to wonder where my GP and midwife get their information from (re: breastfeeding while pregnant)

[BlueBubblegum]

DD is almost 1years old, still breastfeeding her 3 times a day. I'm just over 3months pregnant (15weeks).

When I went to the GP to get a referral, I told him I'm still breastfeeding and intend to continue throughout the pregnancy and up until she's two if I can manage it. He strongly advised against this, he said my supply would decrease and she wouldnt get enough. So I said I'd supplement her when that does happen and for now I think she's getting enough as she doesnt seem to be complaining, seems as content as ever when she's finished. His reply was well it still wont be good enough for her, you need to stop.

Several reasons why I want to continue for as long as I can, one of them is because DD will not take any milk (formula or expressed) from a bottle or beaker, she can drink upto 3 ounces of water from a beaker but as soon as I pour some milk in there, she wont have any, no matter how hungry she is.

Had an appointment this morning with the midwife to get results back for blood tests (all OK thankfully) and she said very firmly to stop right away from toight, apparently the milk isnt good enough for DD, because it contains pregnancy hormones. I asked if there has been research done to prove that breastfeeding is harmful and she replied 'yes I think so'.

I've done my own research and as far as I can see, its perfectly safe unless there is a history of miscarriage (which thankfully I dont). I know it will get uncomfortable as my pregnancy progresses but ofcourse if its get too much, I wont put any pressure on myself to continue.

So where do they get information from? Is there any research to prove that breastfeeding when pregnant isnt safe?

Just need a bit of reassurance really. I know I will get asked about it the next time I see my midwife.

Oh and just to add, even the dentist said I shouldn't be breastfeeding her, I should have stopped when she was 6 months old, its no good for her teeth (even though she only got her first too tooth at 10 months). Well she's only feeding three times a day for no more than 5 minutes at a time, I doubt thats going to have any last damage on her teeth. Seriosly, I thought health professionals are supposed to be encouraging breastfeeding?

The research cited here seems to suggest that it is not a good thing to be breastfeeding whilst pregnant

www.tripanswers.org/Answer.aspx?qid=2989

well i admit havent heard of this study but all i do know is that we do see and extract teeth of breastfed children on a weekly basis so there definitely is a cariogenic effect from the breastmilk occuring.

should I just try and pop a bit more toothpaste in there when she's nodded off?

Are you a dentist, yummymummy?

otchayaniye :yes what u are doing sounds fine. and yes i am!

yummymummy, sorry.

These breastfed children. How old are they, what else are they eating, and are they having their teeth brushed twice a day?

I was accepted onto the NCT BFC course today My parents were both very surprised that it takes an average of three years to get the diploma and my dad (retired GP) said that he doesn't think there's anything to know about bfing that can't be covered in an afternoon He was only half-joking. I have been fuming about that comment this evening!

thanks for the advice by the way yummy tummy. Apols crap typing and predictive text but am on a tiny iPod things.

Ian deeply deeply anal about teeth (I have perfect lovely gnashers myself and only one filling from too hard brushing) and will change what I'm doing if its best for my daughter.

Well, I suspect the evidence for toddler tooth decay while breastfeeding is anecdotal - not saying it doesn't happen, but I've yet to see a study with decent stats giving the risk rates.

And to add some anecdotal evidence of my own, I fed DS to sleep until he was 2 and his teeth are fine!

yes, that's what I thought the nipple is quite far back in the mouth, and that's why I was asking. I can't see that it really goes anywhere near the front teeth, and if you're cradling them it certainly couldn't pool, maybe the back ones would be bathed in it?

yummytummy- you are misinformed- breastmilk barely touches the front teeth as the nipple goes far back into the mouth and if it is going to touch any tooth it will be the molars but the damage form this is negligable. The damage that you are seeing at the hospital is unlikely to be caused by breastmilk and is much more likely to be from juices and squashes. I think it is very irresponsible to be blaming tooth decay on breastmilk mainly and not on other factors such as toothbrushing and general diet.

