Milk All Gone..and won't drink much of anything

[Grandmomof4]

Posting as a mom/grandma...

My DD is BFing her 13-month-old DD (she BF'd her son until he was almost 3)...she got pregnant in late November (she is currently 10.5 weeks). It was a surprise BFP - she had to have medical help to conceive the other 2 children, and since she was BFing, never thought she'd get pregnant. OOPS! LOL!

She's very happy about the miracle pregnancy, but unfortunately, when the baby nurses, nothing comes out anymore. My granddaughter has weaned herself down to a 1 time nursing session in the morning, but it's mostly for comfort. She was very upset at first, biting her mommy and crying, but now has resigned herself to the fact that mommy's milk is all gone.

But she hates milk. DD has tried to give it to her in 100 ways. The only way she'll take it is with cereal. On a positive note, she loves cottage cheese, cheese, yogurt, and calcium rich foods. She takes a Vitamin D supplement. But my DD's concern is fluid intake - she's not wetting as many diapers. She will drink water from a cup, but nothing else. She also loves Jello.

I think she's doing fine, but DD is worried that she's not getting enough fluid since she cannot nurse anymore.

What do you think? And any suggestions on encouraging more fluids/fluid foods?

TIA!

 

[Here_we_go]

I keep a water sippy cup out for my daughter all day long so she can drink when she chooses. My daughter doesn't seem to like any juice so far but as long as she's at least getting water and eating well, I'm happy. We're still breastfeeding in the morning and at night but that's about it. She eats plain full fat yogurt, veggies, chicken, breads, etc.

It sounds like your grandbaby is eating a good variety. Perhaps try one of the toddler drinks if you're really worried or try another type of milk. I myself HATE regular milk. I love almond milk, haven't tried soy and the only way I'll drink regular cow's milk is with chocolate.

 

[Grandmomof4]

Thanks for the input!

DD leaves a water sippy out for her and she will drink at will.

And yes, she has an excellent diet - she's a champion eater (loves healthy food...go figure for a toddler!)...

Unfortunately she's not into the toddler drinks (i.e., Pediasure) - even chocolate, nor will she drink chocolate milk. But the almond milk sounds like a good idea to try!

By the way, I love soy vanilla milk (you said you had not tried soy) - it's pretty good!

 

[MommyJogger]

I'm recently going through something similar; almost 9 weeks pregnant and I have very little milk production at this point. As long as she has access to water, it would be the very rare toddler that would let herself dehydrate. When toddlers are nursing as frequently as my DS (and it sounds like your DGD) was, they're getting a lot of liquid calories. Which more often than not will mean that they're getting more fluids than they necessarily need to thrive. My son's wet diapers have dropped, but he still has several in a day. If that's true of your DGD, she's otherwise happy, and doesn't seem to have any other symptoms of dehydration, then most likely she'll be fine. Hugs to your daughter. It's such an emotional thing to start drying up in pregnancy before you're really ready to. You hear all these stories about women who had lots of milk throughout the pregnancy and it's a little heartbreaking when it just doesn't work out that way. I hope she has a happy and healthy 9 months!

 

[Grandmomof4]

I'm recently going through something similar; almost 9 weeks pregnant and I have very little milk production at this point. As long as she has access to water, it would be the very rare toddler that would let herself dehydrate. When toddlers are nursing as frequently as my DS (and it sounds like your DGD) was, they're getting a lot of liquid calories. Which more often than not will mean that they're getting more fluids than they necessarily need to thrive. My son's wet diapers have dropped, but he still has several in a day. If that's true of your DGD, she's otherwise happy, and doesn't seem to have any other symptoms of dehydration, then most likely she'll be fine. Hugs to your daughter. It's such an emotional thing to start drying up in pregnancy before you're really ready to. You hear all these stories about women who had lots of milk throughout the pregnancy and it's a little heartbreaking when it just doesn't work out that way. I hope she has a happy and healthy 9 months!

Thanks so much!

I agree; I think DD is mostly feeling guilty (of course she has no reason to, but as you know, that's just how you feel) that she cannot breastfeed anymore and it was not her (or DGD's) choice...and feels she is depriving DGD. She's emotional from that, plus the pregnancy hormones...I can only imagine. DD was never an optimum milk producer even when not pregnant; just enough to nurse - she could not pump & store extra.

DGD is very happy and healthy (battling a cold, but it doesn't stop her...LOL)...she's our peanut-girl...tiny and red-headed and full of fire!

Congratulations on your pregnancy! Sounds like you're due a couple weeks later than my DD (DD is due 8/24, but scheduling c-section around 8/17). Hugs to you too - was your BFP a surprise?

 

[MommyJogger]

Thanks so much!

I agree; I think DD is mostly feeling guilty (of course she has no reason to, but as you know, that's just how you feel) that she cannot breastfeed anymore and it was not her (or DGD's) choice...and feels she is depriving DGD. She's emotional from that, plus the pregnancy hormones...I can only imagine. DD was never an optimum milk producer even when not pregnant; just enough to nurse - she could not pump & store extra.

DGD is very happy and healthy (battling a cold, but it doesn't stop her...LOL)...she's our peanut-girl...tiny and red-headed and full of fire!

Congratulations on your pregnancy! Sounds like you're due a couple weeks later than my DD (DD is due 8/24, but scheduling c-section around 8/17). Hugs to you too - was your BFP a surprise?

Yeah, the pregnancy hormones are killer. It's funny how much you forget how much they can affect you until you're in the middle of the storm again. I don't remember being like this through DS's pregnancy, but DH tells me he can't really tell the difference between that pregnancy and this one in terms of emotional expression on my part. Breaking down a little each night after DS goes to bed has been on the regular schedule for a few weeks now. I hope your DD/DGD can continue to dry nurse for the emotional aspect of it and maybe her daughter would like to continue to nurse once her milk comes back in (either colostrum around 20 weeks or after delivery), but being where she is, I completely get how difficult it is to keep going when there's so much pain involved and not as much of an obvious benefit as there was when milk was coming out.
Our bfp was very planned-- we'd said we wanted as close to a two-year age gap as possible. I started having doubts when ttc time came around, knowing how much DS still liked his milk and knowing that pregnancy could affect that nursing relationship, but I was such an over-producer of milk, I'd had myself convinced that I'd surely be one of the women to produce throughout the pregnancy. Such is life, I suppose. It'll all fade away into a distant memory when we watch our little nurslings bonding with the new family member and playing together when they're older. It'll feel worth it, I suppose, is how I look forward to it.

 

[diggory77]

She'll be getting lots of water through her excellent diet of veggies and as long as she has a full sippy cup of water she'll be fine. Toddlers don't do hunger or thirst well so I'm sure she'll pick up her intake in time xxx