pregnancy and breastfeeding

[pregnantandbreastfeeding]

I've namechanged only because I'm two or three weeks pregnant and don't want to 'announce' it until over the three month mark. I have had a miscarriage in the past, before having ds, now nearly three. He is still breastfeeding twice a day, once at night once in morning. Attempts to wean him [only in the last week] have been met with a lot of upset so far, and I would really like to be able to continue. However I am a bit worried after reading breastfeeding in pregnancy can cause uterine contractions, which could increase risk of miscarriage. I really don't want to go thru that again, especially as we found it a bit harder to conceive this time round, and I'm 36. Any advice much appreciated.

hi i am 24 weeks pregnant and was still breastfeeding until a few weeks ago. DS still has one feed a day occasionally now but i am trying to wean him as i dont think tandem nursing is for me. if you are worried you could try and speak to a midwife about it, mine was fine about it but i havent got a history of miscarriage.

a good book to read is adventures in tandem nursing by hilary flower, it covers feeding during pregnancy and beyond aswell as ways to wean if you want to.

you could also ring one of the breastfeeding helplines to talk to a counsellor about your worries. most of the information i found out said that the contractions caused by breastfeeding were not strong enough to cause a problem but that it has to be discussed with a medical professional to take into account your own history. just be aware that some doctors are not very pro extended feeding and may well advise weaning when a pro feeding doctor may not.

the only probs i had was nipple pain and tenderness and also a drop in milk supply which is hormone related and if this happens to you could encourage your child to wean, although it didnt with mine.

hth

yes my [female] gp suggested i wean my ds at 4 months so i'm not going to get much help there. Must go next week and tell them i'm pregnant and then discuss it with hospital when referred. Was with a high risk maternity unit last time, but not because of previous miscarriage. tricky. Ds not happy about weaning at moment.

berolina has some info about this , as she is bf whilst pregnant. and was told that it could cause contractions / prem labour

AFAIK breastfeeding whilst pregnant does not induce contractions strong enough to cause miscarriage . your body is designed to do this.

you could try contacting La Leche league or NCT or ABM near you who would have more info about this.

thanks, i must try LLL. Probably they won't be around till Monday. I wondered how many people had personal experience of it here, and if any had suffered a m/c before as well.

bump in case anyone else has personal experience

hi i was still bf my 15 mth old twice a day when got pg first month of trying. I had an open mind about how long i would bf or do tandem nursing. At 15 wks it got to painful for me and i dropped the am feed and a few nights later she no longer asked for booby at night so i stopped when nearly 16 wks pg. I did miss it but felt a bit more refreshed. I am really glad though that i carried on bf until she was happy to stop even though i think my body was more tired from it especially as i was throwing up at least once a day for the first 12 wks.

Congrats on your pg.

A good book to read is adventures in tandem nursing by hilary flowers all about bf in pg and wiht two. A good web sight about bf in pg and tandem nursing was kelly mom if you google it and type in bf and pg some info should come up

x

Hi
congrats on the pregnancy. I have had a miscarriage before I had my dd, 18 months. She was only 7 1/2 months old when I fell pregnant with my ds. I was still feeding her at least 3 - 5 times a day at the time as she was not fully weaned. I was never advised that this would cause me any problems and I continued feeding her until she self weaned when I was 7 months pregnant and she was 13 months old. I never experienced any problems with my pregnancy and my ds was born without any problems.

thankyou for those stories - makes me feel much better - ds is reducing his feeds becuase I told him his friends no longer have the boob - felt rather bad about that poor boy! Not going to stop him completely till he's ready. Suppose i might find out more from hospital when i'm referred and might look up Berolina's experience.