Breastfeeding While Pregnant - Laurel,MD

You are not alone. I nursed my older daughter until I was in my second trimester with my second daughter. It was exhausting for awhile but my first started eating baby food and slowly weaned herself. I had to make the final cut off but it wasn't that bad. It took about two weeks but she was only nursing before she went to sleep. At nap time and bedtime, my husband or someone else would give her a bottle that had either juice or a mix of breast milk and formula. They would wrap her in a shirt I had worn so she would still smell me. This was a recommendation from a friend as it gently weaned her from me but wasn't a complete cut off all at once. Just to give you an idea of timing, I had my second in June. My first was completely weaned by February when she was 18 months old. Good luck and God bless.

My son was twenty-something months when I got pregnant with our daughter. I continued to nurse him but like you, it was basically morning, night-time and nap time. I was older and the pregnacy was wearing me out. When my husband asked him when he was going to give up nursing he said "when I'm 3" which was 2 weeks before his birthday so we made him stick to it. As long as you are feeling up to it then I don't see a problem but make certain the baby is getting the richest part of the milk in the process and don't be surprised if you need to see a lactation consultant. After all that nursing I needed to because the last thing I nursed was a toddler which is totally different than nursing an infant. Good luck!

I nursed my daughter all through my second pregnancy, at least twice a day. After my son was born, I breastfed both of them for 8 months, until the baby quit on his own. Then I had to get the first child to stop or she would have kept it up until high school!

All over the world, mothers nurse while pregnant and nurse multiple babies, sometimes for many years. The key is to keep yourself as healthy and well-rested as possible.

Drink a lot and get as much sleep as you can. Also, eat lots of protein and high calcium foods. I found that if I felt jumpy (wired but tired) or the baby was irritable and not sleeping well, a little magnesium supplement before bed worked great. We all need more minerals than we usually get.

Good luck and best wishes for many happy breastfeeding days. It will be over before you know it, but the benefits for our children last a lifetime.

My son self weaned at 7 weeks . i was pregnant with his sister and i guess my milk tasted different to him. i then nursed his ssister for 5 months (had to due to cadract/ glaucoma surgery) and then with my youngest nursed her for 16 months... and did it while moved in the winter of 2007 from idaho to Maryland...

I became pregnant with baby #2 when my son was 9 months old. He self weaned around 13/14 months, about 4/5 months into the pregnancy. I think my milk just dried up and he was too interested in solids to care. I thought he might get interested in nursing again when his sister started, but he never did so I never had to tandem nurse.

Congratulations!

I was still breastfeeding my sweet son when I got pregnant with my second and like you, I looked into tandem nursing etc. For me by the time I was 3 months pregnant, my nipples were so sore that it was very painful to nurse and started to wean. Though my son was older, I started weaning him by taking away the mid day nursing then the morning and then the bed time nursing, it took me a little over a month to wean him. I told him that his "chi cha" was not working anymore because he was growing so big. I think that I may have tandem nursed if I had not been in so much pain...but be really sure to take a calcium supplement-I read that the growing baby gets first dibs, then the big boy and then mommy so you need lots of calcium. My son insisted that he would start nursing again when the baby came and the chi cha was working again but he never did ask me. :-)Good luck!

Hi E.:

My son was 17 months and still nursing when I got pregnant with his sister. He nursed for the first four months of that pregnancy, but I cut him off at 22 months because I couldn't imagine tandem nursing. He protested for a week and then moved on. I really appreciated having had the five month nursing break before the new baby arrived. I went on to nurse her for 24 months. I guess it really depends on your personal needs. I have a friend who didn't have the heart to wean her eldest son and he went on to nurse for another year after his sister was born. He was nearly three when his mom finally cut him off. That friend was the one who cautioned me against tandem nursing. In hindsight she said she wished she'd weaned her son before her daughter was born. Good luck. Remember, whatever you choose, it won't hurt the children. It is really about what you need. If you do tandem nurse, though, do check with your doc about your nutritional needs. I imagine you'll need an additional calcium supplement to keep the kids from setting you on a sure path toward osteoporosis. -C. F

Cudos for still nursing and considering tandem nursing & Congrats on #2! I nursed my then 15 month old while I was pregnant with her sister. I had planned on tandem nursing, but when she was about 19 or 20 months, she self weaned (I was about 5 months prego at the time). BTW - my 1st was 8 weeks early so I was at risk for pre-term labor and nursing was still OK'd by the doctors. My second came 4 weeks early (2 months after the oldest had weaned, perfectly healthy. Good-Luck! ~ B.

I nursed my then 3yr. the entire until I was 9mo preg with her baby sister. I had tried to gently wean her a couple times earlier but she just wasn't ready and things kept coming up, moving, medical issues, etc., It was worth it to me to take my time and be gentle. she weaned completely at the end of Nov. and her sis was born mid Dec. and she has done fine 1yr + later. It is possible to tandem nurse and your son is young enough you might seriously consider it. La Leche League meetings are a good place to find others who might even consider doing that. If you go to their website they also sell many good books on tandem nursing, breastfeeding in general, and weaning.

