Breastfeeding while pregnant

[Smellyjo]

I'm 5 wk preg with my second and dd is just 2. She only feeds now in the morning when she wakes up, and the odd time during the day if she's feeling poorly or sees another child feeding. She goes days without it if she wakes up with dad and I have a lie in, and I don't think it will be that traumatic to stop if I decided just to wean her. But it's no problem and she still asks so I'm thinking just to continue into the pregnancy and see what develops. I haven't got any sore nipples yet and am thinking that actually my boobs aren't sore at all like they were in first pregnancy, no sign of them getting bigger either. Could that be to do with bfing? Or maybe just early stage of preg?

And what would those of you who fed in a pregnancy say about whether it's a good idea to keep going or not? Part of me likes the idea of tandem feeding but it could be very taxing and I imagine she may want to really up her feeds when she sees baby.

As long as you have no history of miscarriage or early labour, you can carry on as long as you like. (BFing can cause slight uterine contractions.)

There is a chance she'll self-wean when your colostrum comes in as the flavour changes, but possibly not.

I would love to have tandem fed mine but DS1 fed still fed like a newborn at 17mo so there was no way I'd have conceived DS2 while still feeding him, who was equally voracious, so I probably would have ended up with WW3 over my chest anyway

Doesn't sound like you have that issue - congratulations!

Haha thanks Elpha! That's a shame though you didn't get the chance. Weirdly I got my period back when dd was 5 months despite ebf. But I was only ready to get round to etc now, she's been such a dreadful sleeper I needed time to recover before going in again.

Do you know when it is that milk becomes colostrum? I guess it'll become apparent. Actually another thing in the mix is im going away for 3 days next week, so it'll depend on what state my supply is inafter that. And she may throw it in after it but I can't see it somehow

*round to ttc

Is it around 5mo or so? (Slightly wild guess...I have a vague recollection of expressing yellow stuff around that point with both pregnancies)

I b/f through pregnancy and tandem fed. There are some great tandem groups on f/b, I wish I had joined when pregnant so I had a better idea of what was normal, etc.

Some DC do wean while you’re pregnant as the milk changes.

I found tandem feeding great in lots of ways. I felt like it was an easier adjustment on the toddler having a sibling, they weren’t jealous of baby at all, didn’t have to worry about toddler feeling ‘left out’, etc. It was magic seeing them hold hands while feeding and the toddler put arms round baby/stroke baby’s head.
I found it useful when the toddler was upset/tantruming/wanting to do something they shouldn’t and I was stuck with a newborn as could say ‘come and get milk!’ I didn’t have to think of distraction tecniques, do much ‘entertaining’ when tired with newborn as could just feed.

I was still breastfeeding my 17mo when I got pregnant. I also didn't get the sore breasts that I had in my first pregnancy, im guessing due to the bf (not heard that from anyone else actually). I decided to wean my dd after about a month as I was quite happy to anyway and definitely didn't want to tandem feed personally. It was actually dead easy to wean her because my supply dropped quite a bit so she wasn't so interested.
I did actually have a bit of a history of miscarriage (2 before my first dd) but bf up to about 8 weeks had no impact luckily and I had a very healthy pregnancy and baby

Despite being perfectly happy breastfeeding dd when I got pregnant (she was 1yr10mths) I decided I’d like a break and stopped on her second birthday. I’ve no idea of my logic now (I had slight aversion due to pregnancy and I also imagines feeding dd2 would be the same as it was dd1). Wish I hadn’t stopped really as feeding dd2 is a totally different experience!

Lovely to hear your experience littletwo, and the helping dd adjust is defo part of the attraction, but the entertainment possibilities are a good point! For a while now I've tended to put her off If she asks during the day, feeling we are on the wind down, because I had terrible problems with a recurring milk bleb until about 2 months ago so I was ready to finish. Now it's cleared up I feel a bit different and why should I take feeding from her when she still wants to.

I met a tandem feeding mum at a la leche meeting a while back though and she was broken. Destroyed. They were both feeding all through the night and it gave me the horrors, poor woman.

That's interesting Mini you didn't get sore breasts either. Reassuring too - I have had the odd vague worry that things are not well because no sore boobs but I feel knackered and queasy so sure it's fine.

I can't remember when I got colostrum last time but I think it was later on. We shall see! Thanks for your thoughts everyone x

I have a 21mo gap and tandem fed for about 6mo. For the first 2 weeks DD wanted go feed every time DS did but I was strict with her after a couple of weeks and only fed her when she woke up, before nap and before bed.

It was fine but I didn't love it and much preferred feeding DS to DD so I gradually started to cut it down for DD. I'm glad I did it and wanted her to get to 2yrs but I'd had enough by that point!

I should add that I only once fed them both together - so DH could take a photo! It just didn't appeal to me.

So if you do want them carry on, there are lots of versions of tandem feeding. You just find the way that suits you.

My older tandem has always been a great sleeper. He did wake up through the night when baby was born though for a couple of weeks. I think he would have done this anyway though even if I wasn’t breastfeeding him. At least I had a quick/easy way to get him back to sleep! He then went back to sleeping through. I can imagine it’s really tough if you’ve got an older one who doesn’t sleep though.

I found positioning them both really hard at first so I wish I’d looked on the Facebook groups when pregnant as there’s lots of different tandem photos to give you ideas.
I did have to stop feeding them at the same time after about 6 months as I got really bad aversion (I think this is quite common).

The older one stopped eating food completely too (after being a really good eater) at first which is normal but I didn’t know to expect this! He put on loads of weight with all the colostrum!ha. Once I knew it was normal I stopped worrying and was easier in a way as I didn’t have to get up to make toddler snacks while dealing with a newborn!

It’s such a personal thing though and different things work for different people. If you would have asked me about feeding while pregnant/tandem feeding I would have said no way it’s not for me! But I just took one day at a time and it worked out.

Breastfeeding older babies and beyond is a good f/b group too.

Thanks for all the helpful tips little and tea. I've been feeling pretty lousy the last couple of days and more irritable with dd...thinking how will I be in a month, or two, or six! Feeding this morning wasn't fun but I think I'll just take one day at a time. Second time round I feel much more able to listen to my instincts and find my own way like you guys describe, last time I was busy all the time trying to find advice on how to do everything 'right'! Thanks for all the helpful thoughts.