Nursing while Pregnant

Kim - posted on 12/16/2010

Thanks Emily...I will check Amazon and tell my husband he is getting it for me for Christmas:)

Emily - posted on 12/15/2010

I nursed through my second pregnancy. I did have nipple soreness, especially toward the end.

I highly highly HIGHLY :) recommend the book "Adventures in Tandem Nursing," I believe by Hilary Flowers(?). I wish I had read it while pregnant with my 2nd, but it was equally helpful while tandem nursing. Loads and loads of research and personal experiences. Normalizes tandem nursing.. the way it's supposed to be. :)

Kim - posted on 12/13/2010

Thank you Fiona...your post is so helpful. I do have to admit I have had some anxiety just not knowing what to expect...and have had my fair share of people trying to tell that I have to wean. Weaning just didn't feel like the right thing and my 2 year old is not ready. I am so glad to hear you are at 36 weeks and every thing is good:)

Minnie - posted on 12/13/2010

I am also pregnant with an unplanned surprise baby and nursing my 26 month old. I'm interested to see how she responds to changes in my milk. From what I have read, it is the younger babies that are more at risk for premature weaning and that toddlers are more....solid? with nursing and tend to stick with it despite a slower milk flow and such.



I'm so happy to learn of so many other mothers breastfeeding and planning on tandem nursing.

Fiona - posted on 12/13/2010

Hi Kim. I am still nursing my 17 month old son and I am 36 weeks pregnant. This second pregnancy was very much unplanned and a surprise. I too plan to breastfeed to natural duration and was concerned that my body would "force" my son to wean earlier than he was ready. But so far, no real problems. My milk supply has changed a number of times throughout this pregnancy, at the end of the first trimester I felt I was drying up and it did seem that I had a low supply, but my son kept suckling anyway and I was happy to let him continue even if it meant he was dry-feeding it was still a comfort to him and something he persisted with. Then my supply increased and he was getting a good feed again, which coincided with about the time he started getting his molars which was handy for us. He doesn't feed as much as he used to, maybe 2-4 times a day unless he is teething or unsettled when he increases. I am expecting that once my milk fully comes in again after the baby is born, he will probably want to feed more. That is the next hiccup I am anticipating -how to coordinate the baby's feeding needs around my older sons. I expect we will work that out when we come to it, but it is hard because my son still is very young and sometimes it is difficult for him to understand the concept of waiting.

I will say when my supply was low, breastfeeding did become a bit more difficult, my son was fidgety and would knead at my breast during the feed which was hard because my breasts were becoming more tender. But we worked through it. Now that I am almost due, I have the extra belly to work around, but we just feed usually in a chair with him laying on a triangle pillow around my belly or sitting up with him on my lap. You will find a way that is comfortable for both of you. You are lucky to have a midwife supportive of you. I had one midwife tell me that she was surprised that I wished to let my son self-wean and not use the pregnancy as a reason to stop breastfeeding. She was surprised that I was still able to breastfeed at all while pregnant. She was new to the field though, so I guess that was an education for her. My mum gave me the best advice, which was just to be relaxed about it, not stress or overthink it, know that I had already done my best and if my son decided to self-wean because of the pregnancy it was still his choice even if I felt that I had forced his hand by falling pregnant. It allowed me to just really go with the flow and follow my son's cues.

If you have any questions I am happy to answer them. And congratulations on the new pregnancy.