Okay, I have a question about nursing while pregnant
WildcatPrincess
member
I hear that a lot of times LO will self-wean because of supply changes or changes to the taste of the milk - has this been the experience on the board or does LO continue nursing the whole 9 months? We're starting TTC my next cycle and originally (wayyyyy back) I had planned to be done at a year. Now I'm dreading stopping, I just don't feel ready yet and hate the thought of forcing her off the boob. BUT I also really don't want to tandem nurse. I don't know if allowing her to nurse through the beginning of a pregnancy would then give her enough time to adjust to not nursing before LO #2 was born (if she self weaned) - like would she want to start again seeing the baby do it?? With my supply issues I doubt it would even survive a pregnancy, honestly.
At the same time I feel bad completely weaning her now knowing how long it can take to get pregnant again. If for whatever reason it was suddenly January and we weren't pregnant I'd feel terrible about weaning. Bah. She's down to 3 sessions, on her own, right now and the early AM one is the only one she really asks for, but she still nurses to sleep before nap and bed as well.
I'm planning on giving her her first sippy of milk tomorrow before nap to see how it goes and it's making me a lot more emotional than I expected, I guess. I had so many issues nursing in the beginning and it hurt so bad the first 6-7 months that I had expected to be jumping up and down over being done. Instead I'm more sad that I spent that much time hating it.
Re: Okay, I have a question about nursing while pregnant
My daughter was still nursing several times a day when I got pregnant (she was just turning 2 years old). Like you, I did not want to tandem nurse. I worked on gradually weaning her over the next few months and she was weaned by about 6 months into my pregnancy. I was worried it wouldn't be enough time before I started nursing the new one, but it worked out just fine. She has asked to nurse a few times since he was born but I've been able to distract her and she would forget about it.
My nipples got really sore a couple months into my pregnancy and nursing became painful. And I started to feel like I wanted to scream every time she would nurse. So that became added incentive to wean her.
C weaned about halfway through - in part I think because my milk was pretty much gone and in part because I was nudging him in that direction - he was almost 2 at the time.
If I were in your shoes, I'd probably just play things by ear for the next few months. C went from nursing a lot to being done very quickly so it can happen fast.
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I think it really depends on the kid and I agree with ncbelle that playing it by ear and being flexible is the best thing. DS was still nursing 1-4 times a day when I first got pregnant. I also didn't really want to tandem nurse and had some pretty bad nipple pain starting around 8-10 weeks so I've been slowly weaning since then. It's actually gone light years smoother than I thought it would - very few tears actually. He hasn't nursed in about a week though he did ask once this morning and I just told him mama milk was gone and he was fine so I think I can consider us weaned. I have no idea if he'll want to start back up when the new baby gets here and if he asks I'll probably let him try.
He did totally melt my heart a few days ago when he asked if the baby would drink mama milk and he said yes and he said they could share and drink together, So sweet! So maybe I'll tandem nurse after all - who knows?
Thank you for the responses. I tried the milk sippy before nap today, keeping the rest of routine exactly the same, and it didn't go over great. She seemed to like the milk, but not the sippy. She didn't ask to nurse, though. I think maybe I'll just stop automatically offering the breast if she's not looking for it and see what happens. Morning is really the only time she "asks" for it (by attempting to leave huge hickeys on any body part she can get her mouth on).
As to why I don't think I'd want to tandem nurse: I know every kid is different, but R nursed every 60-90 mins the first few months, 40 min sessions, so I got very little break, in the evenings it was 3 hours straight, nipple in the mouth. After those few months she still nursed every 90 mins to 2 hours until she was 7-8 months old....if #2 is the same way I feel like I would resent "having" to nurse R as well. It was draining after awhile for me to keep that up, especially with all the blisters and infections. I don't want nursing her to become a chore.