TTC, Pregnancy, and Nursing

[MommaBoop922]

Hi Ladies,

So my DH and I are thinking about having another baby.  My dd will be 18 months old come March 23rd and while Im really excited about the idea of having another baby, I have heard so many stories about women getting pregnant while still nursing.  I love nursing my daughter (even though some days it can be tough, I have stuck it out and couldnt be happier with that).  Ideally I would like to nurse her until she is 2 years old.  I respect the moms who nurse their older and younger kids but that's just not for me.  My concerns are about my milk drying up when I am pregnant, or I have heard of some women saying they feel a lot of pain and even some say they have miscarried because of nursing.  I just want to know if anyone has had experience with any of these issues and how they handled them.  I think Im most scared about about my milk drying up because I have such a strong nursing relationship with dd I dont want to end it in a traumatizing way by her having to cold turkey.  Aslo the miscarriages worry me a bit since I have had two in the past.  Any advice or encouragement for someone who wants to continue nursing but still have another baby would be greatly appreciated :-)  

[gdiamante]

There's some info linked on our resources sticky. And hold tight,,, we have a LOT of moms who've done it.

[larissalarie]

Your milk won't just dry-up and cut her off suddenly like cold turkey. There's no telling when or how much your supply will drop though, but your toddler could still nurse and most likely at least get something. There's a good chance pregnancy would make her self wean due to the hormones changing the taste and eventually affecting supply. I would think that would be a plus since you want to wean her relatively soon anyway.
I found nursing during pregnancy to be extremely annoying and somewhat uncomfortable. I suddenly really hated it and merely endured minimally it for my kiddo. And he wasn't one who weaned due to it.
For a normal, healthy woman who is already nursing when she gets pregnant, it won't cause complications. That's not necessarily true if you're considered "high risk".
Good luck & congrats on 18 months!

[Precious333]

I have tandem nursed twice. I became pregnant when my oldes was only 11 months and he was excusively breastfeeding (no solids)....and he nurswd quite frequently. We started solids at 12 months and I continued to nurse on demand until my 3rd trimester I limited because I was very touched out and had adversions to nursing....we had a healthy pregnancy throught the entire pregnancy and my son was born at home on his due date.

Then I got pregnant again while nursing my 6month old. I didnt even know I was pregnant until I was already miscarrying (its a weird story). I miscarried but was told it had nothing to do with nursing.

I got pregnant again when my second born was 17 months. I had a health pregnancy and stopped nursing my second when he turned two, three months before My edd with my third. Healthy pregnancy, homebirth and he was born 10 days after his edd.

Nursing while pregnant is fine. Just be sure to eat well and healthy food choices....the nutrience first goes to the unborn baby....and I believe mom gets the left overs. I took extra calcium while nursing and pregnant. Also if you have a healthy pregnancy there should be no issues. If you can have sex, then you can nurse. I think the concern for some OBs is that nipple stimulation can cause contractions....but so can sex and other things as well. So unless you are a high risk pregnancy you will not have to wean.

[norahsmommy]

I nursed through 2 pregnancies. It does hurt if you have sensitive breasts in early pregnancy but it goes away. My milk did gradually dry up starting at the 4th month and it was gone by 6 months both times. My kids still comfort nursed though. They were weaned around 2

[MommaBoop922]

Thanks for all of the great replies!! I am not high risk at all, I miscarried due to a Thyroid issue and that will be managed while I was pregnant.  My daughter was a beautiful pregnancy and delivery :)  I feel much more at ease and will definitely go check out some of the resources in thr group!! 

[Marti123]

I nursed my ODS through my pregnancy. I had no discomfort or aversion at all. My milk supply abruptly stopped about 6 months into the pregnancy and shortly after that colostrum developed. My DS weaned to just a before bed session. I did tandem nurse once I had the baby, but just that bedtime session; it worked great for us as he needed this comfort! But I think it would have been fairly I uneventful had I warned him totally prior to baby's birth.

Good luck.

[PoodleMum]

 I'm nursing my 14 month old and am 13 weeks.  I've noticed a slight dip in supply, but DD is also unable to really nurse and can't keep my supply up anyway.  Unfortunately, I've developed a horrible nursing aversion.  I still let DD nurse, but I have to keep sessions short and she just nurses more frequently :)  Since she's used to nursing and getting little to no milk a lot, I really don't think she'll wean and so far she is even more addicted to her num nums than usual!

I did have a m/c before AF returned at 9-10 months PP, but I've also had two before we had DD and I wasn't nursing then obviously.  It's just the norm for me :/