pregnant and breastfeeding?

[hello_kitty]

I am currently pregnant with my second baby and breastfeeding my first. My first is only 3.5 months old and I would like to breastfeed him for at least 6 months. Did anyone do that while pregnant without any trouble? I've heard of milk drying up or the supply will decrease. I don't want to starve my baby so if I have to, I'll give him formula. I do prefer breastfeeding though. Thanks ladies.

 

[Aphrodite]

I think its fine. I breastfed for 2 months while pregnant from 8-10 months. Some people say the taste changes but it didnt put my son off. Didnt no I was pregnant anyway!! Congrats btw, what will ur age gap be? 17 months between mine x

 

[hello_kitty]

They will be 11 months apart

 

[Dk1234]

Id say you can make it to 6 months but if you are like me it'll be hard and you won't make it much longer. When you have a super young lo its much harder because they need so much milk.

I am 14 weks pregnant on Friday and LO is 7.5 months. I have been giving him a bottle at bedtime for a month or so and now he gets a bottle at one of his naps too. My supply is pretty much gonna be gone in a couple weeks at this rate.

I have a ton of ebm though so i am mixing it with formula.

 

[AC1987]

what!? you too aare pregnant?? oh I'm jealoous ahhaha congrats!!

 

[minties]

I didn't have issues with my toddler going off the taste, or supply slowing down. I had to stop because I just couldn't stand the sensation of nursing. It made me want to scream. It gave me the creeps, I have no idea why.

 

[JessPape]

Its very possible, and woman have successfully breastfeed till birth and than breastfeed both babies. Get on some breast feeding sites, Kelly and LLL are great! Your milk may take a dip at 8 weeks, this is common, continue to nurse and maybe encourage your baby to nurse more. It will come back. Also as your milk changes back to colostrum, 3rd tri, and sometimes earlier. You baby may natural wean (if u decide to go pasted 6 months). Because the tastes changes.

 

[Dk1234]

Even though people have successfully nursed through pregnancy most are mothers to toddlers. Her baby is so young that it will still need way too much milk to be able to get by on just colostrum alone I would think. Also everything I e read says milk turns to colostrum at 4-5 months not third trimester.

 

[hello_kitty]

Thanks ladies,
I will try to make the best of what I have. I guess I will have to look into giving my baby formula. I am still not 100% sure I am pregnant yet. I am not going to believe in the pregnancy test alone, gonna go get a blood test done.

Hi Ashley! Don't be jealous! If you were in my shoes, you will get a massive headache 8 months from now.

 

[hello_kitty]

Geez, now I am getting depressed. I cant imagine not being able to breastfeed my baby anymore. I really hope I can make it to the 6 month mark

 

[summer rain]

There was a lady on here who got pregnant when her baby was a few months old, I think 4 or 5 months, and yes she could continue BF without having to introduce formula and her milk didn't completely dry up and turned back to colostrum very late on. Unfortunately she doesn't post here anymore but she looked into it and found the younger your baby the more likely it is that you will be able to maintain a supply and continue BF whereas with a slightly older baby the likelihood of that decreases. There is also a supplement called more milk plus too which is designed for use in pregnancy and to help with tandem nursing afterwards you may want to look into it xx

 

[summer rain]

Here it is

https://www.motherlove.com/product/320-More-Milk-Two-Alcohol-Free.html

I believe it may also come in capsules xx

 

[Dk1234]

I'm just speaking from experience. My babies diapers dropped to. 3 a day around the 8 week mark. I slowly started adding in a few extra ounces at bedtime til they dropped again at the 12 week mark. Then I started doing a whole bottle. Now I'm having to do 2 bottles a day. Iv be heard it can happen that you may maintain a full supply but I think she needs to be prepared that is a big possibility that it won't. But it's completely possible to get to 6 months. And also just because your supply starts to go and even when it does change to colostrum, you can still nurse. I plan on nursing as long as he will take it. He will no longer nurse at night because he knows he gets a bottle. Early morning and when we wake up for the day he happily nurses with gusto. The rest of the day he nurses but you can tell he isn't satisfied.

 

[hello_kitty]

Thanks summer rain! I will probably buy that if my supply starts to decrease.

dk1234 - What signs does your baby show that he isnt satisfied? My baby usually falls asleep every time he nurses and sometimes unlatches on his own. He does feed more frequent though. Probably every hour or two, but his wet diapers hasnt gone done. I will be extremely happy if I can reach the 6 month mark, if I have to quit sooner than that I will feel a bit guilty.

