Pregnant while breastfeeding

[ThomasinaLivesHere]

Anyone pregnant and still breastfeeding?
When do you plan to stop with current child or do you? Also interested to hear from those who’ve been through this.

I didn’t think I would still be breastfeeding but it’s hard to stop. There’s so much material on how to start but I never thought it would be difficult to stop. My child gets really grumpy and it gets him to sleep which I know is a bad habit but it’s been our routine since birth. Perhaps I just need to endure a week or more of terrible moods and nights to stop. I’ve heard some babies just loose interest but I can’t see that happening. My child is over 18 months.

I was initially pregnant and breastfeeding, albeit not a lot, just in the evening before my son went to bed. He was 3 and a half at the time. Nature just sorted things out for me, my supply just seemed to dry up in early pregnancy… my son said it tasted funny and he wasn’t really getting any out, so that was that. Before this happened I would try not to offer him the breast anymore and only did if he specifically asked for it. We would also get my husband to go to bed with him some nights so he wasn't breastfeeding every night to try and lessen the amount. It also became a little painful during pregnancy so sometimes I would say it hurts mummy so I can’t do it, which he was old enough to understand and we would cuddle or hold hands to sleep instead.

I breastfed my 2.5 year old until I was about 28 weeks pregnant. I explained that we needed to save the milk for the baby, and he gradually weaned himself without tears. I never thought it would happen! We were only doing bedtime feeds and nighttime feeds if he woke. We also bought books about weaning which also helped I think.

I'm pregnant and still breastfeeding. He still have roughly 4/5 feeds sometimes 6

Also recommend Emma Pickett, an IBCLC on Instagram who specialises in weaning from breastfeeding.

Thanks for replies - really useful!

I'm also pregnant (32 weeks) and still breastfeeding my 2 year old DD. The initial latching was very painful up until about 25 weeks, but the pain has finally subsided, and she definitely spent a while 'dry feeding', which is quite common as your milk dries up. Thankfully my colostrum has kicked in, so she's feeding well again (although it does cause loose poos). Apparently it's very common for little ones to give up during the dry feeding stage, as they're literally getting nothing out, and I was content to be led by my daughter, but she stuck with it. So I'm now hoping that being able to still feed her when baby is born will help with the toddler jealously, so we still have that closeness just us. I also didn't want to tell her that she can't have it as it's now for the baby, as that would likely feed her feelings of being left out/usurped by the new arrival (although how I manage feeding two is another matter!), so being led by her was important to me.

Having said all of that, It isn't clear from your message if you want to stop? It's entirely your decision - there are lots of ways to slowly wean off of the breast if you want to. You don't say how pregnant you are, but I'm assuming early-ish by your post, so there's still time and as your little one is 18 months they should be able to understand that your milk has just dried up and not there anymore (if that's what you want to tell them). I'm not sure I would say it's because of the baby though as they're being taught that nice things are being taken from them and being given to the baby instead, which I don't think is the right message.

I’m 11 weeks pregnant and still breastfeeding my 16 month old who is an absolute boob monster.
I do find some days painful, but manage to grit my teeth through it.
I intend on weaning her over the summer holidays, when I will have 6 weeks off work, but I am preparing myself for a hard time as she would feed all day if I let her. When I’m in work and she’s in nursery she does only feed of a morning and when we get home, but she does still feed a lot through the night and I also use it to settle her to bed. Weekends are another thing and she is on my all day if we’re at home, but is easily distracted when we’re out and about.

I fed DC1 until about 3 weeks after DC2 was born. (DC1 was almost 3). She had been gradually losing interest and one day fed when I had lanisoh cream on and decided not to feed again.

DC2 is still feeding at 4. I feel he should really stop now but he is not keen! I haven't tried that hard to wean yet. Will look at the links posted above.

I was also worried about "blaming" the baby for the milk going, and held off saying that the baby needed it for about 6 months, but tried it after another mum suggested it. I was careful to begin by talking about what babies need etc separately, read the weaning books, started introducing some gentle boundaries around how long he could feed for (once it got too much I did a countdown and then asked him to come off which he went along with) and gradually introduced the idea of saving my milk for the baby but only if he agreed ("shall we save it for the baby"?). If he'd have objected I would have dropped it, but he totally accepted it and is very sweet about the bump/baby (I'm now 33 weeks). There are lots of gentle ways of weaning if that's what your decide to do, hopefully this thread will give you a few ideas to try.