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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

Breastfeeding while pregnant

56 replies

flipflop · 16/02/2003 07:42

i just wanted to know if anyone had any problems getting pregnant while bf (my periods started 4 months ago)also would love to hear about peoples experiences on bf while pregnant i've had quite negative feedback from my doc and a few friends.

OP posts:

Alibubbles · 16/02/2003 10:42

I didn't have any problems, DD was only 3 months old when DS was conceived. She was totally breast fed until 6 months and then stopped at nine months when I was 6 months pregnant. It didn't affect DS either he was a healthy 9lb12 oz, 4 hour natural delivery, no stitches or problems!

Go for it, the age gap was easy too!

Eulalia · 16/02/2003 10:57

I breastfed my ds throughout the whole pregnancy of my daughter and afterwards. There is certainly no harm and any 'advice' that it may damage the embryo is total nonsense. Your doctor may feel that it may be too much work for you if you still continue to feed the older child. Again not necessarily true. You can ask me more about this though if you are considering keeping up breastfeeding. I was going to give up and probably would have done but baby was born and it renewed my son's interest.

I had no problems getting pregnant despite my cycles being a bit irregular. However my ds was 2 when I fell pregnant. (My periods returned at 13 months post partum and I was pregnant 11 months later). If you are having periods at all then you should be fertile (just may mean its a bit more difficult finding the fertile time if your periods are irregular). You certainly don't need to stop breastfeeding and you may find your child stops naturally when your milk dries up during pregnancy.

Once I was pregnant one thing I did find was that my breasts were quite tender in the first 3 months and feeding my ds was quite uncomfortable. However I was feeling so awful anyway with nausea I just let him as I felt it was an easy way of giving him attention. He was only feeding a few times a day anyway. The tenderness went away then about 5 months my milk dried up but he still wanted to 'feed' but this was only at bedtiems. I think he would have given up totally then if we had a bit more time.

If you are thinking of stopping breastfeeding the older child then try to do it during the 2nd trimester so that s/he has time to forget. I don't know how old your child is - obviously a 2 year old is more ready to stop than a younger baby and you can tandem feed quite easily (you will have plenty of milk).

Any questions just ask. And good luck with getting pregnant.

Joe1 · 16/02/2003 13:15

I too had no problems falling pregnant while feeding my son. I fed him until I was around 7 months pregnant and he was nearly two. By this age he was really only having the odd feed and perhaps comfort for sleeping. I had a very healthy baby and a happy toddler. Good luck.

mears · 16/02/2003 13:25

Same experience as everyone else. There is not reason not to feed whilst pregnant. I fell pregnant with no. 3 whilst B/F no. 2 who was 7 months old. Very few doctors know anything about B/F unless they have successfully B/Feeding wives IMO.

Lindy · 16/02/2003 19:15

Mears - or anyone else - not relevant to this thread but I've asked this question before & never got an answer - where does the expression 'I fell pregnant' - come from? I am genuinely interested (sad, I know!!).

jasper · 16/02/2003 20:55

Lindy I have always wondered that too and thought it was a Scottish thing but I take it it's not?

I have heard many women say "I Fell" without even adding the word pregnant.
Always makes me laugh.

zebra · 16/02/2003 22:00

Problems getting pregnant? More like problems not getting pregnant for me, LOL. DD resulted from a one off lapse in birth control when I had only had 2 periods since the birth of DS (who I was still breastfeeding 9x/day, of course...).

susanmt · 16/02/2003 22:30

I also conceived while bf, though gave up at about 8 weeks pg when dd rejected the breast all together. I had heard that being pg can change the taste of the milk and wondered if that was why she gave up. As this is how she finally stopped have no idea at all how to ever stop milkaholic ds from bf (as I'm not planing any more children!!)

mears · 16/02/2003 23:06

Lindy - I don't know where that phrase came from. Another phrase that makes me laugh is relatives phoning to ask if the mum is "better yet", meaning has she had the baby. Implies she was sick in the first place.

mears · 16/02/2003 23:13

I looked up the dictionary and the word 'fall' has 51 definitions. No. 26 meaning is - Brit dialect. to become pregnant.
There you go..

WideWebWitch · 17/02/2003 00:05

Down here in Devon the phrase for getting pregnant seems to be "catch" as in " I didn't catch this month" weird too!

DadAtHome · 17/02/2003 13:05

Does anybody know what are the known facts about continuing to breast feed a 7 month old baby girl during a subsequent, second pregnancy (we are now expecting our 2nd and want to know whether to completely stop breast feeding our 7 month old for the sake of Mum and the new baby inside her !). At present our 7 month old has a breast feed in the morning (7am) and at night (7pm) - she is 6.995kg and very happy and healthy -she was born three weeks early at 3.05 kg. Any advice very gratefully received, thanking you for your time.
Andy

Alibubbles · 17/02/2003 13:43

Dadtahome, see my post further down. I don't know of any reasons why you shouldn't or rather why your DW shouldn't continue to feed you DD1. I know of a few people who have continued to feed toddler and new baby for a long time, continuously feeding for about 3 years!

bundle · 17/02/2003 18:18

Have you seen this on limiting how much tuna you should eat when you're breastfeeding or trying to conceive? more stuff to worry about!

