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

[dinosaur2010]

Can I ask what happens to your milk if you tandem feed; does the colostrum come through once the baby is born as normal? Does your body produce more colostrum as you have a toddler drinking it aswell?

 

[Snufflepop]

Hi ladies, I am still nursing my 13 month old and have just found out I am expecting again. I am literally only 4 weeks pregnant but the last couple of days my daughter has been fussing and refusing to BF. Also I have always had a really ample supply and almost overnight my boobs feel much softer and like I am producing milk.

I was expecting my supply to drop during the first trimester but not quite this quickly! Anybody have experience like this?

 

[Koosmien]

Hope to get some advice! I'm 38, nursing my daughter for 2 years now. We had no troubles ttc her but #2 is different. AF came after 1 year, irregular. When it was more regular is got pregnant but miscarried... Now I use OPK's and noticed I get my ovulation late and my AF soon after (5 days). I am using vitamine b complex 100 now and eat maca. What else can I do?

 

[MommyJogger]

Hi ladies, I am still nursing my 13 month old and have just found out I am expecting again. I am literally only 4 weeks pregnant but the last couple of days my daughter has been fussing and refusing to BF. Also I have always had a really ample supply and almost overnight my boobs feel much softer and like I am producing milk.

I was expecting my supply to drop during the first trimester but not quite this quickly! Anybody have experience like this?

This was very close to my experience. I dried up incredibly quickly (and my colostrum appeared pretty late). I wouldn't press the issue with LO, I found mine got emotional occasionally when there was no milk, but overall he was a trooper. We went through some periods of not nursing at all. I continued offering on occasion because I wanted him to continue to have the milk once baby brother was here. He nursed again once my milk came back in, but he's weaned himself almost completely now.

 

[BunnyN]

DD only nursed once after her brother was born, She kept talking about how good the milk was after but never asked to again. I offered a couple of times but she just refused and would tell me to feed the baby.

There have been a couple of other mums on this thread who had a drop in milk supply right from the start.

 

[Janers]

Hi ladies, I am still nursing my 13 month old and have just found out I am expecting again. I am literally only 4 weeks pregnant but the last couple of days my daughter has been fussing and refusing to BF. Also I have always had a really ample supply and almost overnight my boobs feel much softer and like I am producing milk.

I was expecting my supply to drop during the first trimester but not quite this quickly! Anybody have experience like this?

I'm 5 weeks pregnant, and still nursing my 2.5 year old. Her nursing habits have also changed, she's all of a sudden less interested, she pulls off regularly, plays around a lot more.

I'm not really sure what's going on?

 

[misspriss]

Hi ladies, I am still nursing my 13 month old and have just found out I am expecting again. I am literally only 4 weeks pregnant but the last couple of days my daughter has been fussing and refusing to BF. Also I have always had a really ample supply and almost overnight my boobs feel much softer and like I am producing milk.

I was expecting my supply to drop during the first trimester but not quite this quickly! Anybody have experience like this?

I'm 5 weeks pregnant, and still nursing my 2.5 year old. Her nursing habits have also changed, she's all of a sudden less interested, she pulls off regularly, plays around a lot more.

I'm not really sure what's going on?

I do think the taste changes a bit too, which may have to do with refusal to nurse, where if it was just low supply they would try and nurse MORE to get more milk, if that makes sense, at least with your 13 month old. A 2.5 year old may get frustrated with lower supply and just not care to nurse anymore.

I don't quite remember what happened when I first got pregnant. I'll see if I can find it.

 

[misspriss]

Sara Ann was born 5/28, 7lb3oz by successful VBAC. We got immediate skin to skin (she did have to be taken away to suction as she was quite gurgly) and latched on her own at 1 hour old and nursed for 45 minutes. She has been getting better and better at nursing since and is nursing like a champ. We will be going home shortly and we will see how the tandem situation is going to work out...

The only thing we are still struggling with is the "giant boob and tiny nose" problem, I had problems with that with DS too, after a few weeks it should be better when her face isn't quite so smooshed up.

 

[Cangaroo]

Congratulations!!!

