XP: Breastfeeding While Pregnant: Your Experience

URMySunshine77 · August 2013

This is a repeat post from the breastfeeding board.

Are you currently breastfeeding or have you breastfed while pregnant? I want to breastfeed my LO until at least a year, perhaps longer, and my husband and I are considering TTC again. It's not ideal, but I'm an older mom (36) and don't want to wait too long to conceive. LO is six months old.

Thank you for sharing any experiences. Cheers!

hooligans4 · August 2013

Lurking.....

I don't have experience but my friend did. Her son stopped breast feeding when she got pregnant. It was a surprise pregnancy and she only tested because he wouldn't nurse. She thinks her milk must have tasted different with the hormone change.
That is what happened to her. I hope it helps.

Geeps2 · August 2013

I was breastfeeding while TTC. I actually had to quit breastfeeding because I was one of the "lucky" ones in that breastfeeding kept my period and also ovulation at bay. I had been using my CBE fertility monitor and temping and month after month no ovulation. I knew I was going back to work and there was no chance of being able to pump so I had to start weaning anyway so I was just nursing in the morning and also at night and then just down to at night and I still didn't get my period or ovulate. It wasn't until I quit completely and about 1 month after that I finally got back on the fertility track. My daughter was about 7 months old when I had to wean her completely. I found out I was pregnant when she was just shy of 13 months old so it took a while to get pregnant this go round. With her I got pregnant right away.

My sister was breastfeeding my niece and got a surprise BFP and shortly after she realized she was pregnant my niece refused to nurse anymore. If you read up on it some kids will nurse through it but supposedly it does effect your supply in both quantity and taste.

Good Luck!

RedLucia · August 2013

I was just reading about this yesterday in the "Womanly Art of Breastfeeding" book. Some babies will start breastfeeding again while you are pregnant with another child. The taste of the breast milk changes during the process.

I personally am going to need to ween baby at 6 months so DH & I can do round 2 of IVF for baby # 2. I'm going to check with the RE to see if I can keep pumping while on the IVF drugs and then, let baby start having breast milk again while I am pregnant (& after I finish the IVF drugs).

I haven't seen any good evidence that continuing to BF increases risk of miscarriage after you are pregnant, but I plan to look into that as well.

URMySunshine77 · August 2013

Thank you, ladies! I am a little concerned about the factors out of my control. It looks like DS could decide he doesn't like the taste, or I could experience Braxton Hicks.

I might not even be ovulating yet. But it's good to know all of these things.

gladygirlca · August 2013

I was able to breast feed until my son was about 6 months. I got pregnant when he was 3 months and my milk supply dropped dramatically. The drop corresponded with the development of biting so we ended up weening completely anyway. If I could have fed longer, I would have.

URMySunshine77 · August 2013

Thanks gladysgirlca!

kelley72 · August 2013

I too wanted to nurse my 2nd as long as my 1st, but when my 2nd was 9months my breasts became extremely painful when nursing, so much that my reaction startled my son and I started weaning... yes I was pg

lizardknitter · August 2013

I had to wean DD down to 4 nursing sessions a day to get AF back at 20 months. We tried without success for 4 months, then went to the RE. After a few uneventful cycles, we did IVF and were successful on the first try. I am still nursing her 4 times a day.

You can time meds around nursing sessions so that baby isn't affected, and most fertility meds are hormones that naturally occur anyway so they aren't harmful. Check out Meds and Mother's Milk by Dr. Hale.

Lamenzies · August 2013

I nursed almost exclusively with my first until he was a year, then began to night wean. I didn't get my period back until a month after night weaning. I continued to nurse during the day. It took another seven months for me to get pregnant, which unfortunately ended in miscarriage. I was pregnant again two months after my miscarriage and am now 24 weeks. My first totally weaned just a few weeks ago. I believe my supply went down to nothing by the time I was 4-5 months pregnant and he was just nursing for comfort.

A general rule is if you are nursing more then every four hours during the day and more then every six hours overnight, then you are likely not going to ovulate, and therefore can not get pregnant. Also, my midwife did not feel breastfeeding while pregnant increased my risk of miscarriage.

SurpriseAt39 · August 2013

Lamenzies said:

A general rule is if you are nursing more then every four hours during the day and more then every six hours overnight, then you are likely not going to ovulate, and therefore can not get pregnant. Also, my midwife did not feel breastfeeding while pregnant increased my risk of miscarriage.

Lol... I can attest to the fact that this is not true for everyone.

(I know you said "general rule")

I have an 8.5 month old and just found out I am @10 weeks pregnant. LO still nurses every 3-4 hours during the day and once or twice per night.

OP, so far he hasn't made a fuss at feeding, but there were a few days where he nursed more frequently, so I'm guessing I had a dip in supply.

I plan to BF til he is 1 yr. (assuming he doesn't protest)

miliamp · September 2013

We're still nursing, and I'm due in 6 weeks. It's been pretty tough, and my supply has dropped off, but I think Lo nurses only at night, and really for comfort at this point. I haven't figured out how I'm going to manage a tandem pair, but that's the way we're leaning at this point.

I think for months 5-7 I was really ready for him to wean, but he wanted nothing to do with it. I don't think he got any milk, but was doing it strictly for comfort. Hope this helps!

URMySunshine77 · October 2013

@Leftie22 and @milliamp

I just saw your posts. Thank you!

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