Nursing Through Pregnancy

See if you can find a LA Leche League meeting, and look up tandem nursing on kellymom.com and llli.com. There is tons of good info on both sites, and if you visit www.mothering.com (mothering magazine) there is a whole board set up for nursing with alot of tandem moms.

Congratulations on nursing, and continuing to nurse!

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I nursed through 2 pregnancies. I nursed my 3 year old son while pregnant with my daughter with no problems. I experienced the Braxton Hicks contractions (quite strongly at the end of the pregnancy), but it was not a concern. My daughter was born on her exact due date in a very speedy two hour delivery (at home with midwives) so I guess all of those Braxton Hicks really did get my uterine muscles strong! I did go into labor right after I had nursed my older child to sleep, so I guess the nursing did stimulate labor, but I had contractions every day before that and no labor until it was time. The body knows. I tandem nursed afterwards for 6 months.

I nursed my daughter (age 2) through my third pregnancy. I got pretty sore (nipples) and then my milk stopped. My daughter still wanted to "nurse" for comfort, and I let her for the last 2 months of the pregnancy although it was rather uncomfortable for me. A toddler cuddles right around a pregnant belly, not a problem. When my third baby was born and the milk came in - oh the delight on my 2 year olds face as she got real milk again! Priceless. IT was a beautiful 4 hour labor and a water birth (can't rave enough about that!) I tandem nursed for almost a year after that.

I say to go for it. Generally speaking, the medical community is not familiar with the traditional ways of childbirthing and childrearing, and they do not feel confident in encouraging it. Just make sure you get lots of fluids and good nutrition and prenatal supplement. Trust your instincts - good luck:)

P.S. I had to add this after reading some of the answers. There is a lot of fear in some of these responses, and I disagree with some of the "medical" responses. The baby is well protected in the amniotic fluid and is not getting "compressed" by contractions. There is a general lack of trust in the wisdom of the body which has people doing crazy things out of fear. Mothers have nursed through pregnancies for thousands of years - it is a natural and healthy thing.

1 mom found this helpful

Hi A.,

I lived in a very pro-nursing community when I had my first, and there was a very active La Leche League there as well. LOTS of the women there nursed not only through pregnancy but through the birth of their second as well. The reason your doctor might be encouraging you to stop is that nipple stimulation can bring on labor, but usually that is IF your body is ready for it. (If you've had a history of preterm labor or something, I'd ignore all this!) Anyway--lots of those women said nursing through pregnancy helped tremendously with morning sickness, and if you search the internet, you can even find information on tandem nursing (nursing your two children--not twins--together). If this is something you feel strongly about, you can definitely find a community that will support you. You might have to search, but there is definitely a faction of folks that supports nursing as long as you want to.

Good luck.

I nursed my 3rd child through my pregnancy with the 4th. then I tandum nursed them for a year. You and the babies will be fine. Make sure your calorie intake is high. The baby (inside) will take what it needs first. The baby nursing with get what it needs second and you and your body will get what's left.
Don't let them tell you the birth weight will be low either. My 4th son weighed 10 1/2 pounds. I had no premature labor/contractions. My labor was really fast though.
It gets interesting in the end when your beely is big but my son could always find a way to the breast. Then after my other son's birth I would nurse them together; it created a strong bond between them.
I would do it again in a heart.
Feel free to email me if you have more questions.
Good luck, and if this is what you want to do then do it and don't let anyone, not even the doctors, change your mind.

www.askdrsears.com will have lots of information on this for you. also, find your local le leche league.. www.llli.org. they will be able to help you a LOT also. it is completely possible to tandem nurse and nurse while pregnant! :D and its beautiful. my son weaned himself almost 2 weeks ago at almost 20 months old... and we arent pregnant, so i havent done it, but ive heard a lot about it and im glad you have decided to do it! good luck!

I nursed my baby through the first two trimesters of my pregnancy with no problems. My doctor was very supportive of this, but did want me to stop once I entered trimester #3 so as not to cause preterm labor. Plus, how many people can your body be feeding at that point? I know nursing is wonderful for both mom and baby and I would definitely say go for it for the first 6 mos or so, but the health of your new little one becomes a bigger concern after that. (Besides, I imagine it would be quite difficult to nurse a one and a half year old when that belly starts protruding!) :)

Does you doctor suggest nursing after your baby turned 1 ? Babies normally switch to whole milk and eat regular food...and should also be introduced to a sippy cup rather then breast milk and/or bottle ?? Just curious...

