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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Pregnant and BF 15 month old

15 replies

Starrysky812 · 11/03/2024 14:33

I'm still BF my DD 15 months, and we have just found out we're expecting or second. I would like to think about beginning to wean her reasonably soon and would love to hear any experiences or tips. She has probably 2-5 feeds in the day depending on what we're doing, and can often feed a lot overnight, as she's not a good sleeper.

I'm also wondering if I'm still okay to BF while pregnant as I believe that things like colostrum harvesting shouldn't be done before 36 weeks as the nipple stimulation and hormones released can kick start labour. I'm still super early but wouldn't want to be doing anything that might have an impact on my pregnancy. I do know though that a lot of women BF through pregnancy and even tandem nurse when new baby comes, so I'm guessing it's safe. Does anyone have any advice on this?

Thank you in advance 🙏❤️

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Starrysky812 · 11/03/2024 19:19

Anyone have any advice? 🙏

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Catsinaflat · 11/03/2024 19:32

I didn't stop breastfeeding when pregnant with dc 2 and dc 3. My dc 3 was two weeks overdue.
I think the taste of the milk changes and also there are times when it was a bit uncomfortable but not enough to stop. Dc1 tandem nursed with dc2 and dc2 tamdem nursed with dc3. There is two years between them all.

Flittingaboutagain · 11/03/2024 19:37

La Leche League have good info.

Tandem feeding two here. I fed all the way through pregnancy. It's perfectly safe because you're not harvesting colostrum, you're just continuing to produce milk. Your body is all geared up to feed another one if you want to. Many women experience a natural hormonal drop in supply in the second trimester and then it's up to you dry nurse or not before milk returns in the third trimester. You don't need to wean early or purposefully it'll happen naturally when your supply dips and you can go from there...

Congratulations!

mrssunshinexxx · 11/03/2024 19:37

I bf all the way through 2 pregnancy and tandem fed, it's not dangerous

Catsinaflat · 11/03/2024 19:40

Not sure what advice I can give. I didn't encourage nor did I discourage bf through pregnancy. When new baby arrived they got first go because "They need to grow as big and strong as you" It worked well for us. There wasn't any sibling rivalry between them (although there was in later years haha).

justanotherlaura · 11/03/2024 19:44

I was feeding when I got pregnant, he was 12 months at the time. I had been thinking of stopping around the 14/15 month mark anyway so I dropped his morning feed then the overnight feeds and we were just doing the bedtime feed when around 16 weeks I developed a massive aversion to feeding and I had to just stop.

One night I came down and told my husband I wouldn't be feeding him tomorrow night. I was devastated as it felt like such a bad ending to a successful journey but he was absolutely fine with it, I just changed to rocking him to sleep for a few nights and he didn't even really look for a feed at all

Starrysky812 · 11/03/2024 20:43

Thank you ladies. This is really reassuring. I was having some cramps tonight while doing bedtime feed and was worrying!

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Starrysky812 · 11/03/2024 20:46

@justanotherlaura how did he cope with no overnight feeds? Did you use any specific techniques to settle him overnight when you decided you were stopping overnight feeds? My DD wakes often overnight and always looks for the breast - if I didn't give it she would be incredibly angry and upset!

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Flittingaboutagain · 11/03/2024 20:58

Natural term night weaning is around 18 months so you're very likely to find at the point where you're not up for night feeds your little one is ok just with a bedtime and morning feed anyway.

MrsTrue · 11/03/2024 21:08

I was BF when I got pregnant and stopped when I was around 3-4 months and DD was 17 months. I'd reduced feeds before then and hubby took on bedtime and night wakes to help. We gave jersey milk as an alternative, and she thankfully loved it (much better than whole milk!). I was exhausted so needed to find a way to get a bit more sleep. We had a few days between feeds a couple of times, but then that seemed to upset her more, so I ended up having to go cold turkey.

One thing I didn't realise is I should've been taking folic acid when BF, so make sure you take it if you aren't already. No issues here, but good to know you're doing everything you can for your new arrival.

Also, be prepared for a hormonal rollercoaster if you do decide to stop, I had a couple of weeks of being a horrendous person to be around. I found it SO worse than the postpartum hormones!

justanotherlaura · 11/03/2024 22:03

@Starrysky812 when he woke up overnight I would rock him in my arms and he'd fall asleep, he wasn't hungry, he just needed the comfort so was happy with just a cuddle thankfully.

