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

[gardenofedens]

My daughter will be one year old in two weeks and I intended to continuing breastfeeding her until age 2, but I'm 22 weeks pregnant and my milk has already turned to colostrum. She's turning up her nose at it and will only nurse for a few seconds, not to mention there's almost none there compared to how much milk I had. I've had to introduce formula to make up the difference. Any suggestions to bring my milk back or do I just have to ride it out letting her dry nurse until my milk comes back when the baby is born and hope she still remembers how and wants to nurse?

 

[Celesse]

I was completely dry for about 6 weeks of my last pregnancy. Milk kinda disappeared at 18 weeks and then came back as a colostrum type milk at 24 weeks. So we had 6 weeks of dry nursing and then 16 weeks of token amounts of colostrum. BFing became much more about comfort than nutrition.

But as soon as my milk came back in she increased her intake and went on to nurse for another 15 months.... So a few months of dry nursing meant she was still interested for a whole lot longer of getting boobie milk again.

 

[Lauki]

Same here. Soph dry nursed for months and is now extremely happy with the abundance of milk. We did go through a couple of nursing strikesbut I just kept offering and then letting her decide if she wanted to or not .

 

[NDH]

Same here with the dry nursing for the last couple months. When my milk first changed she screamed about if a few times then fed long and often for a couple weeks then backed off to just 4 times a day. She's been nursing like a newborn since my milk came in and would probably feed more than Chloe if I let her lol. But really she thinks shes died and gone to milk heaven.

 

[gardenofedens]

Thanks Wobbles for making us a sticky!!!!!!!

Any questions about TTC while Breastfeeding? Breastfeeding while Pregnant? Tandem Nursing? This is the place!!!!!

Sources:

Nursing During Pregnancy and Tandem Nursing - Good ol' Kelly Mom! Great information on fertility while breastfeeding as well as tandem nursing diet options, to make sure you make enough milk for both little ones! There's also a good FAQ you can print out.

Adventures in Tandem Nursing: Breastfeeding During Pregnancy and Beyond! - Published by LLL, I've found it on Amazon.co.uk and also here. This book always gets recommended to anyone looking to tandem nurse . I'll be getting a copy soon so hopefully I can post some good info soon!

How Milk Changes during Pregnancy and what to expect from your nursling - A specific section on KellyMom about this. I found it very informative and reassuring.

Breastfeeding Agitation - An adaptation from Adventures in Tandem Nursing about how you might experience some agitation during pregnancy and after while nursing.

A New Look at the Safety of Breastfeeding During Pregnancy - What to expect when nursing during pregnancy. Hopefully will alleviate some fears about breastfeeding during pregnancy.

Ladies that can offer support:

cutie4evr01: Nursed during my first trimester, lost supply so daughter lost interest. Excess of milk so her toddler drinks 15-20oz of EBM a day if anyone has questions about that also.

celesse: Currently feeding my 22 month old along with an almost 5 week old. Expressing for the baby as due to both of us being poorly over the first 4 weeks he is weaning off top ups.

TigerLady: Cycles returned 14 weeks PP with DS. Fell pg with DD on third cycle when DS was 5 months old. Nursed frequently all through pg -- dealt with pain, thrush, fatigue, BF agitation, slow let down. DD born when DS was 13 months old. Have tandem nursed DS and DD since (both now toddlers).

Tacey: Currently nursing while pregnant. Dry nursing for 16 weeks. Breastfeeding aversion in first trimester.

I've been reading up on tandem nursing A LOT lately since my babies are only going to be 15ish months apart and I intend to continue nursing DD until age 2. That will give me about 9 months of tandem nursing my LOs.

Anyway, I found a series of blog posts from tandem nursers which can be accessed from here (links are at the bottom):
https://mommyingmyway.blogspot.com/2012/05/carnival-of-tandem-nursing.html Many are very helpful!

I was also given the suggestion to buy Adventures in Tandem Nursing by my local La Leche League leader. Since Amazon only sells used copies for upwards of $130 and I only found copies on ebay for upward of $50, I thought I'd share a link I found to where it can be purchased for only $15! https://store.llli.org/public/profile/77

Anyway, I hope these help some of you who are interested in tandem nursing!

