Nursing While Pregnant

kimberly_ann81

Does anyone have experience nursing with pregnant?  I'm mostly worried about my supply.  Will it tank or be okay as long as peanut keeps nursing.  He only nurses 3-4 times a day and sometimes not very long.  Wondering if I should start pumping once a day to help keep my supply up and build up a small stash incase it does tank.

Us&theBunnies

With my first I was exclusively pumping and found that when I became pregnant, even with fenugreek supplements, tons of water, and extra calories my supply tanked.

You may do better because yours actually nurses but I made it two months into my pregnancy before my supply went from pretty good to less than two ounces per session, then over a day or two basically nothing. I was getting so frustrated, to be fair my son was 18 months at that point and only drinking pumped milk at home (regular food and cows milk at daycare), that I stopped flat out and had no soreness, clogged ducts, etc. so my body had decided to focus on my pregnancy over making milk.

bookworm982

I nursed DD throughout my second pregnancy with DS, and I went on to tandem nurse for six months before DD weaned. It is possible. First off, get a copy of Adventures in Tandem Nursing. The book was an invaluable help for me. It answered almost all of my questions.

The truth of this situation is that every woman's body will react differently to nursing while pregnant. I had a friend discover her second pregnancy because her supply tanked. Some women have full milk the whole time. I was in the middle. My supply dropped around 32 weeks (if I remember correctly). It was right around DD's first birthday, so we had made it to my bare minimum nursing goal and I was happy. At 36 weeks I was almost dry. DD was only getting a few drops/comfort nursing. DS was born at 37w1d, so we were back in full supply after that.

From what I read during my pregnancy, there is nothing you can do to prevent your supply from drying up while pregnant. In pregnancy you aren't dealing with supply and demand issues but hormonal issues affecting supply. Since you need the hormonal changes to have a healthy pregnancy, what will be will be. I wish I could provide a better solution for you.

If you have other questions about nursing during pregnancy or tandem nursing, let me know.

AKB090609

I nursed DD until I was 24 weeks and DD was 18 months (I think). She was losing intrest and I have no desire to tandem nurse, she never complained or gave any hint that there was a supply change.

jf198400

I got pregnant when dd was 9 months. It was right around the time I dropped a pumping session at work. We continued BFing until I was about 20 weeks, I think. Dd was about 13 months when we weaned. My supply was dropping but I think it was more due to dd eating foods and needing less milk, rather than the pregnancy.

Also, I was not interested in tandem nursing, so this worked well for me. Dd had plenty of time to forget about nursing before DS arrived, so there was no jealousy.