12 weeks pregnant - has my milk dried up?

[smallblackflowers]

I have a 17 mo DD who breastfeeds 3 or 4 times per day and I am 12+4 pregnant. Today I tried to hand express from both breasts but was unable to get even a drop of milk out.
DD has not been complaining at all, but my DH suggested that if my milk has gradually decreased perhaps she hasn't noticed as she gets what she needs emotionally from the act of nursing.

Is it possible that my milk has completely dried up? And if this is the case does anyone know if it is likely to come back if she keeps nursing, before I start to produce colostrum for the new baby?

Am feeling quite gutted by the thought that our bf relationship may be ending before either of us is ready.

Any experience / advice would be gratefully received.

yes, it certazinly is possible, most women experience a marked decrease in milk production and in many it will stop completely
i don;'t know if it will come back before the colostrum comes in tbh, i suspect not

i had the exact same thing with ds2 who gave up at 16 months under identical circumstances. I am still gutted about it.

but if your dd hasn't complained then she may continue to nurse despite the lack of milk and just continue once the baby is born anyway

thisisyesterday thanks for your reply. I guess I'll just let her keep nursing when she wants to - although on a level I'm worried that this could be perceived as 'wrong' if she's not actually getting any milk. She's just started nursery too and could do with a few extra antibodies.

Nice name by the way

Sorry to hear you are having problems smallblackflowers I am starting to wonder if my supply is dropping, DD keeps switching sides and asking for more. Hope you manage to keep it up until your colostrum comes in I don't think it's wrong because there's much more to breastfeeding than just milk- if she's just started nursery then the extra comfort will probably be needed.

sweetnitanitro fingers crossed yours doesn't go the same way - I have many friends who have successfully bf throughout pregnancy. I didn't think that I had a problem until earlier today, as she has been nursing quite happily without switching sides, but I tried to express a drop to put in her eye as she has a bit of an eye infection and I have heard that it can help. Have tried again a number of times since and not getting a thing.

thanks yours isn't bad either

really, you don't know if she is getting any, so i wouldn't worry about it being "wrong", she is still gaining comfort and if you and her are both happy with it there's no need to discuss it with anyone else

smallblackflowers - It's quite normal to 'dry up' during pg and will not affect colostrum appearing or the amount of colostrum/colostrum to milk transitional milk available for the baby after the birth as that is triggered by the placenta's removal from the womb.

Your milk is very unlikely to return as milk but will come back as colostrum at some point in the 2nd or 3rd trimester. Don't forget though your DD will be even better at getting milk out than hand expression but she may not require much or any milk to be present to carry on her nursing relationship with you.

I've nursed through 2 pgs and my milk disappeared in pg2 from week 14 to week 24. DD1 didn't care and carried on nursing exactly as though there was milk (she was 11.5 m/o when I got pg and 20.5 m/o when DD2 was born).

I gave cows' milk in a cup (gold top mostly as toddler breast milk is fattier than baby breast milk) 2-3 times a day and made sure she got a varied diet. When the colostrum came back in her nappies were something else

I tandem nursed through pg3 (DD1 was 34 m/o & DD2 was 14m/o when I got pg and 43m/o & 23 m/o when I gave birth) and again my milk 'dried up' at week 14 but this time it didn't come back until week 26 thanks to a two week nursing strike at week 24 by both DDs. Double on two lots of colostrum nappies.

Aside from the nursing strike both DDs nursed as normal throughout my pg with DD2 having cows' milk for the first time from around 16 m/o onwards.

DD1 was obviously very verbal by 3 y/o so was able to tell me that my milk had gone though kept it to herself when the colostrum came back (I think she didn't want her sister to find out ). She self weaned at 42 m/o when I was 8m pg. DD2 is still nursing at 32 m/o as is DD3 who is 9.5 m/o now.

A really good read is Adventures in Tandem Nursing by Hilary Flowers as is Kellymom.com for lots of evidence based help on pg & bfing (unlike some anecdata you may get from me well meaning people)

truthsweet thank you so much for sharing your experience. My DD seems more than happy to carry on nursing at the moment so will happily leave her to get on with it. My recently ordered copy of Adventures in Tandem Nursing was waiting on the doormat when I got in from work so will give it a good read tonight and I am already a big fan of Kellymom, but thanks for the recommendations

After a bit more reading I reckon that the tablets that I've been taking for my morning sickness may have been a factor in the low supply - they are antihistamines and dry you out in many ways apparently.