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Infant feeding

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

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Original poster

Anything I should know about breastfeeding while pregnant?

21 replies

whattheheck · 30/09/2009 20:46

Says it all really....Rather surprised to find myself preggers - DD still bfeeding at 7 months. Is there anything I should be aware of/doing....?

OP posts:

thisisyesterday · 30/09/2009 20:48

well...
nearly all women find their milk supply drops at some point so you may find that your dd ups her feeds.
it can make feeding quite painful, or sore.

that's about it though, plenty of people carry on and then tandem feed when new baby arrives.
some children self-wean due to the low milk supply (my ds2 did )

theyoungvisiter · 30/09/2009 20:54

buy "adventures in tandem feeding" by Hilary Flowers (it might be on amazon but I got it from La Leche League). It is brilliant and will answer all your questions. It's also not at all preachy and offers good tips for cutting down if you decide to do that, and gives advice on the few situations when tandem nursing might be inadvisable (mainly when you are carrying multiples).)

I found it invaluable in dealing with issues I wouldn't have known about (shocking braxton hicks and DS1 getting mild diarrhoea when the colostrum came in, spring to mind.) It also really gave me the confidence to carry on when my booking MW told me I had to stop!!

(Be aware some health professionals may be very rude/dismissive - so arm yourself with your own information and make up your own mind)

theyoungvisiter · 30/09/2009 20:56

I should say, although it's called adventures in tandem feeding, it's actually mainly about feeding while pregnant.

theyoungvisiter · 30/09/2009 20:58

sorry, just googled - it's called Adventures in Tandem nursing.

here.

Ignore the dreadful cover (unfortunately there are more dreadful illustrations inside but the text more than makes up for it)

Someone on here - policywonk I think - recommended it to me when I was first pg and it was one of the best things I bought.

theyoungvisiter · 30/09/2009 20:59

PS Congratulations!

Tiredmumofdjandbabies · 30/09/2009 21:03

I had two sore spells when bf when pregnant it was ouchy and I have not got good sensation in that area

but I persevered and still bf lots and had a 9 pounder

whomovedmychocolate · 30/09/2009 21:07

People will be utterly stunned esp. midwives and either treat you like a freak or an uber-mummy. Neither is a great experience.

However it can be an amazing experience and does wonders for decreasing sibling rivalry.

I fed through pregnancy and tandem fed for over a year. I think DD has now pretty much self weaned (she's nearly 3.)

Learn to ignore the naysayers and enjoy your pregnancy and your daughter Congratulations!

thisisyesterday · 30/09/2009 21:09

or do what i did and just don't tell people!

theyoungvisiter · 30/09/2009 21:14

I didn't tell anyone.

I only told the booking in midwife because she asked me how long I'd fed my first baby and I couldn't think what to say, so I said "er, I kind of... still am... er...".

It was mainly her reaction that convinced me not to tell anyone else, although in fact I think the midwife who eventually delivered DS2 would have been very supportive.

LatinDAISYcal · 30/09/2009 21:16

It can make feeding toe curlingly painful and also make you feel incredibly nauseous when actually feeding, but both of those pass after the morning sickness phase passes. I think sore nips comes back towards the end of your pregnancy, but like TIY, my DD self weaned due to a very early dip in my supply at around two months pregnant when she was 11ish months. I really wanted to carry on and to tandem nurse as well.

The early pregnancy tiredness seemed to be even more all consuming than previously, but that might have just been being pregnant and running around after a lively crawler/toddler though

There is some information on kellymom but I'd also recommend "adventures in tandem nursing"

Congratulations and Good Luck; it gets easier when the baby is about 10 months old

whomovedmychocolate · 30/09/2009 21:29

Oh and it's bloody hard to breastfeed with a large bump - and a falling off toddler will often ensure attachment with teeth

Babieseverywhere · 30/09/2009 21:44

Congratulations on your new pregnancy

Experiences can vary a lot. I had slight soreness at 8 weeks which went away. I had milk throughout (or if I didn't it didn't affect my breastfeeding toddler) and no pain.

I found underarm rugby hold (my favourite nursing position) the most comfortable whilst having a massive bump.

I am happily tandem nursing 14 month old DS and 3.2 year old DD. Tandem nursing rocks

HumphreyCobbler · 30/09/2009 21:52

I was obviously the subject of some discussion by my midwifery team, "Oh YOU'RE the one....."

The midwife in charge when I had dd came to me and asked
"How does it work then?"
I was somewhat confused but muttered something about the newborn's nutritional needs taking precedence. I thought she would have known tbh.

Otherwise people were ok with it (I was confident all was well, mainly through coming on here), apart from one midwife who asked how I made sure that the toddler didn't take all the milk . No idea how supply and demand worked, but I soon enlightened her

Mumsnet has made me so bolshy confident.

HumphreyCobbler · 30/09/2009 21:55

Also I meant to say Congratulations on your pregnancy

Original poster

whattheheck · 01/10/2009 09:50

thank you for all this - am a bit worried because expressing in the morning so DH can do dreamfeed, could usually get 4-5 oz no prob and this has gone down 1-2 oz for the past week or so. Does this mean DD is not getting enough the rest of the time? Might supply come back up? Desperately wanted to feed her for the first year (she's seven months at the mo)

OP posts:

Babieseverywhere · 01/10/2009 09:57

whattheheck, I usually express fine but I got nothing whilst I was pregnant but my toddler still had a mouth of milk at the end of a feed , so I must of still been making plenty of milk.

Don't forget some mums exclusively breastfeed for months and yet can't express a drop.

Original poster

whattheheck · 01/10/2009 10:02

yes she hasn't looked miserable - and still doing about 5-6 feeds a day - but was just worried that i wd be about to find down the line she was missing out on enough milk...

OP posts:

MummyWantsANewBag · 07/10/2009 14:40

I should have done a search before posting my thread whattheheck, sounds like we're in the same boat!
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/breast_and_bottle_feeding/839105-Just-found-out-I-39-m-pregnant-still- breastfeeding-advice?msgid=17082623

MummyWantsANewBag · 07/10/2009 14:41

sorry here

LeninGhoul · 07/10/2009 14:43

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

denialandpanic · 09/10/2009 16:00

posted earlier ina panic before I saw this. I am pregnant ? weeks dc2 is 16 weeks has been fussy and demanding since saturday asumed it was growth spurt now worried about supply. It will come back yes? He has only had a bottle of expressed milk maybe three times as I haven't got on well with pumping with two kids DC1 is 2 and 3/4. oh god three...........

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