TTC/Pregnancy while Breastfeeding and Tandem Nursing: Information and Support

[summer rain]

Congrats! Xx

 

[Ozzieshunni]

Hooray! So much exciting news!

 

[Spunky]

Woo to the new tandem nursers! Congrats on your births!

Lauki!!! Congrats! OMg! Exciting!

 

[Lauki]

Thanks girls .

Not long for you now Spunky!!

 

[Braven05]

Congrats on the pregnancy!

I'm apparently mega-messed up right now. Last month I had a 27 day cycle, this month a 35 day cycle (AF arrived on Saturday)...I almost had myself convinced that I was preggo. boo...on to month 4 of NTNP

 

[jcg0506]

Congrats to the newly pregnant and the new tandem/triendem nursers. You give me hope. I really want to get there.
I think my milk supply is pretty much gone. I haven't pumped in a while, but nursing is beginning to make my boobs sore, and lo has started popping on and off a lot and having a harder time nursing to sleep. We just celebrated his first birthday so I'm glad we made it to a year, it's more than most in the States make it, though I really want to make it to two. We found out at his 12 mo. check up that he hadn't gained any weight from 9 mo. and had actually lost a couple ounces. Dr. wasn't too concerned as lo is probably just slimming down, esp. with new mobility, but I felt terrible about it since that is the time since I got pregnant and supply started dropping. For the first time I wasn't meeting his needs. He finally started drinking cows milk so we're supplementing quite a bit, around 15-16 oz. I'm 16 weeks now and hoping my colostrum comes in soon. I'd like to hear from some others about when yours came in and how you knew (unless you're pumping of course). And, correct me if I'm wrong, but colostrum isn't high in calories, is it? So I should keep supplementing even after colostrum comes in. I'm hoping we can hang in there for a few more months.

 

[Spunky]

lauki - omg, feels like it will be forever though! This pregnancy is so much harder physically than it was with James, but a lot less other issues! (no problems on 20 week scan, no gestational diabetes, but a HUGE weight gain.) Looking forward to a new baby to cuddle and nurse though!

jcg0506 - I was worried about how low my supply was too. I was 12 weeks when James was 12 months. At his 12 month visit he had gained a few ounces, but he hadn't really gotten any taller and had me worried like you said that I wasn't meeting his needs. There was more pop offs and less satisfaction. We started supplementing with milk around 12 months too, don't remember how much. He quit nursing when I was 16 weeks (he was 13 months). He wouldn't latch anymore, and wanted to play with my nipples instead (not something he'd done before), so we've been done a few months. I was super sad about it, but I wasn't planning on tandem nursing, I just thought I'd have to cut him off. I cried for 3 days but it's really been a blessing because it was hurting me and I started feeling better without nursing him. I am not by any means saying your kid will quit too, it just happened and I wasn't expecting it. I hope things go how you would like them too and I would personally keep supplementing, but that's because I knew I was hardly making anything. Also, after he quit and started getting more cows milk (or just timing made it happen) he grew a LOT from his 12 month to his 15 month visit. After I learned that I felt so bad like I had been starvign him before because I wasn't supposed to give him cows milk until 1, so maybe I should have been giving him formula before a year, but it's in the past now.

 

[Jaymes]

My baby dry nursed for a very long time. During this time she got her normal food and cows milk with her num mums in the morning and before bed as I couldn't manage any more than that. When the colostrum did come in she had rash, so I cut it to once a day and or every other day. Mine are 18 months apart. Good luck mama!

 

[mommyof2peas]

Just hit third trimester, and really starting to feel the contracting when 16 month old nurses. She only nurses at bed time. But sometimes it gets so uncomfortable having her lay on my bump and have the contractions. I dont want to make her stop cause I know soon as little one gets here I'll be fine. It's just getting there that might be a problem

 

[LuckyD]

Hey everyone....can I join?

I posted a thread in the forum too but wanted to say hi here, and I think some of you have been through a similar thing that I am facing at the moment.

I am breastfeeding my 19 month old and am 14 weeks pregnant. And I'm pretty sure my supply has gone in the last week or two. She only feeds 2-3 times a day for the last few months anyway (once in the morn, then I feed her to sleep for her nap and for bed), but I had the feeling she wasn't getting much from me anymore. And the last couple of days I have asked her to stop for a minute so I can have a bit of a squeeze to see if I can see any breastmilk - but nothing seems to be there.

I know this is the typical time for supply to dip....but I feel really sad. I really wanted her to stop BF when she was ready. And I know it's dumb, but I feel like my body is a bit of a 'failure' for some reason. Like it can't provide for her.

She still seems happy to comfort suck at the moment, so I guess that is a good thing...?

I know some of you dry nursed for a while - how long did it last for?

Thanks x

 

[Tacey]

LuckyD, I dry nursed for most of my pregnancy. I got a little amount back towards the end of 3rd tri, but nothing noticeable. I rarely heard her swallowing. She was an enthusiastic nurser throughout though (I had to really limit it, as I felt huge nursing agitation,) and we're happily tandem nursing now.

Your body certainly isn't a failure! It's being really clever to prioritise your growing baby. Although the milk itself is a brilliant source of nutrition for a toddler, I do feel that nursing older children is more about the bonding, calming experience than the milk. Dry nursing, if you and she choose to, is still beneficial.

 

[LuckyD]

LuckyD, I dry nursed for most of my pregnancy. I got a little amount back towards the end of 3rd tri, but nothing noticeable. I rarely heard her swallowing. She was an enthusiastic nurser throughout though (I had to really limit it, as I felt huge nursing agitation,) and we're happily tandem nursing now.

