Breastfeeding While Pregnant... Found Some Disturbing Info!

Tell it to Michelle Duggar!
She's breasted 20 kids in 20 years!
Gotta be some BF/pregnancy overlap there, right?

You already made the reasonable connection on your own. It is as "dangerous" as sex, or anything else that causes your uterus to contract prior to actual labor.

Unless you are at high risk for miscarriage and have been put on bed rest or advised to avoid any potentially labor inducing behavior, you should be fine.

Can anyone guarantee that you won't miscarry if you continue to nurse? No. But they can't guarantee that if you stop, either.

Also, you aren't going to have miscarriage causing contractions without noticing! If you FEEL like something is happening while you nurse, stop nursing. Otherwise, enjoy the time with your little one as you joyfully anticipate your next one. :)

HTH
T.

Walking across the street put you at risk for being hit by a car.
Everything in life bears risks. I will not go and look for the numbers but I will venture a guess and propose that probably more miscarriages are caused by car accidents each year than breastfeeding an older child through a pregnancy. There is also some evidence that working late in pregnancy, especially if it involves a lot of standing, is connected to preterm labor...
Are we going to tell all pregnant women to stay barefoot in the kitchen?

No! If you are concerned talk to your doctor or midwife about your individual risk. And slowly back away from google for medical advice...

My OB told me it was fine with her if I wanted to nurse while pregnant, but to stop by 20 weeks. The reason she gave was simply that your nutrition should go to the new baby. She did not mention the issues you brought up. My pediatrician looked at me sideways and made a disparaging comment along the lines of "aren't you a superhero", but didn't have anything factual to offer me. I totally know where you are coming from. I don't consider myself a crunchy mom, but I just have one of those "babies" (mine is 2.5), that still just gets a lot of emotional recharging from a little bit of "mommy booby". I'm 22 weeks and still let her nurse a few times a week as needed. I am almost positive I've dried up and she only comfort sucks which is why I ignore my Dr. recommendation. If she wants to nurse a little after baby comes, I'll decide what to do then. I think its okay not to have big plans.

Of course it can.

Does it?

Rarely.

If that were true, many many moms would not be able to successfully tandem nurse their newborns and their older children. I would not wean the older child yet and would not freak out. Frankly, some moms and I were talking just the other day about how you have to put down the Internet and some books like What to Expect because they'll just freak you out. My mom had to put down the pregnancy book she was reading umpteen years ago because it was all about what will go wrong. You're healthy? Your pregnancy so far is going well? Don't sweat it.

Books mention those things because they can happen, but the occurrence is a lot more rare than many would have you believe.

sorry - not true. Talk with your doctor. Don't always believe an "app" for a phone.

I nursed during my pregnancy with my second son. Yes, I lost a baby in between - yes - I was breast feeding - however - the loss of the baby had NOTHING to do with my breast feeding - the DNA did NOT splice right and the baby was not growing right. And that has NOTHING to do with breast feeding.

Please...take a deep breath...calm down and talk with your OB/GYN about YOUR circumstance and YOUR pregnancy. An App doesn't diagnose you. It does not KNOW you. It has not checked you out and provided health care for you...

Plenty of women breastfeed all the way through pregnancy and then tandem nurse. If you have breastfeeding questions or concerns, a lactation consultant or a La Leche League leader (FREE ADVICE) is your best bet. Many of these so called "experts" don't really have training in breastfeeding.

Talk to your OB and LLL, they will have the best information. I have known people who kept nursing and then did tandem nursing. I have heard of others that were told to stop. But I think that all depends on the actual pregnancy, not a general statement.

Good luck and congratulations.

yes it can cause those things but i have seen many friends breast feed through their pregnancies. i would think that if you are at risk of misscarriage or preterm labor then you should stop but if your not then continue

I got pregnant with my second when my first was only four months old. I was only able to nurse for two more months before my milk dried up completely- my body just couldn't keep up. My second is now an extremely healthy six year old.
I got pregnant with my third when my second was almost exactly twelve months....so we were on the verge of weaning anyway. He continued to nurse for about two months and I dried up/weaned.
The taste didn't seem to bother either of my first two. It was extremely hard to get my first on formula (but I had no choice!) and I swear that my second would still be nursing if I would have allowed it!
I have absolutely not heard of having a miscarriage from nursing. I talked with my CNM at length when I got pregnant with my second- trying to figure out how to keep my supply up and she said that drying up was my body's way of regulating nutrition and making sure that the new baby got what he needed. I really wouldn't worry about it, especially if you're in the process of weaning her anyway.

I would never trust an app for important medical information. I mean, my God, mapquest is often wrong, and it's been around for a while, why would I base life changing decisions on new software and possibly faulty internet information?!

Ask your OB/GYN...I had a friend that couldn't nurse after the first trimester of her newest pregnancy. Don't know if it was her personal situation or the current best advice of her doctor...

I do know my great grandmother lost a nursing baby when she became pregnant with the next...back then there was no formula if your milk dried up and no local wet nurse...glad we live in today's times...

Okay, all of this does not mean that it WILL happen.... but that it MAY... happen. It is not, absolute. In some cases, it MAY happen. MAY.

I nursed both my kids.
My eldest child (my daughter), self-weaned at about 2.5 years old.
Before that, I was pregnant. And was nursing.
I had a miscarriage.
The change in breastmilk flavor/taste... did not bother her. But it MAY... in some kids, make them wean from breast.
It MAY. Not always.
My being pregnant, did not make... my daughter wean from breast.

Now, when I was nursing my eldest, and while I was pregnant... my Doc did RECOMMEND... that I not nurse while pregnant because, as you said in your post... it MAY cause contractions etc. and affect the pregnancy. It MAY. Not that it will.
Anyway, with that pregnancy, I ended up miscarrying.
Who knows why.
I was in my 6th week of pregnancy at that point. And the embryo was not growing, and then there was no heartbeat and I was bleeding etc.

Sure, my eldest was drinking regular milk at that point and fully eating food. But with both my kids, they self-weaned. As I said, my eldest self-weaned at about 2.5 years old, and my son self-weaned at about 1 years old.
I, chose to let my kids self-wean. That was my choice.

You stated it in your post: for a "normal pregnancy" it is fine. The doctor didn't seem to include that in his statement.

I think you should follow YOUR gut instincts and listen to your doctor's suggestions.

If it were me, I would have begun guiding my child towards weaning at 12 months like I did with my son.

I also think it is dangerous to trust a phone app too much.

I nursed through two pregnancies and tandem nursed my last two for a whole year. No miscarriages, no nutrition issues, just happy babies and toddlers :) I didn't even have a jealousy issues with the two I tandem nursed.

Sometimes I think doctors are so weirded out by extended nursing of any kind that they just don't want to deal with it and tell you to wean.