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

[MommyJogger]

Period is back less than 3 months postpartum. What is this nonsense? Go home, ovaries, you're drunk!

 

[BunnyN]

Sorry double post

 

[BunnyN]

I was keen to start TTC pretty quickly after LO was born because of my age. The 'official' medical advise I've see says to wait anything between 1 and 3 years between pregnancies. I talked to my MW about it and she said to give my body 4 months before TTC. We decided to use BFing as our only birth control so never actually started BC after she was born. My periods didn't come back until LO was 8.5 months and my cycles were a bit irregular then. I got pregnant when LO was just under a year. I think the adverage to return to fertility when you are EBFing is about 14 months but it is different for everyone. I am finding this pregnancy harder on my body than the last one but I think that has more to do with having a toddler to look after.

I have found BFing while pregnant quite hard and if we have another I think I would try to leave it a little longer. Though I don't regret the timing this time around.

One thing that is important to consider is that most women loose a lot of their milk supply at some point in pregnancy so if your LO is less than about a year it is quite likely that you will need to start supplimenting with formula. You need to think about how long it is important to you and your LO to EBF. It might be with her being premature that you feel she needs a little longer before risking your supply.

 

[too_scared]

I need your help ladies! My milk isn't completely gone but it's much lower and taking longer to "refill".

My little guy still nurses a lot, and all night long. He had started to eat a little more now that my milk is dropping but still barely eating.

My problem is that he is waking all night long, last night it was every 30 minutes and then up for the day at 5:30. Which doesn't seem too early but generally he sleeps until 8:30 so it's 3 hours early. I'm utterly exhausted.

He is waking that much because he's hungry. He isn't getting much milk but he isn't eating enough either. I just don't know what to do. I try to give him protein and fat for a night time snack but he usually doesn't eat much.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I just don't know what to do.

 

[BunnyN]

I was easier for us because LO really loved her solid food so gradually replaced milk with solid food. What did help was to have more meal times. Before she had 3 meals a day and BF inbetween. I started giving her an afternoon snack and a snack just before bed. She doesn't sleep well if she hasn't had her snack before bed. I say snack but her snacks are as big as her main meals.

It sounds awful him waking so much in the night. I know its hard but I'd say don't panic he will probably adjust to a new way of doing things soon and eat more solids. When my milk had mostly run out OH started getting up with our girl in the night and would offer her water to drink. She was happy with that and would go back to sleep for him. With me she was too used to being fed back to sleep so wouldn't settle any other way. Now its almost always OH that gets up with her and she doesn't do night feeds anymore.

Is it possible there is another reason for him waking too, like he is teething? LO would wake like night when she was getting a new tooth and wanted to be fed back to sleep but it wasn't because she was hungry.

 

[too_scared]

Thank you. Finn is always offered 3 meals a day and snacks in between. He is always offered a snack before bed too. He barely eats any of it. Maybe I'm offering too many snacks so he's not hungry at meal time? I don't know. I thought you should offer food every 2-3 hours. We did BLW so this is how it's been since he was almost 7 months old.

We thought maybe it was teething so tried giving him Advil before bed one night but that didn't change anything. He has all his teeth but the 2 year molars. There doesn't seem to be anything going on back there yet. Who knows.

He doesn't seem sick, he's not waking up crying, he's waking up asking for food. I tried giving him a cup of milk today (last night?!) but he pushed it away and said no. His little tummy is growling. We got up and he ate some yogurt but not much and only ate a little cream cheese off his toast. He just went back to sleep for a nap and I can hear his belly growling. Makes me feel awful. I just don't know what to do. I can't force him to eat. I try offering lots of different things.

Dh sleeps in bed with us (family bed) but doesn't wake when Finn does. He usually doesn't cry and barely wakes but it's hard on me to be disturbed so often. Maybe over the Christmas break I can try to get dh to settle him back to sleep. I think it is going to be a disaster with Finn waking fully and thinking it's play time. Ugh. This sucks.

 

[BunnyN]

It does sound like he is hungry. I would guess he will soon start to replace what he needs with solid food. It might just take him a bit to adjust. It is kind of a sudden change for him at the moment and he wants his milk because that is what he is used to but he will get used to eating more solids before long too.

Are there any foods he particularly likes? We did a loose version of BLW too and never really gave her packet baby food. One of her favourite things though is those 100% fruit baby foods in little tubs. She will almost always eat those even if she won't eat other food. I've started getting them for her because sometimes I need easy things I know she will eat.

Does your LO have cows milk? He might accept it at night instead. I would guess he would take it better from someone else to start with though. If your OH could get him into having an alternative over the christmas holidays then he might take it from you instead. LO has been okay with just being offered water at night but we do offer milk once in a while if we think she might be hungry.

 

[too_scared]

He seems to go on and off food. He will love something once or maybe even twice and then he won't eat it again. Lately he's liking clementines. He'll eat 3 or 4 a day. He consistently likes cheese, yogurt, and hummus. But there's only so much of that you can eat.

He does drink cow's milk but he doesn't drink much of it. I always offer a cup before bed. We got a cup for him at 5 this morning but he took one sip and pushed it away and said no.

 

[BunnyN]

It sounds like you are doing all the right stuff. How long has he been waking in the night for? BF babies are used to supply on demand and if supply is getting a bit low need to spend 2 or 3 days doing lots of demanding by round the clock frequent feeds. It seems like he will eventually give up trying to raise your supply and replace the missing calories with solids instead.