Nipple stimulation at the end of a pregnancy can cause contractions. It is one of the ways doctors reccomend to help you go into labor. But it does not always help. If you had factors for preterm labor then nursing could aggrivate that. I would assume as long as your pregnancy is healthy and there is not a chance of preterm labor then you could continue to nurse. Just make sure you are getting extra nutrients needed. Which I am sure you are doing. But please stop if there is any reason to think it would end your pregnancy early. Which I again I am sure you would do.

Let me first say I'm not a doctor, but I have 4 children of my own, so I definitely have experience. Nursing causes your stomach muscles to contract. This is why so many women say they've lost weight faster after having a child when they nurse. If you continue to nurse while you're pregnant, you would run a great risk of tricking your body into labor, which could be very dangerous for your unborn child. Having a child is harder on a women's body than we sometime are willing to admit. Nursing a child can take a lot from you as well... when I was nursing my last child, I started loosing more hair and started getting migraine headaches after the 6th month. So, I can only imagine the stress your causing on your body by both being pregnant and nursing at the same time.

These are just my thoughts... hope I helped.

Hi A., good luck with the nursing during pregnancy, I did it for a little while with my then 13 month old. Then my milk dried up and he wasn't getting satisfied at night and would ask for a drink. I think that was at about 5 months into my pregnancy. I was also pregnant with twins at the time. i don't know if that contributed to my milk drying up. I have heard of others that can nurse the whole pregnancy. I don't know about the medical issues, sorry. Good luck, my boys are 18 and 20 now!

Hi A.!

Good for you for nursing you baby :)

I nursed my 14 month old through my pregnancy and then tandem nursed both for awhile, and am still nursing my 3 y.o. daughter once a day now.

I received conflicting opinions on nursing, so I did what I believed was right for me. I nursed... no problems!

The info that they told me was that I should be careful of possible contractions. But that since I was still nursing and already pregnant that there should be no problems continuing as long as it was a "normal" pregnancy without complications. If there were complications then I would need to stop.
They said that the body knows what it is doing. If a woman was not nursing and resumed trying to nurse after she had stopped, then it could be problematic. (My question is why would someone stop and then try to resume after awhile off of not lactating...? hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...)

One helpful piece I wish I would have known... the colostrum is so powerful it completely cleaned out my son when he was tandem nursing after my daughter was born... So I had to hold him off for three days until the colostrum was out and the new milk had come in.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email.

Other helpful resources: Mothering.com (mothering magazine).
La Leche League
KellyMom.com

Good Luck! Congratulations!!!!!!!

Blessings to you!
G. H.

you run the risk of being dehydrated. This will cause contractions.

Wow, I didn't think you could get pregnant while breastfeeding! I would think you would want your unborn baby to get all or most the nutrition possible since your 14 month can get nutrition by eating real food.

As for nursing causing contraction. Apparently they think that suckling at the breast can be arousing. But I think it is mind over matter. We are focused on our babies not a man. I remember when I was feeding my daughter at the breast. It didn't arouse me. I know sounds sick but that is what it comes down to.

Dear A.,

I nursed through pregnancy and just when I thought my first born, then almost three, was about to wean, she continued and nursed through our newborn's first year. We loved it, had no problems and I was already "in shape" to nurse the newborn.

It was a challenge with the first to learn how to nurse and I am really glad I stuck with it. I didn't have to think about sore nipples or milk supply or anything, when baby #2 came, we just kept going. My midwife supported me either way and I have some wonderful memories of my two girls nursing and falling asleep on my lap like a pile of puppies. I wouldn't trade this experience for most anything.

Best of all, we are all really close, my girls are really healthy and haven't had any of the issues that tend to happen more often with formula feed babies. I also am encouraged by the thought of the risk reduction of breast cancer when you nurse, especially since my sister just had it recently. (Her wise dr, refused to let her nurse, because of some fibroids! We know now, that nursing would have been a huge benefit.)

If it is the right thing for your growing family, then you will find a way to make it work. If your care provider doesn't support you and your views, then find someone else. There are many people out there that do this care and each has their own philosophy on practicing medicine and it is imperative that you find one that respects your needs and wishes.

Have you thought about visiting with a Midwife? That really makes a difference in the philosophy around childbirth and it made all the difference for our family. I wouldn't want it any other way. I also would never have another baby without a doula. They are wonderful and give you and your family another layer of support that I wished I had when my first was born.

I am an "older Mom" and am glad that I stuck to my guns and didn't let anyone sway me. I often wonder if I had been younger, if I would have had the gumption to do and say what I wanted, needed and believed in. I know from experience that all my biggest regrets were when I knew something should have been one way and I let someone else decide or do something exactly opposite. Go with your gut, I always say, it has NEVER let me down.

Good Luck to you and enjoy your growing family!
J.

P.S. I am still nursing and we are loving it!