Do all DCs self-wean if you get pregnant?

[SquidgersMummy]

My dd is 12wks and ebf. She is an ivf baby, never got pregnant on my own and my periods haven't even returned yet. We thought given all we've been through to get her that contraception seemed daft, a surprise baby would be a gift, but I really want to bf dd until she's at least 1. If I did fall pregnant ...big if...would she self-wean or does it depend how old they are. Would be awful if one day she suddenly wouldn't take it - but isn't it at 4/5 months when the colostrum comes in? Anyone any experience of this?

X

No experience but 1) generally women are more fertile soon after a birth and 2) many women "tandem feed", ie feed both a new baby and an older one. It happened to a friend- IVF for first DD and got pregnant very soon afterwards (afair there are 15 months between her DD1 and DD2).

Not necessarily. DS1 nursed through my pregnancy, although I am pretty sure I had no milk from 19-16 weeks (not very comfy for feeding) , then just a little colostrum. He never minded though. He was a couple of weeks short of 2 when DS2 was born and is still belligerently feeding.
He did cut his feeds down a lot though.
ebf is actually a very good contraceptive as long as they feed regularly and don't miss a feed. From introducing solids, or if your periods return, thats the time to be concerned. It took me until 14 months to fall pregnant again with no attempt at contraception, and I had no trouble conceiving first time.
Feeding in pregnancy isn't a barrel of laughs, it's tiring, and can be quite sore, but it's very possible.

Some do, some don't. There's no way of telling, unfortunately. I BF throughout my pregnancy with DD2 with no major problems and both DDs are still BF. Never had any complaints from DD1 about supply or taste of milk. Toddler colostrum poos are foul though!

Adventures in Tandem Nursing is a really good book that contains a lot of info about pregnancy and BF, you can get it here or borrow it if there's an LLL group near you.

I am 14 weeks pregnant. DD is 22 mo and has tailed off but by no means has she stopped. It can be a bit sore sometimes, but it isn't really a problem.

Dd1 did. Dd3 hasn't so far, she is 2 and still loves her milk. She complained at first it was wrong that's how I found out I was pregnant but kept going. Colostrum comes at about 6 months pregnant so will see what she makes of that!