To stop breastfeeding now I'm pregnant

[excitedbutindecisive]

I've just found out I'm pregnant (early days) and I'm still breastfeeding my 10 month old twice a day morning & bedtime. He gets one bottle of formula during the day and loves it. What are people's thoughts on breastfeeding while pregnant? I feel like I should stop to give this pregnant the best possible chance to progress! Or maybe cut down to one feed? I don't want to be breastfeeding when heavily pregnant either but don't feel ready to stop immediately either. TIA xxx

I stopped when I was 6m pregnant (my milk dried up). There is no reason why you need to stop, it won't affect your pregnancy. As long as you're still happy to carry on.

Congratulations BTW! I hope you're feeling well x

I dont understand how breastfeeding would stop your new pregnancy from progressing?

Apart from that i would say just do what you are comfortable with. Its still a long time until the new baby is born and if you only feed teice a day now, then it will be quick to wean full if you want to. I would probably continue like this for a while and reduce to one feed when you are ready. Once you are down to one feed i would probably keep it up for as long as youre comfortable.

@excitedbutindecisive I'm also pregnant with a 10 month old and am carrying on feeding her

Thanks for the replies. @LilaButterfly
I suppose I'm just a bit anxious of putting my body under the demands of growing one baby and feeding another!!

@musicalfrog @mrssunshinexxx nice to hear you have successfully done both. Did you take any extra vitamins or have an increased appetite?

Congratulations!
I'd go with how you feel. From personal experience I stopped years before my second pregnancy. I'm 10 weeks now and I can hardly touch my boobs they've been so sensitive! I think it would be really difficult the physical aspect of BFing, it may become super uncomfortable?
Why not try just dropping to one feed as your 10m gets towards 1y? The last one I dropped was bedtime.

I can't remember really tbh it was a while ago. But if you think it will help then do get yourself some vitamins and extra calories your body is amazing, and capable of so much, but a treat is nice as well.

It's really, really unlikely that breastfeeding while pregnant will have any effect on your current pregnancy.
My experience is that by 20 weeks there wasn't a whole lot of milk there anyway, and by 35 weeks or so, it was so uncomfortable I went to some lengths to avoid feeding (and dd told me "the brown milk is yucky").
That was just a pause, and both children fed when my milk was back in.
At 10 months you are so close to not needing to use formula that it would be a shame to introduce more imo.

Have a look at a woman called Laura Clery on Facebook. She breastfed her toddler all through her second pregnancy and is tandem feeding now.

Keep going as long as you want. If you at least get to 12 months then you can switch to cows milk in cups so not bother with bottles or formula.

@excitedbutindecisive I just take the healthy vitamins folic acid and vit d and some others I've been taking them daily for bloody ages now since before I got pregnant with dd. V nauseous in most of First trimester but appetite coming back now, I did experience BF aversion for a few weeks but I just grit my teeth and got on with it

Congratulations!
Eat to your hunger, drink lots of water.
And go with how you feel. Trust your body and just go with it.

No need to stop unless you have any risk factors (see Kelly mom for what those are) - I did both then oldest dd self weaned later in my pg. no issues at all for the vast majority of pg mums with continuing to bf

It's fine to breastfeed while pregnant, I've don't it twice until my dc naturally weaned which coincided with second trimester because they were 2/3 years old.

I’ve fed through two pregnancies despite my milk starting to run out at about 16 weeks. My DD kept comfort feeding throughout my pregnancy with my DS. With this pregnancy, as soon as my milk started to run out my DS lost interest and self weaned.

As your LO is only 10 months, I’d be inclined to at least continue for another two months.

I bf both a toddler and a newborn. My milk never dried up and didn't have to wait for my milk to come in. I was at a slightly higher risk of premature birth due to other medical reasons and the doctors said I could continue feeding. I eventually weaned toddler when baby was about 6 months. And I'm still feeding baby atm. Nearly 4 continuous years I've been feeding for. Aiming to wean in the next coming months.

You can keep going if you like, it shouldn't affect this pregnancy as long as there are no other risk factors. Lots of people dry up in pregnancy anyway and their existing child naturally self weans. Unfortunately, this was not the case for my DD, so I fed throughout pregnancy. No issues for baby #2- he was born two weeks later and 2 lbs heavier than my first. I think it has helped them bond and very much helped my eldest feel part of things and not as jealous as she might have been of her brother.

That said, if you want to wean then go for it. The gentlest way is probably to offer bottle before boob for all three feeds. As your milk supply decreases, the bottle will become the more attractive prospect.

I'm BF whilst 9 weeks pregnant. It's horrendous, very sore. But it won't risk your pregnancy. So continue of you like but beware of nipples feeling like they've been removed by razors!!

It won't affect your pregnancy in any way but it hurts your nipples! Your supply might reduce later on as well (mine did) but if it was me I would carry on til at least 1 then see how you feel. I bf all the way through my pregnancy and am now feeding my toddler and 2 month old and its lovely, their bond is amazing and its helped my toddler adjust so much

My DD was 8 months when I found out I was pregnant. She had recently started one bottle of formula a day (which with hindsight I didn't need to introduce but FTM and thought I did).

Anyway, I found she gradually self weaned from that point. Not sure if it was the bottle, that my milk tasted different or if it was drying up.

I think she was 10/11 months when she stopped entirely.

Tandem feeding wasn't for me and I wanted to leave a gap between stopping feeding her and starting to feed DS, so I am sure I could have done more to stop her weaning but for me it was the right time.

She did take a big interest when DS was born and wanted to have some milk again herself, but it was very easily managed without causing any upset.

Congrats! I fell pregnant with #2 when my DD was 10 months. She went off the boob before I even had a positive test. Dropped down to morning and night by herself, then just morning and finally gave up herself at 13 months. Was pretty emotional, worried I had not been considering her and her needs when trying for #2. I'm glad we got to a year and she was perfectly happy stopping. Now she has Alpro Soya toddler milk in the morning and at bedtime and loves it. I would have been happy to keep going right to the end and had been researching tandem feeding but it wasn't to be. I would imagine that the amount you're feeding just morning and night isn't a massive strain on your body. I didn't consider for a second whether it would affect the pregnancy.

I found out I was pregnant when my DS was 10 months. Carried on feeding until he was 13 months and I was 16 weeks or so because my milk was drying up and he started biting as he wasn't getting enough anymore. Worked out pretty well as he certainly doesn't miss it now and is very happy with cow's milk and I've got a nice few months off before #2 arrives! Congrats on your pregnancy x

I got pregnant with DC2 when DC1 was 7 months and I was still breastfeeding.

DC1 self weaned when I was 12 weeks pregnant, I don't think he was getting much at that stage.

I wish he'd carried on, as pretty much the minute he stopped breastfeeding the most horrendous pregnancy sickness kicked in. I thought I'd got away with it at 12 weeks.

I breastfed the whole way through my first pregnancy and tandem fed for 3 months and then again fed half way through my third pregnancy at which point my toddler self weaned.

My midwife explained that essentially the body prioritises the growing baby, then milk production and then you get the left over nutrients. So the baby will be absolutely fine, but your own health and energy will suffer if you're not careful to eat a nutritious diet.

I breastfed my 2 year old until about 8 months pregnant, one day he just said 'yuk' and didn't want to feed again and so I wonder if the milk changed for the new baby at around that point.

I didn't think I would be able to carry on feeding for that long as I was huge but it seemed to be okay and wasn't uncomfortable.