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

[freddie]

So my milk supply is gone completely Think it has been for about a week now. LO is still dry nursing at his usual times that he would feed - first think in the morning, before each nap and last thing at night.

The one plus side (which is actually HUUUUUUUGE!!) is that as my supply dropped he began waking less at night and last week he slept through the night for the first time ever!!!!!!! Then, the last two nights he has slept through too!!!! We have had 13 months of waking 6-10 times a night and it has been hell for us at times, DH and I have bickered and been horrid to each other cos we've both been so tired so this really is a turning point for us!!

So, although I feel guilty for not having the milk for DS anymore, I feel so happy at the prospect of some decent sleep after all this time. I feel that we deserve it! So silver lining

 

[DCS]

Hi ladies, hope you dont mind me popping in. I have a few questions. My lo is 2.5 years old. He is still bfing. More than usual over night at the minute becuase he is teething molars.
Iv just found out im pregnant and its like torture when he feeds. Will this pass? He has stoped feeding in the day, i found he would feed allday if given the chance and wasnt eating so i told him milk was for bedtime. He still feeds to sleep. And when he wakes up he is in our bed and is latched on until the morning.
Did anyone still feed an older child to sleep after having another child? How did that work? OH was able to put LO to bed a few times but he isnt having any of that now. I just dont know how im hoing to cope feeding 2 in the night. What if they both want feeding to sleep? Im sure im overthinking this but thats what i do.

 

[superfrizbee]

Hello lovely ladies. Can anyone please share how many cycles it took before your LP was reasonable/normal. My last two have been 11 and 9 days and I'm a bit bummed because DD only feeds once per day as it is and my AF came back 6 months ago! I thought it would have settled by now.

 

[charlie15]

Hi ladies, can ask someone in the know about taking vitex? we started TTC last month and using an OPK only i think my LP was either 9-11 days, definatley no more and most likely 10. I am taking Vitamin B 50 complex with pregnancare too so i don't really want to up that. Do you think it's worth me trying vitex to try to get my LP back to a longer length? Does anyone have any experience of it reducing breast milk? i read mixed reports of this. Finally what dose should i be taking?

thanks

 

[gidge]

Hi there ladies, I just got my BFP yesterday and am still breastfeeding my 21 month old about 4 times a day. Not really sure what to expect. Will it affect my supply? Will it become painfull? Any insight would be great thanks! xxx

 

[cacahuete]

Hi all I'm currently ttc, my son is 26 months and still feeds a lot at night, my periods have been fine up until the last couple of months where I seem to be ovulating later and later- my last cycle was 34 days, so this month ttc is so draining and I'm feeling a bit lost cd 20 today and I still don't feel like I ovulated... Any tips on getting cycles a bit better?

 

[MaisyMay]

Did you find that your first cycle after you stopped feeding had a shorter than usual luteal phase?
I just had my first cycle after finishing bfeeding my son at 12 and a half months. I ovulated14 days after I stopped, but I started spotting on 10dpo and then got full af this morning (12dpo) so now I'm thinking I have a luteal phase defect and we're ttc so Before I had my son my lp was always 14days. I did spot for a day before I got full af, but even with the spotting my lp was 14 days.
So I'm wondering if breastfeeding all this time has shortened my lp and could that mean that it will correct itself next cycle? I know it can shorten your lp while your still bfeeding, but can it do it when you get your first cycle after you've stopped? I think I read somewhere that bfeeding can cause a vit b insufficiency, is this true? I know vit b is linked to the length of lp.
Thank you in advance for your help. Urgh the ttc bandwagon sucks....so stressful

 

[MommyJogger]