I had read before I tried that you can build up to stopping by rocking them for longer periods before offering milk so might be worth a try if she's really wanting the feed

TwylaSands · 11/03/2024 22:04

My dd‘s last bf was the night before my second was born. She naturally stopped due to the colostrum. It is fine to continue.

Starrysky812 · 11/03/2024 23:52

@justanotherlaura thanks I will try rocking a bit longer before giving her a feed (if she'll accept that - she's always very confident going in herself if it's not coming as quickly as she'd like it to!)

@Flittingaboutagain that's interesting, I didn't know that. Hopefully that'll make the transition smoother if she's "ready" for it 🤞

@MrsTrue I hadn't heard of jersey milk but I've googled it now and it seems like a good option. DD really isn't interested in cows milk so will give this a try! I've been taking folic acid daily since before DD was born so all good there. Thanks for the warning on the hormones. I can imagine it must be an emotional time with the changes that stopping brings, plus pregnancy, plus the end of something we've been doing together just the two of us, since the day she was born. I can imagine I'm going to find it pretty tough 😢

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Aubyone · 12/03/2024 19:16

Hi, so I'm just a few months ahead of you. Found out i was pregnant when my son was 15mo in January, am now about 13w pregnant and he's almost 18mo. In January i was still feeding him about 4 times per 24hr including bedtime and once overnight. We're now down to 1-2 times a day and are fully night weaned.

As others have said, definitely no worries about breastfeeding in pregnancy. Its completely different to people being advised to not harvest colostrum or pump: thats assuming they aren't already used to the nipple stimulation from feeding. My midwife and GP have said absolutely no problem to feed however long I want to.

I was really worried about nipple soreness and aversion as I heard they were common in pregnancy, but its not been too bad - it has got painful when he initially latches and I have to make sure his latch is really good, otherwise it hurts. But generally just for a couple of seconds and manageable.

I would strongly recommend priorising night weaning if you can, as it really really helps if you can get some better sleep. I was terrified of this as for months he'd been refusing to settle for Dad but he took it WAY better than I expected. For about 2 weeks, i purposely fed him for less time each night, until I would only feed him a for a couple of minutes each side and then rocked him. He often protested for a minute but then calmed down and let me rock to sleep. Then next step, I just removed myself from nights completely. I still fed at bedtime but husbnd responded to all wakes. First night he complained (baby not hubby!) and then second night was fine with it. Third night he slept 7.30-5.30 for the first time ever! It hasn't been totally smooth sailing, he's been teething so has had some nights with multiple wakes but only once (in about 6 weeks now) have I had to step in. I'd say night weaning has improved his sleep and its made a world of difference to me! I literally sleep in the spare room and put earplugs and whitw noise on and often now I have a full nights sleep which is incredibly helpful when dealing with first trimester woes!

We've recently managed to drop the bedtime feed, he will now have a big sippy cup of milk before bed (although we've had to push bedtime back and sometimes it is a struggle but he doesn't seem tooo bothered about no boob).

Good luck! Its absolutely do able to feed, also doable to wean. I was hoping we'd have fully weaned by now but actually I'm still enjoying the couple of feeds we have left, and also I've found my hormones have been ALL over the place with some really low moods which I don't know if its pregnancy or weaning hormones! But just a heads up, the hormones can really impact some women.

Take care, its no mean feat growing a baby and feeding a baby! I've been proud of my body these last few months.

Starrysky812 · 14/03/2024 22:50

@Aubyone hello and thank you for your helpful comment. It's really interesting to hear your experience and gives me hope! I spoke to another mum on here a couple of months ago who also stepped away from overnight wake ups and her husband took over - she also said that her little one slept through after this. Once the baby realises there's nothing worth waking up for (ie no boob comfort), they just don't wake up as much! It seems that night weaning might be the answer - I need to do something over the coming months as she's such a terrible sleeper and wakes so often, I couldn't possibly cope with this when new baby comes. She'll be nearly 2 when that happens so hopefully I've got time to make some good changes and she'll be a bit older by then.

You're absolutely right - it's amazing what our bodies can do, growing and feeding our babies. You should definitely be proud of yourself! All the best for the rest of your pregnancy. Take care ❤️

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