Breastfeeding through pregnancy - milk supply?

[jess348]

Can anyone tell me what happened to their milk supply during pregnancy?

I'm 11 weeks pregnant and still feeding my 18 month old son - am hoping our feeding will naturally come to an end before the baby arrives...

Would love to hear from anyone whose managed to wean a toddler during pregnancy!

I fed my first throughout my 2nd pregnancy. She was 19 months old when he was born. She was really only having one feed b4 bed for the last 5 months or so. Milk didn't dry up. I was in hospital for 2 days after I gave birth and when I came home she just didn't really look for it.

I’ve just weaned my 2 year old off, although I’m much earlier into my pregnancy than you at 6-7 weeks. I was finding it too painful to feed and getting all the rage (thanks hormones!). We only fed at night and only from about 4am though. I just started resettling him in other ways rather than offering the boob & he’s pretty much accepted it now but we’re up at 5.30am everyday. Wah! It was a very long process that we’d already begun before I fell pregnant though. It was a LONG slog! Hopefully yours will be smoother, he might even stop on his own once you get to the second trimester.

DS1 was 15 months when I realised he wasn't actually requesting a feed, so I cut it down to one in the morning and one before bed. That was fine, and after a week or two of that I just stopped offering altogether. I think we probably replaced that time with cuddles in front of Hey Duggee and that was acceptable!

How many feeds are you doing at the moment?

I didn't dry up but noticed a massive decrease in supply. My 16 month old was only feeding before bed and I was used to a massive supply. The feeling of being empty gave me an awful aversion and I gave up when 17 weeks pregnant, now 23. My LB could take it or leave it tbh. I was hoping to feed him until he was 2 as he has a milk allergy but the amount he was taking before bed was next to nothing anyway. We just altered bedtime routine in a couple of ways so that it wasn't going up to bed like usual them me saying no to boob x

Thanks everyone that's really helpful

When I returned to work he was fine and would just have a feed before bed and to resettle him through the night...

But between lockdown, molars and heatwaves it feels a bit relentless at the moment!

I'm hoping I can just not offer and not refuse and hope he becomes less interested...

I fed my DS throughout my pregnancy (I had hyperemesis and it was horrendous but I battled on because I - possibly erroneously - didn’t want him to feel pushed aside by the “new” coming baby).

I sort of assumed he’d wean himself as I’d read that your milk changes during pregnancy, but nope he carried on, only really having a morning and a night time feed and if he was especially upset over anything he might have an extra one.

Then when my DD was born, I definitely didn’t want him feeling pushed aside seeing her feed so i tandem fed them (!) literally from the time they met in the hospital, for another 8 months or so.

I would have never believed I would do anything like this (!) but at the end of the day, I strongly wanted him to stop when he was ready, not when I chose to stop him.

I actually think they bonded really nicely over feeding together. Sometimes they would hold hands and smile at each other as they fed which was very cute.

He eventually stopped of his own accord when we went on holiday and he was distracted by other things.

I will never regret letting him take the lead on this, I was really glad that he stopped when he was ready.

Sorry if that doesn’t answer your question exactly! I fully expected him to wean whilst I was pregnant but it just never happened!

My 2 year old dd gave up when I was 34 weeks with dd2. This time dd2 gave up when I was around 18 weeks. She’s 3 though and was close to stopping anyway. Both gave up because they wanted to and not because I pushed them so I think my milk must have changed or decreased.

Ds stopped when I was about 25 weeks, he was 2 years 9 months. He was only feeding once every couple of days and had developed a chewy latch and it was painful so I tile him they were broken and no more milk. He still asks and I tell him milk is for babies and he’s not a baby. I don’t think he’s particularly happy about it

My ds self weaned by the time I was 8weeks. I was hoping he'd continue but my supply massively decreased and he obviously decided it wasn't worth the effort. Still mourning the end of it tbh.

Does milk always dry up? I'm 8 weeks along and dd is 11 months so don't want our bf journey to end yet 😔

@Girls3maybe4 mine didn't dry up but definitely dropped in supply. I think everyone is different.
Lots of mums seem to breastfeed with no issues during pregnancy, while some do experience a drop in supply which can cause your baby to stop or it can become too painful if nipples are very sensitive.
I wasn't ready for our journey to end too :(

Ah OK thank you for that she is a real boob monster so I'm quite upset about it fingers crossed I still produce xx

I literally just stopped feeding my 2 year old a couple of days ago. She was only feeding last thing at night at that point anyway, but two days ago she latched off and said 'empty' pointing to the breast. I looked it up and actually it is common for the milk supply to decrease by the 4th month, if not before, due to hormones. It no longer works on a supply and demand basis either so pumping or feeding more often won't make a difference. I think, for me, because I was only feeding once a day anyway, a 'decrease' just meant it almost completely disappeared! My toddler just deemed to rake it in her stride!

I'm here at the moment. DS is 19 mos and still feeding 3 x a day, I'm almost 34 weeks. I have screeching breastfeeding aversion now, not helped by heatwave and teething but I think my supply is still good. I don't want him to feel pushed out so I'm persevering but following the don't offer don't refuse mantra and he has dropped a few feeds lately. I'm sort of hoping he just stops bothering but we'll see. The good thing is that he's extremely efficient and can do a full feed in a few minutes so the teeth gritting aversion is short lived!

But lots of women do keep feeding throughout pregnancy, so a decrease doesn't have to mean it stops altogether. It did for me (almost entirely) but as I said, she was feeding minimally anyway. For those that want to continue, I think the supply picks up again later in pregnancy!

Just wanted to say hi, I'm following with interest. Newly pregnant (5 weeks) and have a 3.5 year old boob monster! Mummy milk seems to still be so important to him, I don't want to take that away from him, especially with all the changes ahead. At the same time I am pretty over it and would happily stop, I don't relish the thought of tandem feeding. I've not noticed any changes yet, and fortunately now pain, but it's still early days. Hoping he will wean by himself, but I doubt it knowing him! 😬

My little boy self weaned when I was about 12 weeks pregnant when I assume my supply dropped, he was 14 months at the time. I'm now 37 weeks and he's starting taking an interest again but I think in a funny way, makes sucky noises hovering above the nipple and laughs but doesn't actually try to feed. If that's the case he'll find it absolutely hilarious when I'm feeding the little one when they arrive.