 

[roomaloo]

Mine has started to refuse at 34 weeks. I've had to supplement for a while. Hoping she picks it back up when my milk comes in, she won't dry nurse plus my aversion makes it hard to bear

 

[Srrme]

Mine has dried up a bit, but both of my toddlers still want to nurse as much as they did before it happened. My oldest nursed during my entire second pregnancy (even when it dried up for a while).

 

[Beankeeper]

I really want to start TTCing for baby #2, but DS is only 8.5 months & loves his milk so I don't want to stop nursing him. That said, AF hasn't returned yet & I'm concerned that it won't until he's weaned (which probably won't be soon). He doesn't often need feeding at night & really only takes 4-5 feeds a day.
I've been looking at vitamin b complexes but a lot suggests that this is only useful after AF has returned.
Any advice? We want to start TTC soon as it took 3 years to conceive DS & we don't want to leave it any longer (we are also happy with a small age gap if it happens quickly )

 

[Srrme]

My milk has dried up a lot during this pregnancy. My boys are not happy about it! Wish there was a way to increase it.

 

[Teeny]

hi all,

I have been ttc for 4 months now, around 2 1/2 months ago we went down to two feeds, morning and eve. I def think my 'normal' ovulation cues and pms have been getting stronger which gives me hope that ttc will be more likely.

however, my previously 26 day cycle, ovulating on day 16 has now dropped to 24 days ovulating on day 13/14. anyone have any idea what could be happening here?

 

[ssjad]

Beankeeper, Vitex worked for me...

 

[freddie]

Hi all! I am officially pregnant and breastfeeding woop!! I am so happy and excited I'm only 12dpo so very early days... Just have one question though! My LO loves to climb/jump/tread/kick all over me! Is this bad for the little bean? Will it be worse as I get bigger? Anyone else have a monkey for a baby while pregnant?!

 

[ssjad]

It doesn't harm Bubby at all. Your little bean is very well protected in there.
Congratulations!!

 

[freddie]

Hi again! So all I can think about at the moment is the possibility of milk changes/ drop in supply causing LO to wean before he would have done if I weren't pregnant. It makes me feel really sad I have read some of the previous pages in this thread but there's so much I haven't read it all!

Do I have a good chance of making it through pregnancy still feeding my boy as he is only 10 months at the moment? How many of you ladies have managed to nurse through pregnancy without baby losing interest/ weaning?

I'm kind of overwhelmed by how sad/ guilty I feel about the prospect of forcing an early end to my breastfeeding relationship with my little boy by becoming pregnant :'(

 

[NDH]

My eldestwas 9 months old when I discovered I was pregnant. She never lost interest in nursing even when my milk reverted to colostrum at about 5 months. She's nursing more than ever these days.

 

[Tacey]

Alice was more keen to nurse than ever when my supply dropped and then stopped. I struggled with that, and cut her down a lot, but that was a personal decision. When the milk came in, she was giddy with excitement, and a real help with engorgement! She nursed more than Arthur then! She was exactly 2 when I got pregnant. There's a wide range in experiences. I think if they really still need it, they'll carry on regardless.

 

[Lauki]

Sophie never lost interest and still loves her milkies .

 

[Celesse]

I found there were times when Abigail would start refusing feeds when milk was going down and others when she still wanted to nurse. I would make sure she could still nurse when asleep during the phases when she wasn't as keen on nursing.

 

[Celesse]

I had a medical miscarriage on Thursday as baby had stopped growing around 6 weeks. I should have been 10 weeks. My milk had already started to change a little. I seem to have gone through the same hormone changes you go through post birth. A couple of days after I had mini baby blues.

My milk supply seems to have had a major boost. DS is taking advantage and coming up for a lot of extra feeds. Unfortunately the extra milk in his diet is making his nappies kinda loose >< .

So we will be back to TTC soon. DS is co-sleeping more than when I conceived and I don't think my body is all that clued up on whats going on. I could be in with a wait.

 

[roomaloo]

Really sorry to hear that celesse