Breasfeeding and Pregnant?

T.,

I was one month pregnant with my third baby and still nursing my 8 month old. Be careful and consult you doctor. My uterus would contract (lightly cramp) every time I nursed, raising the risk of miscarrying. It was then that my doctor told me I needed to quickly stop nursing. Thank God I did not have any high risk pregnancies or miscarriages.

So just check in with your doctor before you decide. Everyone is different.

M.

Yes you can have the best of both worlds, you can still breastfeed while pregnant. If you are just now finding out if you are expecting you'll have all 9 months to get your son to wean. The only thing you should know that you might not be aware of, there is a possibility that the new hormones my make changes in the flavor of your milk and put you son off his feed for a day or so but he'll get used to it and things should go well. Although I feel I should warn you nursing and being pregnant will take a toll on you, you'll need to make very wise food choices and get enough sleep and fluids. Most important take care of yourself or you'll have no energy for anything else. Good luck and congrats, you'll be able to do it.

You certainly can. It is called tandem nursing. There is alot of info on it, try www.kellymom.com and www.lalecheleague.org I highly recommend finding your local la leche league group. They are a wonderful resource. Take care, M.

Hi T.,
Yes, you absolutely can breastfeed through a pregnancy.
Here is great link that will probably answer most if not all of your questions. http://www.kellymom.com/bf/tandem/index.html
On the question of supply, here is a link directly to that question. http://www.kellymom.com/nursingtwo/faq/16milkchanges.html
Have fun and follow your heart.
Your son is still on the young side for child lead weaning so there is a possibility that he will nurse through your preganacy. The advantage to this as I have seen is, far less competition between the toddler and new baby.
Tale care,
R.
Doula and mother to Ben 17yrs and Daniel 13 yrs

I did it without problem. I have 2 children 17 months apart. They are now 2 and 7 months. It works just remember breastfeeding is exhausting and so is pregnancy so the combo is tiring and you need higher calories and protein....Good luck....I used the protein bars for nursiong Mommies...

Yes you can breastfeed and still be pregnant, but you are more likely to miscarry. I don't know exactly how more likely, but was still breastfeeding when i got pregnant with my 2nd and my doctor told me to wean because whatever hormone is let off when you breastfeed can cause the uterus to contract. He also said that when you get pregnant while breastfeeding the milk changes and isn't as sweet and so a lot of kids will sort of wean themselves. For me it was my easiest weaning experience of all my 5 kids.

You can certainly continue to nurse while pregnant. 70% of women experience some type of decrease in their milk production while nursing. He may continue to nurse through the pregnancy, or he may decide to stop. My son nurse for 4 months while I was pregnant, but my milk production decreased severely, so he stopped nursing.

A good read is Adventures in Tandem Nursing.

I got pregant with my 5th while still nursing my 4th. My milk didn't dry up but you will find that your little one may not like the taste of the milk that is produced since it will be more like colostrom. I will say, my little one liked it more!! if nursing while pregnant (and I did extended nursing too!!) you will need to greatly increase your calorie intake as well as protein and everything else. Good like while you are TTC (trying to conceive).

My first son weaned himself when I was 3 months pregnant with my second. And believe me, he LOVED to nurse! Your milk changes taste as your pregnancy progresses... my son didn't like the taste anymore and quit. I would certainly tell your doctor and ask his/her opinion.

I am currently nursing my 2 year old and 17 weeks pregnant. Yes, you can be pregnant and breastfeed. Some doctors will tell you not to but there is no research that says to wean during pregnancy. Your milk might dry up but some babies will continue to nurse anyway. And as an added bonus, if your baby makes it nursing through about midway through pregnancy he will start to get colostrum for the rest of your pregnancy. If a few days as a newborn makes them healthy, imagine what several months worth does. A great book to read even before you get pregnant is Adventures in Tandem Nursing, it has a ton of pregnancy/breastfeeding information as well.

I've heard that you can go all the way and then breastfeed them together...but that is way too scary.
I breastfed until I was 6 months pregnant because I wanted my son to have a full year of it. By then my belly was so big that it was really hard to do.
The doctors just told me to make sure and eat more calories because I was feeding 2 babies.
It will totally drain you until you stop though.

Unless you have a high risk pregnancy (i.e. preterm labor, slow fetal growth), there's no reason not to nurse until your milk dries or the taste changes so that your son doesn't want to nurse any more.

I nursed my 4 year old until he was 3 (he wasn't weaning himself - ever), including the whole time I was pregnant with my 20 month old. We were nursing while waiting for the hospital to get ready for a c-section, and we nursed when I was so desperate for a nap I could cry, and we even tandem nursed for awhile.

My doctor okayed it as long as I had no preterm labor and the baby continued to thrive. My pediatrician thought I was nuts, but my older child was on all solid foods - the nursing was more for comfort, and he's continued to grow too.

Unexpected plus: Nursing wasn't nearly as painful the second time around, I still had my calluses .. lol.

No it won't dry up, you will just really have to increase your calorie intake because you are eating for 3!