My own son who is 22 months has always breastfed to sleep, I brush his teeth twice a day and he has absoloutelty no sign of decay. It is impractical and even dangerous to be suggesting to mothers to apply toothpaste after each feed. I would be worried about the dangers of my child ingesting too much fluoride and brushing teeth after consuming something sugary? That is something I would avoid as the dental enamel will already be softened and brushing would just brush this away.

To be honest, I don't think my daughter actually drinks that much. I think she's still nurse if nothing came out.

But what the dentist said when I took her for a suspected cyst coupled with crazy feedathons in the night did prompt me to night wean.

Thanks again, I'll keep on top of it. Was planning to end the feeding to sleep thing anyway.

good luck otch

Thanks, SPB.

I do suspect that it's a combination of factors, perhaps the main factor being a lack of dental brushing, and regular sips of juice, raisins etc.

I already ditched the raisins and dried fruit though way way back. I can see how they are napalm.

Apols hijack.

I'll lt you know how I get on as I'm TTC. Only got my period back at 21 months due to night weaning and I'm/we're not ready to stop feeding.

I fed my dd all through my second prenancy,she only stopped bf right at the end of it when she was two and a quarter.My new baby was the right weight and clearly well nourished and the only slight issue was that I was very tired,but then I'm still bf 3 years later,and I'm still tired,i'm 46 and generally knackered.As to teeth-both my dds (now 5 and 3) are cavity free so far.DD2 has a slight patch of weak enamel on one back molar but the dentist has said that it would have been formed like that,its not pre-decay.And both fed a lot ,Dd2 still wakes up once most nights and has a bf back to sleep.

This is just a question and in no way a dig at anyone who is breastfeeding ,but to those who are stating that their dc's arnt drinking cows milk , why is it bad when cheese and other dairy products made from cows milk are not ? hope that makes sense

On the teeth thing, dd finally stopped bf when she turned 4. Luckily her teeth suffered no ill-effects so the dentist never had cause to ask me about her breastfeeding habits. But had we been less lucky and she'd had to have a filling or an extraction, I am sure I would have been quite open about the breastfeeding if asked, but might have somewhat cagier about her chocolate button consumption. And presumably she would have been marked down as another toddler with decay caused by breastfeeding.

Am very dubious indeed about this anecdotal evidence of night feeding causing tooth decay in toddlers.

Utter cack! I bfed my 1st DD (aged 3 and a half at the time) throughout my pg with 2nd DD. Of course, she ate and drank other things too, but she loved the comfort of doing Boobie. When 2nd DD arrived, my milk supply was amazing! Could have supplied a small army of babies with enough milk to thrive, let alone DD2. Expressed by the bucketload.
In the event, DD2 decided to give up naturally at 15 months, whilst DD1 went on until she was 5 and actually weaned after DD2! Very Channel 4, I know, but I was led by my kids individually and for that I make no apology.
Go for it and ignore those ignorant people who are telling you otherwise.

Sounds like I got off easy with my health professionals - no-one even began to suggest that I shouldn't be BFing DD when pregnant. Do you mind me asking you where you live? I was in London, so perhaps beliefs are different there?

To me the dental decay link sounds most feasible. But that can be overcome by brushing surely? Whoever said BF took nutrients from the unborn baby - good grief!

(FWIW my dad is a retired consultant paediatrician and encouraged me to continue BFing when I was pregnant).

bumpsoon,
"but to those who are stating that their dc's arnt drinking cows milk , why is it bad when cheese and other dairy products made from cows milk are not ?"

This is an interesting question, one I was asked in RL last week. It shows how normalised use of cow's milk is in our children's diet and how underrated human breastmilk is.

I'll ask you a question to consider in return. Neither of my children drink cow's milk, they both nurse, why should I wean them off breastmilk (free, healthy, perfect for them, immune qualities) and introduce them to cows breast milk (more expensive, less healthy, not designed for them, no immune qualities) ?

My husband does drink cows milk and I drink soy milk so we do not have an 'issue' with the product itself.

Bumpsoon, for me it wasn't an issue of not wanting them to drink cows milk.