 

[Dk1234]

Thanks summer rain! I will probably buy that if my supply starts to decrease.

dk1234 - What signs does your baby show that he isnt satisfied? My baby usually falls asleep every time he nurses and sometimes unlatches on his own. He does feed more frequent though. Probably every hour or two, but his wet diapers hasnt gone done. I will be extremely happy if I can reach the 6 month mark, if I have to quit sooner than that I will feel a bit guilty.

I didn't do anything until his urine output went down for several days in a row, I think I waited a little too long. If I was you I wouldn't do anything until you've noticed less good wet diapers for two days in a row. My son is on solids though so its a bit different than your situation. I'd say 6 months is completely doable.

 

[summer rain]

The lady who was on here was a very experienced LLL supporter. DK I'm not disputing your experience but it is interesting that her research, and this research was based on anecdotal evidence mainly, pointed to the opposite of it being more likely to maintain supply if getting pregnant relatively early on as opposed to in toddlerhood where even taking into account that a toddler will BF less, I am talking like complete loss of supply here xx

 

[Dk1234]

The lady who was on here was a very experienced LLL supporter. DK I'm not disputing your experience but it is interesting that her research, and this research was based on anecdotal evidence mainly, pointed to the opposite of it being more likely to maintain supply if getting pregnant relatively early on as opposed to in toddlerhood where even taking into account that a toddler will BF less, I am talking like complete loss of supply here xx

Well I've been trying to do a lot of research since becoming pregnant and everything that Ive read says that milk usually begins to turn into colostrum at 4-5 months. Everything I e researched says its completely possible to nurse a toddler all the way through pregnancy. But I have found little information for nursing a baby who still relies on milk as his only or at least main part of diet. If you have some research on this summer rain, I'd love it because I'm def not liking my supply going. It's not something I knew would happen before research and def not something I wanted to happen.

 

[jcg0506]

I would say you can certainly keep nursing, but whether or not you need to supplement will just depend on your body. I got pregnant when my lo was 9 months, and I noticed fairly early (maybe around eight weeks though I don't remember for sure) that my supply was gradually dropping because what I could pump began decreasing. I didn't start supplementing until he was 12 months old but probably should have started sooner as he had actually lost a few ounces of weight. I also tried the More Milk Two supplement and eating a ton of oatmeal but it didn't work for me, but I would definitely try it. Oh and my milk didn't change to colostrum until 32 weeks. That can very a lot from person to person. If it happens early for you, then you will need to supplement since as good as colostrum is it doesn't have enough calories to sustain your baby. Please join us on the TTC/breastfeeding during pregnancy/tandem nursing sticky thread. You'll find lots of support there. Good luck!

 

[ayls]

According to an article in Mayo Clinic, it is generally safe to breastfeed your baby while pregnant, as long as you drink plenty of fluids and you eat a healthy diet. It is also important to note that breastfeeding can cause uterine contractions so it is risky for those who had experience pre-term labor. For the full article, you can view it here https://www.mayoclinic.com/health/breast-feeding-while-pregnant/AN01840

 

[summer rain]

The lady who was on here was a very experienced LLL supporter. DK I'm not disputing your experience but it is interesting that her research, and this research was based on anecdotal evidence mainly, pointed to the opposite of it being more likely to maintain supply if getting pregnant relatively early on as opposed to in toddlerhood where even taking into account that a toddler will BF less, I am talking like complete loss of supply here xx

Well I've been trying to do a lot of research since becoming pregnant and everything that Ive read says that milk usually begins to turn into colostrum at 4-5 months. Everything I e researched says its completely possible to nurse a toddler all the way through pregnancy. But I have found little information for nursing a baby who still relies on milk as his only or at least main part of diet. If you have some research on this summer rain, I'd love it because I'm def not liking my supply going. It's not something I knew would happen before research and def not something I wanted to happen.

Perhaps contact the LLL and ask them? As for milk changing back to colostrum as others have said this can vary considerably, my milk briefly changed to colostrum at 12 weeks, stayed like this for about 6 weeks, seemed to vanish completely and I am over 6 months pregnant now and it isn't back. My son still dry/comfort nurses but he is starting to lose interest now. Yet I've come across women who have had a pretty much normal supply and 'normal' milk until 7 months or even a few weeks before delivery. In my last pregnancy though I wasn't BF during pregnancy I only started producing colostrum at around 36 weeks and I only leaked one drop during the entire pregnancy xx