Question for those who nursed through a pregnancy

[Snufflepop]

Hi ladies,
So we are now officially ttc from April when my dd turns 1 (we were ntnp since jan but DD's sleep has been so bad we didn't have the energy for much bd anyway!)

My dd still nurses 3+ times a night. I don't know if it's a comfort thing, a habit, or if she is hungry. Either way I don't really have a problem with it and am not planning to stop until she weans herself.

She nurses once in the morning, once at lunch time and then at bedtime. She is capable of going all day without milk as the days I am at work she manages fine on solids and water in a cup (she won't take a bottle).

My question is, when did you notice a dip in your milk supply after you fell pg and how did it affect your current Childs nursing?

I don't mind nursing through pregnancy but I just don't want dd to become distressed by the drop in supply.

Your experiences would be great!

 

[misspriss]

I am 31 weeks and I felt a drop from around 8 weeks to 16 weeks, when I felt it was almost gone. I was getting very little, if anything from 16-22ish weeks, when I felt I started getting colostrum. DS has been nursing, milk or no, the whole time.

 

[Aliop]

I've nursed through two pregnancies and now into this one as well and I think there is a supply dip at the moment, I ask my little boy if he is getting milk and he says 'no, milk gone', doesn't stop him 'feeding' though and I am sure it is only temporary. It is a comfort thing for him too, we have dropped down to a morning feed and sometimes a before bed feed depending on what he needs.

 

[MommyJogger]

Mine was completely gone within the first trimester. He kept nursing, but would frequently go weeks without interest and then randomly start up again. When the milk came in and a newborn was on all the time, he nursed a lot, but now that little bro is going longer between nursing and is rushing to finish so that he can go play with big bro, my older one is very close to what I'm going to consider weaned.
As you head into pregnancy, please do consider that you might find nursing painful or develop nursing aversion with your older child. I wouldn't change my family for the world, but at the same time you could not pay me a million dollars to nurse through another pregnancy. I'd have chosen a wider age gap instead. So many strong emotions on my part. It meant that my enjoyment of nursing my first was over long before I was really ready for it to be. And the aversion, after it returned post partum, has been really overwhelming. I'll always believe that my first weaned so soon because he could tell it was bothering me, and quite frankly he's the kind of kid that needs the occasional grounding effect of a nursing session. It's one of those things I didn't realize "this is the last time I'll enjoy nursing my first baby" and now I can't remember it and instead have a bunch of memories of nursing through shudders desperately wanting him to be done and cutting him off before he was finished. Just be prepared for how emotional it might get for both of you.

 

[Zephram]

I breastfeed my LO until I was 14.5 weeks pregnant. It was only about 3 months ago that we stopped, but honestly, it feels like such a long time ago now that he was at my boob. He was 2 years and 2.5 months when we finished.

Basically, my story is that my supply dropped immediately and I also think there was a taste change as my LO became less keen before I even knew I was pregnant (I didn't find out until I was 7.5 weeks due to some bleeding I had that I thought was my period but wasn't), so in that sense he actually knew before I did. I also had sore nipples right from the start and I started developing an aversion to breastfeeding that by the end of first tri had got me to the point where I couldn't go on. Luckily, since he'd been losing interest due to the fact I was basically dry and probably tasted different, it was an easy process for us. We went from a feed at naptime and bedtime to one at bedtime to none in a week or two. He didn't miss it because there was no milk to miss and after about a week he stopped asking or talking about breastfeeding at all. I'm still surprised it was so easy as he was a massive boob monster as a baby.

So, it really depends on you and how your body will react. Some women don't lose their supply completely like I did, some toddlers don't mind dry nursing, but mine wasn't keen on it, etc.

 

[mrs_park]

I was feeding DS2 for each nap (morning and afternoon) and before bed at night until about halfway through my pregnancy.

My supply didn't change until about halfway through my pregnancy when I noticed his feeds got shorter and shorter until the point where he would latch and then straightaway unlatch and want his dummy. I got to the point where I just stopped offering the breast altogether and cuddled him to sleep instead. My boobs also got realllllllly tender and painful at around the same time as I noticed a change in my milk.