It was more that they didn't much like it (their choice) and so there was no obvious pre-bed drink. I can see if your child is into cows milk then a nice warm beaker of milk is probably very soothing and a good substitute signal that it's time to go to sleep, but that was never an option for us because the children didn't enjoy it.

I've never liked drinking plain milk either (although I was ff) so I can sympathise. I do love cheese and yoghurt!

Of course it's total rubbish. I breastfed whilst pregnant and tandem fed until DD2 was 10 months - she lost interest while in breastmilk but DD1 would have happily kept going - but I stopped when she was 2 and a half.

It wasn't without its problems though. DD2 had really bad reflux - I'd feed her and then she'd chuck the whole lot up again and was a bit of a screamy baby.

I was lucky though, we have a breastfeeding cafe where we live run by HVs and they also have visiting Lactation Consultants occasionally from the hospital nearby, so I had lots of support. I spoke to the Lactation Consultant who gave me advice on my diet (mainly chocolate based at the time!!) and positioning (I have a fast let-down) and to feed the baby from one breast and the toddler from the other (as your body adjusts accordingly).

I had lots of 'advice' from my MIL (ex-nurse) who said the reason that DD2 was sick was that my milk was too rich because I was feeding DD1 still (utter nonsense - I mean the first milk that comes in after you have a baby is supposed to be rich). She also thought I shouldn't breast feed on demand (DD1 was quite chunky - she said I was over-feeding her) and she actually told me that she was releived when DD1 could walk because she thought she was so fat she didn't think she'd be able to. I'm not joking.

Basically, people don't like breastfeeding. I don't know what it is - maybe it makes them uncomfortable. They've obviously forgetten the primary function of breasts!!

I think you should do it as long as you want to and as long as you're happy and comfortable.

With regard to TTC I conceived the quickest whilst breastfeeding of all three DC's.We kind of decided to 'try and see what happens' on the sunday, I must have literally got pregnant that night and was holding a postive pregnancy test about 10 days later . DD was about a year, my periods came back at around 9 months but were actually still quite irregular.

I breastfed until I was 20 weeks pregnant - I stopped more because I was exhausted than anything (I had hyperemesis) and didnt like the physical contact. I think my milk supply was also dropping a bit because DD was biting quite a bit and pulling quite hard on my nipples - but that could have just been normal feeding behaviour for 17 months. Saying that though I had lost nearly 2 stone by this point, was being sick 10 + times a day and was literally dragging myself out of bed - feeding her as well was just too much .

Anyway I would have carried on if not for that I think and DD didnt seem bothered by me being pregnant. It was quite surreal (but lovely) in the last couple of weeks when I was starting to feel the first few kicks and the baby would kick when I was feeding. Always thought he was kicking her off

Regarding TTC, I fell whilst tandem nursing !

LuluF - reflux can be down to all kinds of things though can't it. My DD had really bad reflux, but she was my first so nothing to do with BF another baby.

I also conceived while BF DD - she was nine months when I got pregnant again (without trying). Like Peppa, I carried on till she was about 1 and I was 16 weeks or so, mainly because I was so tired but also because I went back to work and the combination of work, BF and early pregnancy exhaustion and sickness was too much! To be honest I never for a second questioned that I wouldn't carry on BF when I found out I was pregnant.

Unless there's absolutely hard and fast facts that it's not a Good Thing, and you're heeding the advice given by dentists about brushing, then as everyone else says you should do what is right for you!

YANBU! My fathers an orthodontic surgeon and has practised dentistry for 25 years and he (and his partner and colleague!) said he has never come across tooth decay from BFing! They also commented that they saw more tooth decay in milk teeth from fruit juices, lack of dental hygiene etc.

I BF my DS whilst pregnant and told my midwife I was still BFing too. She saw no problem with this however did say she had heard the taste may change during pregnancy which DS may not like. My DS1 BF until he was 13 months, 4 months into my 2nd pregnancy, then he decided he wanted to stop not me.

My advise would be to do what you think is best, because ultimately when it comes to BFing who knows better than a mum?