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Attachment Parenting
hannafemme
member
Want to start TTC, worried about BFing
hannafemme
member
I don't usually post here, but I lurk, and I think you might have some good advice for me.
LO is 9 months. I would like to continue BFing until he self-weans, and I am open to the idea of tandem nursing. I would like to start TTC, but I do not want to have to supplement with formula if my supply drops. He is a great eater with solids, but is still nursing 5-8 times a day depending on his night wake-ups.
We are vegan, so I am not open to introducing WCM at 1 year, and I'm not too jazzed about giving soymilk to my baby boy either, so I really want to keep him on BM until 18 months or longer.
I don't thing getting pregnant will be a problem since I've had my cycle like clockwork since baby was 3 months, I just want to be able to keep nursing during pregnancy. Any experiences out there?
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Re: Want to start TTC, worried about BFing
I have two very different experiences. I got pregnant with DD2 when DD1 was only 5 months and still EBFing. I did have supply issues, but nothing major until I was in 3rd tri (after DD turned 12 months). We never had to supplement with formula, which was my main goal. She didn't drink cow's milk either (she just hates the taste) but we did do cheese and yogurt and she was still BFing even with my low supply. She happily nursed through my pregnancy and went on to tandem nurse for over a year after the baby was born.
I got pregnant again when DD2 was 14 months old. My supply stayed up, but I guess the taste changed too much because she weaned within a few weeks. I lost that pregnancy and have tried every so often to get her to nurse again, but she is just not interested at all.
Have you looked into other alternative milk options- hemp, rice, or coconut milk?
We drink Almond milk, which I will happily give him. It does have the calcium and vitamin D, so I am comfortable with that, but its very low in calories and protein compared to breast milk and/or cow's milk. I am very diligent with out nutrition, but I just want to be sure he is getting everything he needs!
I should be pumping more. I have a stash of about 120 oz, but that wouldn't last too long if I had to wean. Right now, I just barely break even pumping what he eats when I work, so I'm not sure I have enough supply to even build a stash. I should start pumping in the mornings after his first feeding. I will just have to get over my laziness!
We're still BFing and my boy is a GREAT solids eater, but my supply tanked way too much, he was super hungry, frantically trying to get more milk allllll night long, and I went from being able to pump 8-12 oz/day to only being able to pump (currently) about 4-5 (and he takes about 12/day at DC on the days I work). I was able to supplement with freezer milk (I had about 100 oz) and continue pumping and nursing, and about 2 weeks ago, I had no choice but to introduce formula. He's loving it though, and doing great, but obviously my goal would've always been to avoid formula. Still, he's getting about 50/50 now and has had zero ill effects.
He still nurses before every bottle, to sleep, and overnight a time or two, and I am open to (and hopeful we can) tandem nurse.
Just wanted to share my experience...I fought my body pretty hard, but the hormones can just strip your milk away and there is nothing you can do about it (i.e. no amount of pumping or feeding will help it, there are no supplements really deemed "safe" to help it, etc). That said, I got pg when my son was 6 1/2 months, and with 100 oz in the freezer, made it 3 full months without supplementing...so you very well could be totally fine getting to a year if you got pg now. GL!
I got PG when DS was 10 months old. My supply dipped in the first tri, but we still nursed a ton. I found that supply and demand still did help in keeping up the production. DS didn't transition to primarily solids until about 13 months, so he still got in plenty of milk. It wasn't until 7 months of PG that I transitioned pretty much back just to colostrum. DS nurses just once per day for a few minutes now.
I suggest reading Adventures in Tandem Nursing. It it such a great resource.
As an aside, the book talks a good chunk about nutrition while BFing and PG. The nutrient/caloric requirements are hefty to allow the body to nurse while PG, so you may find it helpful to do some extra planning on how to meet that since your diet is specialized (though you probably are an old pro at it by now).
More Green For Less Green
First I want to say that I've never struggled with supply and that might have something to do with it. I stopped pumping at work at 11 months, got my son to 12 months with my stash and then he was allowed cow's milk during the day. Sometimes he drank it and sometimes he didn't. He still nursed after work, before bed, mornings and weekend nap times. I got pregnant when he was 13 months or so and never noticed a difference/issue. I wasn't pumping anymore so I didn't have a good gauge of my supply, but he never complained and continued nursing throughout the pregnancy. He was down to once a day when she was born but that was just normal weaning, not necessarily pregnancy related. Now he nurses a lot more again because newborn milk tastes good and I'm a SAHM now.
So, it's possible that your supply will be fine, but it might not so you should be sure that you're ok with that before TTC.
I don't know, my DD is 12 months and still eats very, very little solids. She's still 95% BM and it's not because I'm not trying. I've read it can be common for them to not really take to solids until closer to 18 months.
Well, the OP did say her DS was very good with solids. Since he's only 9 months old, he'll probably be eating a fair amount of table food by 12 months.
My older DD was very slow with solids, but we did BLW with my younger DD, and she is a GREAT eater now. I wish we'd done BLW the first time around
Plenty of women nurse and manage to get KU. BUT.
This. I'd pump as much as possible so you have a lot stored up!