Your body certainly isn't a failure! It's being really clever to prioritise your growing baby. Although the milk itself is a brilliant source of nutrition for a toddler, I do feel that nursing older children is more about the bonding, calming experience than the milk. Dry nursing, if you and she choose to, is still beneficial.

Thank you Tacey I really appreciate that. I know intellectually my body isn't a failure, but somehow it feels a bit like that emotionally....maybe because BF did NOT come easy to me, the first six months were really really hard work and I guess I just wanted to have a nice natural end to my daughter's bf experience.

It's really inspiring to hear that you dry nursed for so long and now are tandem feeding. I hope I can do the same. My LO is not showing any signs of wanting to stop, especially as it is the way I put her to sleep, so I can relate to the thing about it being a bonding and calming thing as opposed to nutritional.

Should I start giving her cow's milk now then? I haven't so far, as everything I read said that as long as she was feeding 3-4 times a day it wasn't necessary....but now I'm not producing milk, should I?

Thanks so much for your help.

 

[soph77]

Hey everyone....can I join?

I posted a thread in the forum too but wanted to say hi here, and I think some of you have been through a similar thing that I am facing at the moment.

I am breastfeeding my 19 month old and am 14 weeks pregnant. And I'm pretty sure my supply has gone in the last week or two. She only feeds 2-3 times a day for the last few months anyway (once in the morn, then I feed her to sleep for her nap and for bed), but I had the feeling she wasn't getting much from me anymore. And the last couple of days I have asked her to stop for a minute so I can have a bit of a squeeze to see if I can see any breastmilk - but nothing seems to be there.

I know this is the typical time for supply to dip....but I feel really sad. I really wanted her to stop BF when she was ready. And I know it's dumb, but I feel like my body is a bit of a 'failure' for some reason. Like it can't provide for her.

She still seems happy to comfort suck at the moment, so I guess that is a good thing...?

I know some of you dry nursed for a while - how long did it last for?

Thanks x

Nice to see you in here! Even though I am technically not bfing while pg anymore I still lurk around here

I completely understand the way you are feeling, remember the heartache I felt when T stopped bfing. I am at peace with formula now but T is younger and needs it. If you are both happy dry nursing I would continue for as long as Lucy wants and hopefully she will just pick up again when the new milk comes back in! Perhaps offer her a cup of milk during the day so she is getting the calcium and nutrients that she needs.

 

[LuckyD]

Hi Soph! Nice to see you here too! Yeah, I totally know that it was hard for you with T as well. It's tough when your body doesn't do what you want it to do! But I guess we are growing little people inside us which needs quite a lot of energy as well. I might see if Lucy wants some cows milk now and then. I never drunk it when I was a kid (still don't now), so it's all new to me!

 

[jcg0506]

I was worried too about whether to supplement. I got pregnant at nine months and supply started dropping. He still nurses 4-5 times during the day but I didn't know how much he was getting. I didn't want the supplementing to make it worse. When he turned 1 yr old we started some cow's milk, and by that time I knew I had very little milk left. Turns out I probably should have started sooner since he hadn't gained any weight for three monts. Our doctor said a weaned one year old should be getting 16 ounces of cow's milk or formula a day so we're doing that. It is really sad knowing I can't provide that for him, but I'm glad he's getting what he needs. I'm hoping we can hang in their for five more months until the new lo arrives. So far, he still wants to nurse and has only dropped one afternoon feed.

 

[summer rain]

I squeezed a bit of milk out today and noticed its turning back to colostrum if not completely colostrum already, it's very yellowish, has that marbled look and there seems to be a lot less of it all of a sudden (so far I had no decrease in supply), surely it's too early, I haven't had my dating scan yet but I should be only 11 weeks 6 days? Xx

 

[Celesse]

I think I remember mine changing in colour and consistency at the end of the first tri and thought "colostrum". But then supply started to go throughout second tri, disappeared completely and then came back again even more colostrumy at 24ish weeks.

 

[NDH]

I'm really struggling with less than 3 hours sleep per night due to the frequency of dd's night feeding. Seriously contemplating trying to night wean her after her birthday. She needs to be in her own room by the time the baby gets here anyway as there isn't enough room in our bedroom to safely cosleep with two.

Does anyone have any advice on coping with the exhaustion or experience night weaning a 1 year old should it come to it? I feel guilty even contemplating it but I seriously need sleep. At least when she was a newborn I got two 3-4 hour blocks of sleep instead of 3-4 hours total all night

 

[patch2006uk]

We moved Isaac into his own room at 9 months, and he naturally started sleeping longer stretches and waking less for feeds. He stopped waking completely by 15 months, without any prompting from us. He still BFs to sleep initially at bedtime, though.

If your LO needs to go in her own room anyway for when the new baby arrives, you may as well try it and see if it makes a difference. We know now that DS is a light sleeper, so we were just waking each other up constantly in the night, and he was asking for milk to get back to sleep. Changing things can't really make things much worse than 3-4 hours sleep a night! May as well try moving her and see how it goes

 

[LuckyFrankie]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted a little bit of advice. My son is 14.5 months and I'm currently 13+4 weeks pregnant. My question is, how do I know if my son is still getting milk when sucking? He's down to two BFs a day, once in the morning and once at night, and sucks for around 20 minutes each time. Does this mean he must be getting something or is it possible that he's dry nursing each time?

I've read so much about milk supply dropping when pregnant but don't really know how to tell whether it has dropped/stopped or not?!

(I can't try expressing to see how much I get because my breast pump got thrown out many months ago - me and expressing just didn't get on!)