 

[too_scared]

He's always done this. It really ramped up in the last 2 weeks or so. But, my milk dropped pretty drastically right from the start.

 

[BunnyN]

Sorry, I meant how long has he been waking so many times in the night. LO still wakes in the night too, I don't know where people get these babies that sleep through, lol! There are a few good nights now when she doesn't wake but it usually comes after a few nights when she hasn't slept well at all and we are all exausted including her! Bed time and night time feeding got really hard for me to cope with and eventually we decided to night wean. She was getting upset with me because there wasn't enough milk and I was very on edge and grumpy and we were both getting fustrated. So OH started getting up instead until she got used to it. Now she doesn't expect a feed even when I put her back to sleep. We leave feeds for daytime when we are both fresh and in a good mood. Feeds are quite short now though and are not even daily.

There were a few difficult weeks while we all worked out our new routine but it is quite smooth now. I do miss the ease of feeding her to sleep. It was very quick and easy. It takes longer and is more work now but at least we have settled into a routine again. I hope you find a new routine that works for you all soon too.

 

[too_scared]

Thank you.

Finn has always woken every 1-3 hours. 1-2 is most common. That is just how he is.

I don't really want to night wean. I just wish that I could somehow get him to eat so he isn't hungry and then maybe he will sleep for a few hours so there will be some milk and then maybe he will sleep for a few more hours. Rinse and repeat... Haha!

 

[BunnyN]

I wasn't really planning on night weaning it just wasn't working for us anymore. BFing actually got a lot better for us again when we stopped night feeds. I had really bad aversion too which was the worst bit though. When it comes to BFing during pregnancy every one is so different so there aren't any rules. You just need to find a new routine that works for you. Hope it doesn't take your LO too long. Glad I'm not the only one crazy enough to be expecting #2 when #1 doesn't sleep through the night yet .

 

[too_scared]

I figure I would just consolidate all the sleepless nights together! Haha! I don't think I will sleep for at least 3-4 more years...

Last night was a little better. He was still waking every hour or so but not less so that is great.

I was having a little aversion at first and still get a little every now and then when he is comfort nursing for a long time. I have a lot of pain. Sometimes if feels like he is chewing on me not nursing. It isn't always that bad but I have noticed the last few days it has gotten worse. The last time I was pregnant it was very sore too. But, then he was in the habit of biting me when he was done nursing. So it was ouch on top of ouch! I'm very glad he doesn't do that much now. Hardly ever, really.

I honestly have no idea how to get him to sleep if we don't nurse to sleep. That is all he ever did. I guess time will tell!

 

[Kiwiberry]

So I just got my period today. Two months PP. I thought it would take much longer since I am BF and pumping. Guess not lol. After 4 weeks PP I had a week with no bleeding then it came back. I think that was my period but I have no way of telling for sure or not.

 

[BunnyN]

That was quick kiwi! Are you planning to start TTC soon?

 

[Kiwiberry]

That was quick kiwi! Are you planning to start TTC soon?

I think I am going to wait a couple more minths. I had a preemie so I'm scared of it happening again and don't want to do anything that will increase the chance. I am so excited to get pregnant again. I think the reason I got af so early is because I use a pump and barely get to BF since my baby is still in the NICU.

My af came back with a vengeance, so I know the early bleed a month ago was probably still my PP bleed.

 

[BunnyN]

Do you pump in the night? They also say going more than 6hrs between feeds in the night can trigger af. Its probably wise to wait a couple of months. You probably want a little while to get settled with your LO at home too. I am really glad to be pregnant again but I admit that its hard work and I don't have the same time and patience with LO that I had before.

 

[Kiwiberry]

Do you pump in the night? They also say going more than 6hrs between feeds in the night can trigger af. Its probably wise to wait a couple of months. You probably want a little while to get settled with your LO at home too. I am really glad to be pregnant again but I admit that its hard work and I don't have the same time and patience with LO that I had before.

I do pump at night. The most I have gone is about 4-5 hours and that was on accident. I don't believe I have ever gone to 6 hours between pumps. I try to do it every 3 hours around the clock. I noticed earlier (a week or two ago maybe) that I had ovulation like discharge. I thought nothing of it and thought maybe it was just normal, but I guess it was my impending AF on its way.

I do plan to take a couple more months before TTC. I don't want to wait too long as it took me almost 5 years to conceive my first baby (3 years in a previous marriage, 2 years with my OH). So I don't want to start too late and take longer ya know?

 

[TTC our first]

So my daughter is 19 months and loves her food but will only bring water and yuck caprisun that she steals from my dh . She can't have dairy due to reflux issues and is still on Prilosec and Zantac. My husband and I have been wanting another baby since she turned. 6 months. I have not been very consistant with nursing her at same times each day as sometimes I work and can't nurse all day or sometimes we are out and she misses the afternoon nursing with her nap she takes. So we aren't really consistant since she turned 13 months. She won't drink coconut or almond milk for me either. my cycles for af have not returned and I haven't had a period since post pregnancy bleeding in June 2013 that last about a week.

So we would like to get pregnant but I'm seeing people that breastfeed fall pregnant while allowing their babies to nurse. How can this happen?? My husband keeps telling me to stop nursing but my daughter isn't ready. Zoey is very demanding and wants to nurse to sleep or for comfort when she needs it. She's very clingy to me and my family on his side says it's unhealthy.... That if I stop breastfeeding her she will be a normal child instead of demanding. :/ my husband also says nursing is why I can't fall pregnant. I want to believe they are all wrong but I'm starting to worry.