Breastfeeding whilst pregnant?

[hayleybop]

I have just found out I am pregnant . My DD is 11.5 months old. I do want stop breast feeding as it will make me very tierd, although finding it really hard to give up and also my DD has never been into a bottle but does drink from a cup but dosnt really drink that much. She has a temper when I say she cant have any boob!
Has anyone breastfed and been pregnant at the same time. Does your milk dry up or have low supply in the second trimester?
Has anyone had similar experience of finding it hard to wean from the breast?
What did you do?

I breast fed all through my pregnancy. Have never heard it made you tired, I thought it was easier, no bottles etc to deal with. Unless you really need to wean your baby just keep going, the milk doesn't decrease in supply.

I'm 20 weeks and still going strong. I get nipple tenderness from time to time and my milk has changed. Alas DD likes it even more now

Supplywise, I do seem to have less volume but of course because it's colostrum it's more calorific.

well, my supply did decrease and in the end stopped but dc would still suck for short times, just for comfort.

what will you do when your new arrival comes, tandem breastfeed or wean?
Really curious as I dont know what to do. Would love to hear what other people are doing in my situation

both dc self weaned few months before new one was born.

hayley, I'd highly recommend this book - it's fabulous and answers a lot of questions about bfing while pregnant as well as tandem nursing.

I bfd DS1 until I was six months pregnant with DS2, then decided to wean him as my milk had dried up. He was really, horribly upset about being weaned, and in retrospect I wish I hadn't done it - tandem feeding would have been a great way to make him feel secure after DS2's birth.

However, it is draining and tiring, no question!

Hayleybop - I'd like to see her feeds reduced to once or twice a day before the baby comes but I don't mind tandem feeding. It's thought to help enormously with sibling rivalry.

I breastfed my DS throughout my pregnancy, there is just under a year between my two so my milk was DS only nourishment until about 6 months & after that he still fed as normal. Didnt notice any cange in supply- his weight gain was fine so presume there wasnt an issue, although have heard lower supply is common. Found it much easier to feed rather than mess about wit bottles & also great excuse to put my feet up.
We are now tandem feeding, loving it. It is amazing to watch them feed & hold each others hands & smirk at each other.
Also fed while in labour & it sure got things moving fast- although thats not for everyone!!

I gave up when I was 16 weeks pg with ds2. My milk did start to dry up a bit and it was getting increasingly painful as my boobs were tender.
Then I was in bed with flu for five days and was unable to feed ds1 at all, so that was the ideal time to give up.

I found out that year-old DS had a life-threatening milk allergy when I was 4 months pg with DD. I was very worried about what I was going to do when she arrived. However as I fed throughout pregnancy I found that firstly I had an aversion to feeding him, which of course I overcame, and secondly he developed an aversion to feeding from me... presumably the taste had changed. So by the time DD was born he was ready to stop, aged 17.5 months. Natures Way, I thought. I had none of this when feeding my DD, I believe simply because there was no other baby on the way - I fed her till 2yrs 2months, and she was a less enthusiastic feeder generally than DS.
I am SO not an earth mother but would urge you to remember your ancestors who had no bottles to fall back on, and babies every year to 18 months - they managed because mother nature helps them.

Yes it can work. And there is no need to go from breast to bottle at that age either - just wait until they are a year then use a cup/beaker of milk. Much easier. All 3 of mine did that. I breastfed only until I was 4 months pg though as I was no knackered. DS was over 15 months. I gave him breast milk in a beaker to start with to get him used to the beaker and then went onto cows milk. I breastfed my 2 dds until they were 18 months and did the same thing with them. No problems, no weaning off bottles, simple.

Good luck.

My DD is 14 months and I am 21 weeks pregnant. She was already mixed fed but she's been asking less and less. I didn't really want to stop but I had to go away for work for a week and that seemed to have speeded up the weaning process. She still sucks for confort every other day. I don't have any milk left though and my nipples feel fragile.

