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?

Hi everyone. I was talking to a bfing counsellor today who said that while you were still night feeding regularly bfing was like a contraceptive - fertility likely to return when DC nightweaned.

Just wondered, has anyone weaned a DC but then let them feed again when another DC came along with a new supply of milk?

Not in this position - DD still feeding alot at night and no sign of AF, but just interested as would like to bf for while yet but also beginning to think about another DC...

Sakura, fertility and breastfeeding varies enormously between people. some get their periods back really quickly despite breastfeeding. Others have long periods of infertility but no reason why you shouldn't become fertile again. 18 months is quite a long time. I was 18 months for one of my children (the others was 13 and 15 months) and yes I was still breastfeeding when they came back. Period just came back quite suddenly without warning. after that it took around 6 months for them to settle back to a normal pattern again. this doesn't necessarily mean that you are infertile during this time of course. the problem with having unprotected sex obviuosly is that you could get pregnant and not know when you conceive so could make dating the pregnancy a bit difficult. I would keep a record perhaps? If you are worried it may be possible to get your hormone levels checked out. How much are you feeding your dd?

I breastfed while pregnant. The supply reduced and it got a bit painful to the extent that I stopped on one side, but otherwise ok. I then tandem breastfed which was fine and reassuring for the older one

Regardless of whether you are lactating or not, you will ovulate before you have a period! So if it doesn't suit you to become pg again, take other precautions!

It is actually that you ovulate first before menstruating. The reason we menstruate is because when the egg is not fertilised the womb lining has already thickened to enable implantation to take place. When the egg is not fertilised the hormonal changes make the lining come away so we have a period.

I was monitoring my cycles and I had two non ovulation cycles followed with AF, one cycle when I might have ovulated but the temps were not clear followed by a AF and a four cycle with a clear ovulation & BFP and I was breastfeeding thoughout.

So I agree with Kellymom you can have AF's before ovulation but it would not be wise to depend on this for preventing a baby purposes.

Fertility Friend (great site BTW) has great information on anovulatory cycle (i.e. when you have a period but no ovulation)

Anovulatory Cycle

I'm still bf DS (2.9) morning and evening, I'm 15+4 now. My supply is definitely down, and the first 10 seconds of feeding are very ouchy, then it settles down. I'm hoping to tandem nurse once lo arrives but won't be too upset if he self weans.

I'd definitely second the recommendation of "Adventures in Tandem Nursing" - a great book, with lots of advice on nursing through pregnancy as well for how to wean if that's what you decide is right for you.

Good luck Hayley!

Using bf as only contraception is a bit risky I think. It's nature and so not very reliable, although worldwide it is the most comon method of spacing children out, but obviously the vast majority of people using this live in the third world where nothing else is available.
Saying that if you feed at night you're OK, is equally unsure I think. Equally if you know the menstrual cycle, ovulation happens before menstruation, as that is a reaction to a drop in hormones that tell your body that the egg hasn't been fertilised and the lining of the womb is then shed. So really you can't really know when you will start ovulating and so it's better to be safe and use other precautions. I had a coil fitted after my dd as it was just not the time to have a 3rd baby.
From my own experience I had my ds 1st who fed 2-3hourly for 4 months and fed at least once at night until he was a good 9-10 months old, yet my period came back when he was 16 weeks old. I bf him for 19 months. My dd on the other hand only fed 4 hourly and slept throught the night (i.e. from 11-5) from 3 weeks and dropped down to 2 feeds a day at 5.5m as I had to go back to work, yet I didn't have any periods until she was 10 months old. She was bf until she was just a few weeks short of her 2nd birthday. There just doesn't seem to be any logic in it. If it was just the frequency of their feed then I should have been having my periods back much more quickly the second time around, but I didn't.