Breast feeding pregnant

[Roseandharry]

Hey! I'm 8 weeks pregnant with DC2 and currently breastfeeding DC1 who's 7 months. I'm never really sure how much he's getting, so am worried my pregnancy is going to affect my milk production but I won't know how much he's getting. As he's weaned dirty and wet nappies won't help me either as he's obvs getting nutrition from food too. Any ideas?

He'll let you know if he's hungry! You could track his weight a bit more than usual if you have good reasons for concern eg he's already v low on percentiles or very fussy? I have fed through pregnancy, it's worked out fine. Kellymom has good advice for this and also for either tandem feeding (if you want to) or weaning.

It's difficult to tell how much they're getting if weaning. I guess if he doesn't seem satisfied after a feed, trying to feed more etc it might be a sign he's not getting enough. Feeding more won't boost your supply as it normally would. Since he's so young I wonder if it's a good idea to talk to a breastfeeding councillor / local group. I've found my local La Leche League to be very helpful. He might need formula top ups if your milk starts to dry up.

Not quite comparable as my DD is 22 months but I'm currently 18 weeks pregnant. About 4 weeks ago she was starting to get quite upset whilst feeding and we stopped completely about 2 weeks ago - so I think 14-16 weeks is when mine dried up.

I know some feed throughout pregnancy but most experience dips / complete stopping of their supply before colostrum starts being produced.

Your milk supply is likely to reduce, or dry up completely during your pregnancy. It doesn’t always happen but around 70% of women experience this. I fell pregnant when my little one was 7 months and noticed a big difference in my milk supply by 7-8 weeks - I couldn’t hear her swallowing after the first minute or so, so knew she wasn’t getting much. I was getting her weighted every fortnight and she started dropping centiles so that also was a sign. Unfortunately I had a miscarriage at 11 weeks but if I hadn’t I would have had to consider alternatives as food only provides 25% of their calorie intake at this stage. You may be one of the lucky ones, but you will need to consider what you would like to do if your milk does dry up. Speaking to a breastfeeding sounds like a good idea.

Good luck with your pregnancy!