My DD is 9mo old and I'm 6wks pregnant and still feeding. I am going to keep going for as long as I can, although if my supply dwindles I will probably take this as nature telling me it's time to stop as i'm not sure how I feel about tandem feeding. My nipples do feel a bit tender, and I get waves of nausea after a feed, but my ms symptoms are maneagable at other times so I'm happy to keep going for the minute. I started a thread on this the other week and was told the nipple tenderness will pass. I don't have any breast tenderness at all this time though, and that is usually the first sypmtom for me.

good luck and come and say hello on the November AN thread if that's when you're due

I breastfed dd1 until she self weaned when I was 5 months pg with dd2. (dd1 was 2) Her reaction to what was obviously a change in the taste was my first clue that I might be pg! I found it absolutely fine to carry on feeding and was keen to do it as long as she wanted, especially as she had a bit of excema and was allergic to cows milk as a baby. I didn't find that I was any more tired, the only problem was that my boobs felt tender. My HV was v supportive and said she could get me info on tandem feeding - as it turned out I didn't need it. At the hospital, though, I saw a consultant, who was v surprised and said he had never come across anyone bf while pg!! If you can do it, I would say, go for it! Good luck.

I bf ds while preg with dd, he self weaned when I was about 4-5 months. Around that time your milk is supposed to become colostrum again, so I presume that it's the change in taste that put him off a bit, although he never made faces . My ds was about 19 months at that point. I also didn't feel it made me any more tired, the 1st 3 months of pregnancy make you tired anyway and any extra tiredness 2nd time around can easily be put down to the fact that you're running around after a todddler and still having broken nights sleep (ds was still not consistently sleeping through at that age), rather than bf.

Continued feeding all through my pregnancies and beyond. In fact not stopped for 8 1/2 years. Got tenderness and supply did diminish but mine were much older than other posters - have got 3 years between my children so by then they weren't feeding much anyway.

I was 17 weeks pg with No 2 when stopped- DD was 2 yrs old and had already self-weaned to one 'feed'/ comfort time a day. I felt supply had dropped, but the main thing was how exhausted I've been. However, stopping feeding didn't make that much of a difference on the exhaustion front- that just didn't lift until 28 weeks
I read about tandem feeding and had thought I'd give it ago, but my cicumstances didn't make me think I could do it.
Sounds like it might work best for you to try going on to cup feeding, but don't want you to have too high expectations just in case it isn't the feeding that's wiping you out, just everything else!
Good luck, mumofk

I had hoped that DS would self-wean when I was pregnant. He didn't. The milk was in very low supply in the second and third trimester - he would only feed for a few minutes at bedtime. It also seemed to change taste - I remember him patting my breast very early on, looking puzzled. And there were times when it hurt like buggery. We are now tandem feeding but DS only feeds at bedtime so it's fine. Sometimes it helps, if we've had a shouty day, to get us back on loving terms again just before bedtime. Not sure if it's helped the sibling rivalry mind - DS is still not hugely keen on DD. But I suspect he'd be even less keen on her if her arrival had coincided with weaning!

CAn I ask a question? Did any of you get your period before you got pregnant? I mean, did your period return while you were still breastfeeding, or did you conceive without ever having had a period?
The reason I ask is that Im still breastfeeding DD (18 months) and have recently started having unprotected sex with DH. I have no period and it doesnt look like itll be coming for a while (just a feeling). My friends whove breastfed this long say that their periods only returned 4-5 months after theyd given up breastfeeding. Its only now that I finally dont feel horrified at the thought of childbirth again, so I wouldn`t mind if I did get pregnant, but I was wondering what the chances are really.

I b/fed all through pregnancy. Some babies/toddlers go off the milk in the 2nd trimester but a lot don't. I thought I would be exhausted but tbh, being pregnant with a toddler is exhausting any way and I didn't see that as a reason to stop his milk.

Good luck!!

Sakura- my periods came back after 6 months of bfeeding, and I continued feeding for 2 years. Feeding was definately less comfortable with sore boobs just before periods. I'd forgotten until you mentioned periods!

My periods came back after 12w; even though I was exclusively bfing. I got pg when DS1 was 1y 5, and bf him until 22m when I was 22w pg. I was getting v.tired and sore. DS1 was on one feed per day by then. No problems stopping. No jealousy when DS2 arrived either and DS1 also prescribes milk if DS2 is upset.

Apols for punctuation. On a v.strange French keyboard.

sakura, my periods reappeared after only 9weeks, but DD was sleeping for 7 hours at night at that point. I think (but not too sure) that regular night and the hormones it releases are connected with a delay in your period returning.