Eulalia · 17/02/2003 20:06

That's me Allibubbles - trying to stop with eldest who is now 3.5 but he still wants at night and the morning. dd aged 10 months still feeds a lot too.

Dadathome - breastfeeding will make no difference for the baby inside. If you see my post further down it may make mum a bit uncomfortable. However 2 feeds a day doesn't sound much so she may as well carry on. Seems a shame to stop before your dd reaches a year as she will still be getting so many benefits from it (and save you the cost of buying formula).

Eulalia · 17/02/2003 20:21

Here is some info -

breastfeeding while pregnant

Eulalia · 17/02/2003 20:21

And tandem feeding

forest · 18/02/2003 13:02

Very odd that this thread has just come up as I have just found out that I am pregnant and I am still demand feeding dd (who is 10 months). I definately want to feed her until a year as it seems stupid to put her onto formula. I am not sure what to do after that.

Does it become harder as your bump gets bigger?

I'm still a bit uncomfortable with the idea of tandem feeding (have read about it), not sure why just am. I suppose I'll see what happens further down the pregnancy. I had never really thought how long I was going to feed dd for - well before I had her it was 6 months until I realised you had to then put them onto formula, call me mean but I didn't want to have to pay for something that was free!!

Eulalia - do other cultures tandem feed? I'm asking you as you seem to know a lot about bf and I'm curious what other cultures do. What age do Asian women bf their children to as they don't tend to drink dairy?

bundle · 18/02/2003 13:19

I stopped dd's final feed when she was nearly 2 which I felt was right for me. I got pregnant a couple of months later and 2nd dd is due beginning of april. This pregnancy has been much more tiring than the first and I'm not sure I could have coped with still feeding dd even though it was just in the mornings, in our bed for a nice cuddle. I didn't want to 'cold turkey' her too close to our 2nd either, so I'm 100% certain I did the right thing stopping when I did but each to their own

bundle · 18/02/2003 13:19

oh and forest I forgot to say congratulations!

SofiaAmes · 18/02/2003 21:21

congrats forest. There are lots of threads on the subject...do a search! But in the meantime, I think you can do it as long as you feel comfortable. I had to stop bfing my ds when I got pregnant with my dd as after a month or so my breasts got really sore and I was throwing up so much I just couldn't handle it. But my ds was 15 mo. at the time. Also, I went back to work when my ds was 11 mo. and had to cut out the daytime bfing and couldn't produce enough to pump for the whole day. I really didn't want to start formula at that late stage, but did some research and it seemed that although he was a little short of a year it wouldn't be disastrous to start cow's milk with a few meals a little early. I gave it to him in a sippee cup so that he never did get a bottle and I never had to wean him off one. good luck.

Eulalia · 18/02/2003 22:15

Congratulations forest!

I didn't find b/feeding hard with a bump and that was with a big child. You can always feed lying down. My ds was big enough to stand between my knees. The hardest was actually at the beginning when my breasts were tender but this went away in the 2nd trimester.

Why not feed dd for a year anyway (no formula costs) and then see how you feel then? This still gives you a bit of time to wean her if you want.

I am not sure about how many other cultures tandem feed. In 3rd world countries babies tend to be more spaced anyway. Breastfeeding for them makes them amenorrheic (without periods) for longer than in first world countries. Diet and body fat affects fertility. So it may be that by the time a new baby comes along the older child is weaned anyway. I'll have a look again and see if I find anything.

No more babies yet for me - still no periods... not that I am in a hurry.

All the best.

forest · 18/02/2003 22:55

Thanks for your messages of congratulations.
I will definately feed her for a year as I don't want to give her formula. I hadn't thought of feeding lying down, mind you having only just found out that I am expecting I haven't really thought very much about the practicalities!
I was hoping my periods would stay away longer. In what way does diet and fat affect fertility? I suppose our diet is much richer.
I don't give dd a bottle but she has a beaker which she has water out of - can I put milk in that or does it have to be a cup?
I was pretty sick last time and I am a bit worried about how that is going to affect me and wanting to feed dd.
Oh well, I'll just have to see what happens. Don't think it would be fair to her to wean her yet. Actually, I feel quite upset at the thought of weaning her.

Joe1 · 18/02/2003 23:25

congratulations Forest. I fed my ds until I was around 7 months pregnant and ds was nearly two, didnt have any problems and often fed lying down, perhaps just keep feeding until you both feel like stopping, I think putting a time on it makes it sad.

mears · 18/02/2003 23:32

Congratualtions Forest. I weaned no.2 at 101/2 months because I felt so hellish being pregnant. I was 3 months pregnant at the time and he wasn't bothered about feeding otherwise I would have continued. I was particularly sick until 4 months with no.3. Because I knew I would be feeding again soon I wasn't too concerned by stopping. I did not give formula at all. I have to say if I had known then what I know now about breastfeeding I would have tried harder to continue.

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