Did you find that your first cycle after you stopped feeding had a shorter than usual luteal phase?
I just had my first cycle after finishing bfeeding my son at 12 and a half months. I ovulated14 days after I stopped, but I started spotting on 10dpo and then got full af this morning (12dpo) so now I'm thinking I have a luteal phase defect and we're ttc so Before I had my son my lp was always 14days. I did spot for a day before I got full af, but even with the spotting my lp was 14 days.
So I'm wondering if breastfeeding all this time has shortened my lp and could that mean that it will correct itself next cycle? I know it can shorten your lp while your still bfeeding, but can it do it when you get your first cycle after you've stopped? I think I read somewhere that bfeeding can cause a vit b insufficiency, is this true? I know vit b is linked to the length of lp.
Thank you in advance for your help. Urgh the ttc bandwagon sucks....so stressful

I'm still nursing (so this may not apply to you?), and I'm not the best person to trust about cycle mumbo jumbo, but I believe I had a very short luteal phase for the first 2-3 cycles once I finally started having them again. The ovulation that I believe I fell pregnant during was my first that gave no indication of short luteal phase and was my 4th ovulation postpartum (based on CM observations alone).

 

[MommyJogger]

I'm feeling really discouraged and just disgustingly sick with the ickies today. A couple questions for those who have been there, done that:
1) I had much less nipple pain during the first trimester of my failed pregnancy. The pain I had then was substantially tolerable. This time, I feel like they've been rubbed with sandpaper for an hour. I still totally feel capable of sucking it up and getting on with it. Will the pain get worse as the pregnancy progresses? Or can I just expect it to stay roughly the same from here on out. I think my main problem right now is that the thought of it getting any worse than it already is makes me nauseous and shaky.
2. Has anyone had deep tissue breast pain during a pregnancy (while nursing or otherwise)? I'm struggling to differentiate between pregnancy issues and non-pregnancy-related breast problems I might coincidentally be experiencing at the same time.
Thanks all for any help!

 

[Leids]

I'm about 14 weeks pregnant now (due date according to measurement of bubs is May 20th but they have yet to change it from May 28th).

My nipples are sore off and on. I notice if he bites or gets a bit over zealous the pain lasts for a few days vs. a few hours. The pain was AWFUL between 6-8 weeks and eased off dramatically. It came back around 11 weeks, lasted until 13 weeks and is now gone again. I know everything is okay with the pregnancy because I've had a few ultrasounds, just kind of crazy how sporadic the nipple pain has been for me!

MommyJogger - I've had deep tissue pain that's gotten worse with pregnancy (I had it prior to becoming pregnant). They did ultrasounds to rule out mastitis at one point, and they told me my milk ducts were inflamed due to how they were positioned in my breast but there was nothing I could do about it. Since becoming pregnant I have muscle pain all over my chest and I get more throbbing pains in my left breast (where the inflammation is). I'm not sure if it would be something similar in your case, but it doesn't hurt to ask your doc/midwife.

My milk supply is definitely getting hit hard these days. My little guy is still nursing often though and shows no signs of stopping. I have noticed him showing a clear breast preference that varies from day to day (he'll push one breast away and grab at the other, if I try to re-offer the one he pushed away he gets angry and refuses). He had never done that before, so I wonder if the taste is changing?

 

[MommyJogger]

Thanks Leids!
I still haven't figured out the deep tissue pain. There's no redness, no heat, just intense pain. I look at it every time expecting it to finally show a huge bruise. It honestly feels like a football player just elbowed me in the chest as hard as he could and I woke up the next day not remembering a thing.
The nipple pain has eased off. I think a large part of what's going on with me is that I'm suddenly getting Montgomery tubercules (I think that's what they're called). So he's scraping sudden raised patches on my nipples where he wouldn't have been scrubbing anything before. It's leaving blisters now, so I know there's damage and it's not just a hormonal pain thing.
I've almost stopped pumping at this point. Mainly because I stopped responding to the pump-- I just can't get a letdown. I have to hand express to letdown and then pump to remove milk. With the blisters, it's just not working to keep that up. I used to pump a ton, though, so I'm having engorgement problems now and I'm trying to power wean off the pump without giving myself mastitis. I think it'll be a lot more manageable once I'm not pumping, since I was pumping more times in a day than he was nursing. So that will cut my nipple action per day down by more than half.
I also wanted to document a really strange form of nursing aversion. I still love when DS nurses. But seeing other babies nurse, even pictures, makes me fidgety. Like my skin doesn't fit my body. It's a little bizarre-o. I expected a little of that feeling from nursing my own, but I'd never heard of only having an aversion to other nurslings.
Also, I vomited on DS while he was nursing today. It got on his leg. Then I spilled a flask full of bacteria in my lap and the smell made me vomit into my biohazard container. It was a bad day.
Getting my betas repeated tomorrow after bleeding all week. I hope tomorrow goes better than today.