I was so glad to see the responses from all of these breastfeeding mamas who are doing the extended and tandem nursing, because sometimes I feel like I am the only one. I nursed my oldest throughout my second pregnancy and now I am tandem nursing, although I have tried to cut my #1 back somewhat. He would nurse all the time, if I would let him, while the baby has to sometimes be persuaded to eat and when she's done, she's done.

I deliberately decided not to wean my first-born when I found out I was pregnant with #2 because I didn't want him to feel that the baby was taking his place and I thought this would be a way for us to keep our close special bond and cut down on jealousy. I'm not sure it was the right decision because now I don't know how I'm ever going to wean him.

My OB/GYN was opposed to it because she had concerns that it could lead to premature labor. There is a very good book called "Adventures in Tandem Nursing: Breastfeeding During Pregnancy and Beyond" that quelled this fear. I'm surprised no one mentioned this book. I checked it out of my local library. Lots and lots of women have nursed during pregnancy without incident. Of the many many women interviewed for the research, not a single one (as I recall) had premature labor from nursing. Those who felt premature contractions merely stopped the child from nursing and the contractions went away. Anyway, I just decided to keep it to myself after that and didn't discuss it further with my doctor.

One thing the book mentions is a natural aversion that pregnant women seem to develop to having the older child nursing while they are pregnant. Almost like a nails on a chalkboard discomfort. In animals, the mother will literally push the pup away when they try to nurse. I did feel some of this aversion and I found the nursing more painful than before, but I had made up my mind to do it and it wasn't that bad.

My milk dried up during the pregnancy, but this did not deter my oldest at all. He just kept right on suckling for comfort. Now I am pain-free and one advantage is that my milk flows like a river from all the nursing. Good luck to you if you decide to do it and you will not be alone!

My daughter breastfed until 15 months as well and I was about 2 months along with my son. I encouraged her to stop because it was draining me, and a year was my goal with all of my kids. However, I have read that if you are nursing and older child and a baby at the same time, you let the baby nurse first, and then the older child. That was the baby gets what they need and the older child gets the comfort. In my experience, I have seen most children stop before the next baby is born - but if you choose to breastfeed both, just feed the baby first!

I was nursing my older daughter when I became pregnant with her sister. She nursed until she turned two. I was going to start to encourage weaning sometime after her birthday b/c I didn't want to tandem nurse, but she preempted me on her second birthday by telling me, "No more milk. I done." and that was that. I was 14 weeks pregnant at the time.

I nursed both of my boys until they were 3 1/2 years old. They are 23 months apart. So I nursed son#1 my entire pregnancy with son#2 and then I tandem nursed both of them together for another 1 1/2 years until I weaned son #1. I only weaned son#1 because he was confused about being a baby and nursing and being a big boy and using the potty. Weaning him helped me with the potty training. I was worried that I wouldn't have enough milk for son#2 if son #1 was nursing but that wasn't the case. I had more than enough to go around. Nature and the woman's body are amazing!! Good luck, congratulations and kudos to you!

Congrats on the new one. I too nursed while pregnant. My older child turned three just before the baby was born. I had planned on tandem nursing because he really didn't act like he was ready to give it all up, but then about 2 months before the baby, he just quit on his own. I know my situation is a little different since he was older than yours, but I hope this helps.

I've been tandem nursing for just over 13 months now. Some of it is a challenge when the first child doesn't want to share, but having two breasts helps. I assigned sides and that pretty much cut out the possessiveness. I would recommend putting the baby on the side that is easiest for you to nurse on and do other things. For me it was the left side since I'm right handed. And the novelty of nursing both at the same time wears off after about a month. It was a good thing that I was tandem nursing as my second child didn't have as organized of a suck and had trouble stimulating a letdown, and my first was very good at this.If I hadn't been tandem nursing I definitely would've had a much harder time breastfeeding my second. While I was pregnant I did set limits, partly hoping she would wean, and partly because around my 20th week it hurt like heck, but I stuck with it anyway. The pain passed in a couple weeks, but we were only nursing twice a day and for short sessions. That really helped once the baby came and my milk was plentiful again and she wanted to nurse more. Having those limits in place ahead of time helped me to not feel so touched out in the early days. Good luck with your new baby.

My son nursed during my pregnancy (I'm due any day now) until he was 22 months old. I was planning on just keeping nursing and also tandem nursing but he pretty much stopped on his own. My doctor warned me that the flavor of the milk will change throughout the pregnancy or I will stop producing milk. I was still producing milk but I guess the flavor did change because he just lost interest. At first I was sad, but now I'm glad. I am too big and uncomfortable to nurse a 2 year old boy. If he wants to start again once the baby is born and he sees the baby is nursing then of course I'll let him but I'm sure even if that happens it will be only temporary. Whichever way you choose, know that you can always change your mind! Nothing is permanent. You can start out tandem nursing and then decide that it's too much for you. And your son might just stop on his own like mine did. Good luck