 

[too_scared]

Yay misspriss! So, so happy for you

 

[misspriss]

....And my milk came in, in the middle of the night last night! I got up to pee and my boobs felt sooooo heavy, the next feed DD was gulping instead of just gently nursing.

My first night of cosleeping and tandem feeding was....well I felt like a milk machine, that is for sure!

 

[misspriss]

Update on tandem nursing, day 6:

Well, my milk came in the night before last, until today DS (2) seemed a little thrown by it. He would nurse at his usual times, bedtime, naptime, etc but not any other times. He also seemed to barely comfort suck, not actually nurse and wasn't really swallowing. That changed today. He has been asking enthusiastically for milk all morning, and really going for it.

I'm so glad, there is no better relief for really full breasts than to actually have a 2 year old nurse on them for a while...

DD is doing great, she is already back up to her birth weight (I thank DS for making sure everything was primed with the colostrum and everything ready to go when she came out!). She does a great job nursing and nurses a lot, but I guess with nursing both I am making more milk than she is taking and I don't feel like she really makes a dent even when she nurses for a long time, but she is making plenty of wet and dirties, as well as actively swallowing when nursing.

DS's latch is actually way better than DDs, she still needs a lot of help latching and sometimes it's a bit shallow. DS on the other hand, doesn't even make my nipples hurt...it's such a relief.

We have done actual both kids at a time nursing once, that was a logistical nightmare.

I'll update more later as DS has woken from his nap!

 

[Cangaroo]

Sounds like it's going great! Well done!

 

[too_scared]

Sounds like everything is coming along great, misspriss! That's really awesome!

 

[misspriss]

HAHA yeah I should not have posted that. Spoke too soon.

We did have a bit of a meltdown at dinner. DS didn't want dinner, he wanted milk. Because he's adjusting, I didn't mind. But DH said no milk until bedtime. I didn't want to undermine him, so I went along with it (it was about an hour until bedtime). He chose to go to bed an hour early in order to have milk. He needed it, he was worn out and tired, so we did. Unfortunately DD woke and wanted to nurse then too, so I had to ask him to wait while I nursed her (we tried doing them both at the same time, I was happy to do so but he wanted to nurse in our usual postion). He threw a fit and cried the whole time I was nursing her. Then I got her to DH and nursed him to sleep.

Fine, he woke a few hours later in a complete PANIC. So much I was worried when he fell earlier and hit is head he had an injury or something, he was just frantic. He freaked out and wanted me only and then was nursing. Only problem is DD had just cluster fed for 1.5 hrs and my nipples were HORRIBLE. I had to ask him to not nurse and just go to sleep, which he seemed fine with, but then I had to go get DD and I thought he was asleep but wasn't. Cue freakout again. It just kept escalating and he wouldn't settle for anything but milk, but I literally couldn't give it to him then. Then he wet the bed. Filled his training pants and then some, while sitting in my lap in bed. Poor DS.

Now we have no sheets for the bed as we only have one set and literally do not have the money for a second set of sheets, so we are sleeping on the mattress tonight with a 2 year old who's just wet the bed and a newborn who leaked in her diaper last night on our new mattress.

I'm stressed, emotional, and really scared to go to bed tonight. I know he is upset but he can't articulate his emotions yet, he is confused about what he is feeling and doesn't have the comprehension to communicate it, so it sucks.

I'm so emotional, every time he cries and reaches for me it makes me so sad that he is upset and I cry.

 

[BunnyN]

How has it been going misspriss. Hope things have settled down a bit. It sounds like you are doing amazing! There are bound to be a few melt downs to start with.

Our girl was making good progress with using the potty when DS was born. She still wet her nappy when out and about but had done all her poos on the potty for months. After her brother was born she suddeny went back to doing poos in her nappy even when the potty was at hand. It took a couple of months to get back to where she had been but DS is 4 months now and she is 90% potty trained so it didn't set her back by too much.

 

[misspriss]

How has it been going misspriss. Hope things have settled down a bit. It sounds like you are doing amazing! There are bound to be a few melt downs to start with.

