how does pregnancy affect bf?

[BigBoPeep]

I'm seriously toying with the idea of another v. quickly. I did throughout the pregnancy, saying if all went well, I'd want another very quickly. I had a CS and was told not to get pregnant for a year by the hospital docs, but my gp says actually 3 months minimum to give myself a rest, but then I should be fine - the 1yr thing is for a natural birth, but I could have another CS.

So i thought I'd give it another year anyway but...I'm still tempted! 2 things hold me back though:

1. morning sickness + childcare = absolute hell :( Obvs no garantee I'll get sickness, but equally no garantee it won't be even WORSE then last time! and I can't decide whether it's better to have it whilst doing baby care which I've found great so far, or whilst looking after an older child, which I've never done before.

2. affect on breastfeeding. I don't want to muck up the bf of DD1, I'd like to ebf her til at least 6months. So what exactly happens to your breastfeeding if you get pregnant quickly.

Obviously this is if I can even get pregnant - I'm happily breastfeeding round the clock so may not get my periods back for a while anyway, which is no biggie but if I did decide to have one soon, we can not worry about contraception.

It really depends on the mother but it can lead to low supply/no supply and given you only have a little baby you really don't want her milk to disappear or for her to object to the different taste (pg BM can taste saltier due to changes in the gaps between the milk making cells [sounds bizarre I know!]).

On the other hand some women have no problems with supply during pg but you won't know what will happen until you are pg and then it's too late to resurrect supply if it has tanked.

Kellymom.com has a big section on bfing & pg and tandem nursing which is really good and informative. There is also a great book called Adventures in Tandem Nursing which has lots of info on pg & bfing too.

Ancedotal - I have/am bf through 3 pg (am currently 23w and bfing DD2 & DD3 who are 4y6m & 2y7m though they don't bf very often now).

My youngest 'baby' was DD1 who was 11.5m when I got pg with DD2 and I was having to supplement her bfs with cow's milk fairly quickly (my supply lowers pretty quickly and then stops at ~14w) and she was feeding ~8 times by 14m. She carried on bfing though (or dry nursing really) until my colostrum came in and then went bananas on the colostrum . She didn't self wean until I was 8m pg with DD3 (DD2 was also nursing) and she was 3y 6m.

I bf until I was 13 weeks pg last time. It really reduced my supply and made bfing really sore. I was determined to do it until I was 13 weeks as it was my elder DCs 1st birthday - she wouldn't take formula. It got more and more painful and I only just made it.

It's a year regardless of the type of birth! That's because uterine rupture(where your uterus scar breaks down) could happen even if you are not in labour (but is less likely). Obviously some women may not have anticipated getting pg so soon, but planning to get pg 3m after a c/s is putting yourself and your baby at risk, which could be easily avoided.

Bf in pg can be very tough. My nipples are very sore and supply is dropping drastically. We are down to just 2 feeds a day and having to top up with milk. I think around 60-70% of babies are weaned when the mum gets pg again. Half of this is baby led (change in supply and taste of milk) and half is mum led (pain, agitation).

My DS was 2 years when I got pg and an enthusiastic & frequent feeder. He drastically dropped feeds (number & length) when I was about 6-9 weeks pg (presumably when my milk got saltier), and has dropped further since (I'm 18 weeks pg now). My supply has definitely dropped, although there is still a bit of milk there.

I've had a lot of problems with nipple soreness too - although on & off. I'm really glad to have carried on though.

Adventures in Tandem Nursing is really good, and talks about the possible need to supplement if your child is 'still dependent upon your milk' when you get pg.

Now I'm worrying! I am six weeks pg and still bf my 7mth old ds3. My nipples are agony. My real worry is that I absolutely definitely want to bf ds3 until 12mths. Ds1 was bf until 14mths, by which time I was 4mths pg with ds2, who was bf until 12mths. Now I'm really concerned that ds3 will self wean or my milk will fry up. He has never had formula, and refused bm from a bottle. :(

I guess you won't know how it will affect you until you get pregnant. But hearing others experiences might help. Here's mine...

I got pregnant when DD was 6 months old. There will be a 14 month gap. I have not had supply problems as far as I can tell. She has been eating more and more solids, and taking less milk though, but I think that is typical regardless of the pregnancy. I did have sore nips at the beginning but it was bearable and only lasted a month or so. I am weaning her onto formula and then cows milk now as I am returning to work, and she is 11 months old. We still do one feed a day in the morning which I really enjoy. My ability to express fell off rapidly when she was around 4 months, before I was pregnant.

Other things to consider are your maternity rights if you want to go back to work between pregnancies. I am getting another years maternity benefits but must retune to work for one month.

First tri was hard work with the tiredness, but DD was not mobile until quite recently, so I'd spend quite a lot of time lying on the floor next to her feeling ropey, but still able to engage. It's worked out quite well so far, and I'm looking forward to DD2's arrival!

How that helps and good luck getting pregnant if that's what you decide to do.

My experience so far at nearly 9 weeks is that my supply has definitely dropped. Same no of BFs (3) in the day but I can't express very much for the bedtime bottle anymore so I'm mixing what I can pump with soya milk (dairy intolerant) for that one. DS is nearly 21 months however, so not a problem with needing the milk as such.

I would like to keep nursing til DC2 comes along but I really don't know if DS will keep at it or not. He is very enthusiastic still.

thanks for your experiences - In general, doesn't seem to be a good idea :(

How old is your baby now?

8wks

Blimey! You're... er... eager?

Could you bear to hold off trying til 6 months? There's a reasonable chance you will make it to a year then. You might even end up tandem feeding. Not every baby self weans in pregnancy.

yeah, I love it! (by it I mean the babyrearing process, not my daughter!) Never thought I would, I'm the most un-mumsy person ever...

I definately think I can hold off though, think waiting a year is sensible....

You will probably revisit this thread in six months with eyes held open by matchsticks and jelly for brains and laugh hollowly at your fondly held plan for lots of newborns all at once...

Like the others say it's different for every mum. For me I am glad that I waited until DS was a year old (well I probably got pregnant about a week before his birthday) because it was important to me that all the while milk was his main source of nutrition that it be breastmilk - if I had lost my supply before 12 months I'd have been devastated.

Also I'm really glad DS learnt to walk before I was 'too' pregnant (he never crawled) because in the early days I could just sit down and have him bring me books to read while I tried to relax (morning sickness/nausea really bad in both pregnancies) so being that much older helped I think.

With regard to breastfeeding, if it's important to you to keep breastfeeding (the longer I've done it the more I've enjoyed the relationship) I'd suggest you wait a little while. I was always prepared for nipple sensitivity, pain, the fact my milk might dry up or that DS might self-wean. What I wasn't prepared for was nursing aversion. There's some good info on the LLL website about this that explains it better than I can, but basically it means that most times when I breastfeed I have feelings of extreme agitation. If DS starts pulling at my top or kicking his legs about or doesn't open his mouth properly (all common occurances) its as much as I can do not to yank him off and shout "GET OFF ME!" I know that sounds horrendous but having read other women's experiences online I realise its very common and I wish I'd known about it before.

Luckily we have night-weaned and I'm finding the feeds we still have (morning, once or twice during the day, bedtime and occasionally once at night) much more enjoyable and precious. I think if breastfeeding is important to you its important to consider that getting pregnant may mean it coming to an end, so my advice would be to wait until you can live with that before getting pregnant again.

Enjoy your baby and your breastfeeding relationship :)