Nursing Toddler while Pregnant

[celtic13]

I found out the other day that I'm pregnant again....very unplanned, but a good thing.

I'm still nursing my 2 year old who shows NO signs of giving up the nummy! Actually give a full out tantrum if she doesn't get it.

I know there are 2 schools of thought on the subject of nursing while pregnant and I'd like to get your opinion.

I haven't see the OB yet, but when I saw her at the beginning of the year and I told her I was still nursing her response was "why?" so I know there is going to be no support there. I LOVE her otherwise.

Any advice?

[Amy_G_]

find an OB that is a bit more supportive of extended nursing, or be prepared with info so when she says that it's dangerous to the baby you are ready with an answer. Of course, for some moms, continued nursing does impact the pregnancy, in that it sets off contractions. If it's safe to have sex, it should be safe to nurse--however, most of the time you'd be nursing more often each day than you usually have sex each day. ;)

remember to up your calories significantly. nursing takes about 300 more calories a day (minimum) and pregnancy takes more on top of that. If you aren't eating enough, your supply will suffer--pregnancy takes priority, breastfeeding will come in 2nd, then your own body when it comes to nutrition.

Watch galactogogues if you do have supply issues, as some of them are not safe in pregnancy. You may have to stick primarily with oatmeal (and it's pretty good nutritionally too).

expect your toddler to get a bit perturbed with you, as your supply is likely to diminish at first, it may rebound towards the end of your pregnancy, but you can't easily explain that to her, can you?

For some women it gets very nerve racking, as their nipples get sensitive, the supply diminishes or virtually stops, and the toddler keeps demanding to suck anyway for comfort. Expect you'll be a bit on edge about it at some time, and figure out how you'll handle it so you are at least partially prepared.

[kohlby]

If the only problem you have with your OB is extended nursing, then I'd just ignore her. Here it's very tough to find drs who are supportive of everything so a lot of people just roll with it. (Though I'm fortunate to have a wonderful OB who I don't have to ignore with anything!)

My milk supply plummeted right away every time when pg. I did not need to take in any extra calories due to nursing. Nursing a 2 year old can take more calories in some women but if you have no supply or less supply, then it's not going to take a heck of a lot! Listen to your body. I do lose weight at the start of each pg due to hyperemesis. But I also rapidly gain it all back and far, far more than average too - despite not eating all much more than normal.

Setting limits really helped - I would do a 10 second countdown when I was ready for a nursing session to end. That way, my kids still got to nurse but I could easily shorten the session when it was needed. My son was a bit too rough when I had no milk so there were lots of short sessions. My daughter has been a lot more gentle. When the colostrum started at around 24 weeks, my son finally had enough to swallow. He was much more gentle then!

If you don't plan on tandem nursing, then I'd suggest slowly weaning with a plan in mind so the older one isn't newly weaned when the baby comes. For me, I found tandem nursing super easy despite a rather spirited older child. I think he viewed DD as the creature who made my milk supply abundant. And since "breastfeeds" was his favorite thing in the world, DD quickly got a favorite title for helping get the milk in!

[SingingMom]

I did this and it was so very much the right thing for us.

My OB wasn't super supportive, but she wasn't opposed to it either. Her only objection was that she thought that the toddler would be jealous of the new baby getting all the milk if I didn't wean first. My experience went the other way- the toddler saw the new baby as the bringer of much sweet milk. I think tandem nursing produces less jealousy rather than more...

My OB is, however, well educated on the fact the BF is safe for most everyone during pregnancy. Some of her nurses, not so much, but the OB was supportive enough to get everyone else off my back. If your OB is willing enough, maybe you should stick with her.

[Stephanie]

I am doing it right now. I am seeing a midwife, so it is a bit different. I will say that once my milk dried up, nursing became an unpleasant experience. I have had to grit my teeth and press on. We also set some serious boundaries about how long she could nurse.

Dd is still nursing, and I am glad that we kept on, it works for us. We just had some rough patches, I am looking forward to tandem nursing and think it will be a great experience for our family.

[PeacefulMom]

I am doing it right now. It has been challenging but I'd do it again in a second. My DS is so excited for his baboo milk to come back! It's so cute when he asks about it. He knows as soon as mommy pushes the baby out (for the love of pete please let it be today!) then the milk will come back soon after.

I didn't dry up until about 20 weeks but had an immediate drop in supply that frustrated him. Some moms never dry up. I got colostrum really early but he isn't interested in it and does no nutritive sucking. He is down to 1-2 times a day. When i first got pregnant he was still at all day long so I never thought it'd be this rarely by the end. But I just can't handle much more often right now.

My Ds has been very patient with me through this and I feel he and I are closer in a different way. And having him partially wean has gotten him closer to his daddy too. But I cannot wait to go back to nursing him full time as soon as I have this baby!

Good luck to you and follow your heart. And if you know your baby still needs nummy then you can find a way to work it out.

Oh and read Adventures in Tandem Nursing for sure! There's a lot of good info in there about nutrition requirements and things too.