Our girl was making good progress with using the potty when DS was born. She still wet her nappy when out and about but had done all her poos on the potty for months. After her brother was born she suddeny went back to doing poos in her nappy even when the potty was at hand. It took a couple of months to get back to where she had been but DS is 4 months now and she is 90% potty trained so it didn't set her back by too much.

Well DS was going to spend a half day at grandma's yesterday, but after his meltdown the night before I decided a day with Mommy might be better, as he appeared to be worried about mommy's attention. It made for a very tiring day. So we did the half day at grandma's today, and I went to a breastfeeding support group, (which is my new social meetup to meet new moms) and it was very refreshing for me and DS also got to spend some time away from his new sister, where he was the center of attention. She also had him outside running off energy a lot. He took his nap with her, and took a decent nap (the past two days he's taken a pitiful nap, which only contributes to his behavior). Then grandma came over and brought him back and stayed for a while seeing DD while I spent some one-on-one time with DS and nursed a lot (my boobs were ROCKS....) and he behaved great - until she left. As soon as she left he started being whiney again, although it seems to have gotten better after a couple hours. But it was like someone flipped a switch when she left. *sigh* No more accidents though.

I did meet a mom with a 5 week old and a 22 month old at the support group, she said her daughter behaved very similarly and it passed in less than 2 weeks, so hopefully it will pass soon.

 

[misspriss]

Has anyone dealt with whining for milk? DS has never been one to whine or throw fits, but he whines for milk. Whines and whimpers and cries. I don't give it to him when he does it, because I don't want to support that behavior, but I don't want to deny him milk either! I just tell him that isn't how he asks for things and so he can't have milk, but it doesn't stop him.

He had his first ever kicking screaming throwing himself about tantrum yesterday, because the baby woke up while he was nursing and I had to go for a minute and tend to her (no one else was there to help). I got her settled in about 3 minute and spent the next half hour getting him to calm down and stop throwing a fit.

This tandem nursing is exhausting for more than just my body needing to produce more milk and actually nurse two children, it's made DS very badly behaved lately, which I can kind of understand. But I'm not sure how to go about it really...I'm not even sure if I'm doing the right thing!

 

[mumatmadhouse]

How's it going now miss priss? My 3 ans a half year old is still dry nursing after 17 week of no milk so I am guessing she's hanging on for the milk to come back and not intending on stopping before lo arrives so I have been following your journey with interest. In all honesty she had already got to the whining stage for milk/boo when she was tired or feeling grotty. I just do the same as you and ask her to wait. Sometimes she will wait and others she gets the hump. I think what you are doing is great and your right, it is more than just feeding 2 ,the emotional and comfort side of it is a big part of it. At times it's exhausting with feeding one, let alone 2! I also think that part of what your toddler is going through is a normal part of adjusting to a new family member. Keep going hun, you're doing great! One day at a time x

 

[misspriss]

How's it going now miss priss? My 3 ans a half year old is still dry nursing after 17 week of no milk so I am guessing she's hanging on for the milk to come back and not intending on stopping before lo arrives so I have been following your journey with interest. In all honesty she had already got to the whining stage for milk/boo when she was tired or feeling grotty. I just do the same as you and ask her to wait. Sometimes she will wait and others she gets the hump. I think what you are doing is great and your right, it is more than just feeding 2 ,the emotional and comfort side of it is a big part of it. At times it's exhausting with feeding one, let alone 2! I also think that part of what your toddler is going through is a normal part of adjusting to a new family member. Keep going hun, you're doing great! One day at a time x

Better! we still have the tantrums, but they don't last nearly as long now. The nipple soreness is all but completely gone. The engorgement is getting better and better. For a couple of mornings I had to get up in the morning and pump after BOTH kids had nursed to full, I was hoping I wasn't creating a problem with oversupply, but after about 3 days of super engorgement they seem to have settled.

DS has started not waking at night anymore, and if he does he can settle down himself. DD has been a bit difficult at night, but she's two weeks old today and newborns are just like that sometimes...

Thanks for your words of support, I know his behavior is totally normal for a toddler, but it just seem to have crashed on us all at once!