 

[patch2006uk]

We're down to one feed a day now, at bedtime. I really have no idea how much of anything he's getting any more, but he's very keen to nurse still and tells me it's 'yum', so I assume he's getting something! My nipples are tender, but not sore like during first tri.

 

[charlie15]

I am wondering if anyone has experienced b complex actually shortening their cycles and their LP? I have been taking b complex 50 for 4 cycles now and also am now bfing less that I was when I started taking b complex, only 2 feeds a day, occasionally 3. My cycles have gone 27, 26 then this month 25. Last month I thought I needed to up the dose so started taking b complex 100 and that's when I had a 25 day cycle with an 8 day LP, previous 2 months 9 day LP!

I was taking it to do the opposite but am now thinking that it's possible that my hormones are actually regulating themselves back to normal and the b complex is therefore doing the opposite as I don't need it needless to say I have stopped taking it this month and will see what happens with my cycle.

But I was just wondering if anyone else had experienced this or could shed any light?

 

[Ichisan]

Hello ladies, tentatively jumping in here as just found out Im pregnant and still feeding a rather demanding 1 year old Will have a bit of a trawl through all the pages but just looking for a bit of advice/support on a) feeding through pregnancy and b) possible tandem feeding. Any website/book recommendations? Anything to help dads through this too? My OH is very supportive but could do with a bit of help understanding what I may be facing

 

[Grateful365]

Hi ladies! Mind if I hop in here as well?

After TTC on and off for 5 years we just had out first child in August. Due to my age (34) and the time it took to conceive our first child, I really want to TTC again soon but since I am exclusively BF'ing, the witch is no where in site. I don't want to stop BF'ing my son so it seems pretty impossible to know when I might become fertile again! Any suggestions, tips on this topic?

Have any of you ladies successfully conceived while BF'ing and no evidence of a monthly cycle? I'd love to hear your stories!

 

[Leids]

Ichisan: The best information/book I've come across is called 'Adventures in Tandem Nursing' by Hilary Flower. It provides a lot of information that can help you throughout pregnancy and after baby is born. I bought it off of the LLL website: https://store.llli.org/public/profile/77

Grateful365: I've heard of quite a few people getting pregnant while exclusively breastfeeding without a sign of their periods. Hopefully they see this and can chime in but it is definitely possible! From personal experience I got my period back at 3 months pp while exclusively breastfeeding and my little guy was (and still is) very demanding. I was very shocked and could have easily gotten pregnant without knowing.

 

[Grateful365]

Thanks Leids!! That gives me some hope! I'm not sure I could conceive naturally though because I only ended up being able to conceive on Femara. I know I cannot (and would never) take that while BF'ing for sure! I'll cross my fingers and hope for the best!

I wonder if temping would tell me anything? Perhaps if I'm ovulating? I might have to start that up again.

 

[Ichisan]

Thank you Leids I've actually heard of that one! Will get it after Christmas I think I much prefer having a book as the internet is a bit of an info overload sometimes.
Good luck in your ttc journey Grateful, I'm no help I'm afraid as my period came back at 9 weeks like it had never been away I have heard quite a few people who have fallen pregnant while still breastfeeding who hadn't had a period so it is definitely possible

 

[Grateful365]

Thank you Ichisan and a huge congratulations on your pregnancy!

 

[cacahuete]

Hi all, I just found out I'm pregnant still nursing 27 month old! When do your boobs start to get sore? I'm only 4 weeks now- but I thought they would get sore straight away !