tips from tandem feeding mums.

Also take a look on Kellymom, there's lots of good info on there. I also started going to a LLL group which has been brilliant and supportive.

I've not noticed any changes really, my nipples are a little bit tender but I don't think my supply's changed- I've had no complaints anyway!