Anyone still breastfeeding?

lovekissedmama

Will also post on breastfeeding board. Not pregnant yet but my husband and I would love to have our kids close in age. Still breastfeeding DD and would like to continue until she is emotionally ready to wean. I'm curious if anyone has nursed through their pregnancy? Has your supply dropped? Milk changed? Has anyone's pregnancy caused their LO to wean? How was that process?

Qmommy

Yup!  My supply diminished around week 19 but DD kept nursing.  Sometime after that my milk changed to colostrum so that's what she's getting currently.  Obviously she still needs it for comfort so I'm continuing.  I will be one of those crazy tandem nursing mamas very soon!  

If you plan on BFing while pregnant and/or tandem nursing I highly suggest reading Adventures in Tandem Nursing.  Even if you plan on weaning before #2 arrives, it covers BFing while pregnant extensively. 

lovekissedmama

Thanks for the book rec! I know every woman is different and every pregnancy is different but I am still curious about your experience. When you say your supply diminished, by how much do you mean? Did you need to give your LO another type of milk? Any complaints from her? I can imagine she is getting great nutrition from your colostrum. Do you have to encourage her to nurse or is she initiating most sessions? Nursing until at least two years is important to me but so is having my children close in age. So I am worried about our nursing relationship (losing my milk) if I succeed in getting pregnant soon. I think tandem nursing is beautiful. Good luck in the coming weeks!

megs68

I nursed until around 16 weeks or so.  At that point, DS was around 16 months and self-weaned.  I'm not sure if it was because of a supply drop or he was just ready.  I was glad it was his choice.  I did drop a couple feedings when DS turned a year, partly so that AF would return and we could TTC.  It's hard to balance the idea of making sure #1 gets to nurse as long as he/she needs but also try to make sure not to put off TTC too long.

MayKay12

I was still BF DD when I got pregnant but she self weaned about a month or 2 into it. She was 18/19 months. I was planning on going until she decided she was ready to quit and was fully preparing myself for tandem nursing.

celiabwatson

I'm 39 weeks today and still nursing my 22 month old. Since I worked (up until last week) I had weaned him from day time nursing around a year so I could stop pumping. I just replaced the pumped milk with cow's milk. That transition went fine. Since then he's been basically nursing morning and night. He will sometimes nurse down for a nap on the weekends and sometimes skips the morning feeding depending on when he wakes. We also did some work recently with giving him an alternate sleep association for nighttime. So now my husband takes him for a walk in the stroller and he falls asleep there. So theoretically he could skip any of the feedings on a given day and will sometimes go all day without nursing. I'm happy to let him when he wants to though and don't have a problem with tandem nursing, but at this point I'm not offering unless he asks. 

We never had a problem with supply, or with changing taste (that I know of). I'm actually a little confused why it's not switched over to colostrum yet (unless it has and he just doesn't care).  

Qmommy

lovekissedmama:

Thanks for the book rec! I know every woman is different and every pregnancy is different but I am still curious about your experience. When you say your supply diminished, by how much do you mean? Did you need to give your LO another type of milk? Any complaints from her? I can imagine she is getting great nutrition from your colostrum. Do you have to encourage her to nurse or is she initiating most sessions? Nursing until at least two years is important to me but so is having my children close in age. So I am worried about our nursing relationship (losing my milk) if I succeed in getting pregnant soon. I think tandem nursing is beautiful. Good luck in the coming weeks!

I'm guessing that my supply diminished to practically nothing but I'm not sure.  I just paid attention to her swallowing habits while nursing.  She seemed to swallow a lot less around 19 weeks but continued to nurse her usual length.  I don't have to encourage her to nurse at all.  When she asks I BF.  She usually BFs about 3-5 times a day depending on how she's feeling.  At a year I introduced WCM in a straw cup.  It took her a long time to actually drink it (months) but I wasn't worried since she was still BFing.  She was 13 months when my supply decreased.  

A lot of babies will self wean when a mommy gets pregnant again because the flavor of the milk can change.  Most women don't lose their supply until their well into their 2nd trimester and still some women don't lose their supply at all.

To the mama who doesn't think her supply has changed to colostrum at 39 weeks.  I think it's possible that your supply hasn't changed.  You would know.  Colostrum is a natural diarrhetic  so your tot will most likely have "newborn-ish" poop again (poor DD - haha) if he's drinking colostrum.  I'm jealous that your supply didn't decrease!  Don't worry about your newborn not getting the colostrum he/she needs the first few days.  When you deliver the placenta you will start producing colostrum again.    

So while your supply can decrease when you get pregnant again you may not lose your BFing relationship.  

kmiller1012

I am still breastfeeding.  DS will be a year old in 10 days.  I have just started weaning him, but he isn't very fond of the WCM.  My supply definitely dipped, but I am still producing enough for him, just not more then he takes (I used to pump once a day in addition to his regular feedings.  I can tell he is still getting milk by his swallow and sound.  I'm not sure if the tasted changed, but if it did, DS never seemed to mind.  My goal is to get him down to just 2 feedings a day by his first birthday.

 My doctor's wanted me to wean by 20 wks, but I get them to agree to a year.  I will continue to go as long as DS needs it.  But do hope to have a little break between the 2. 

lovekissedmama

Wow, thank you for all of your valuable input, everyone. What a gift it would be to retain my breastfeeding relationship with DD and add another child to our family soon. Here is hoping! Wishing all of you the labour and delivery you hope for!