M.R.
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My OB told me that 3 babies ago. I ignored her advice!!
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Dear Moms,
I'm still nursing my baby and just found out I'm pregnant again (about 8wks). So far, no morning sickness, and it seems like all 3 of us are fine.
However, my pediatrician and o.b. nurse both suggested I wean my baby anyway because they said nursing while pregnant is unsafe for the fetus and for me.
However, I called La Leche League, and they disagree. They said that so long as I'm taking in enough calories and am taking my prenatal vitamin, I should be ok as long as there aren't any weird problems. They also said that my milk supply will drop halfway through my pregnancy, and at that point my baby may just wind up weaning himself anyway because he'll have to, and it'll be more natural this way. They said that sometimes people are against nursing while pregnant because it releases oxytocin (sp?) and they fear it will cause premature birth, but according to LLL, it doesn't release enough to make any difference until week 36 anyway and at that point, you can just give birth.
So now I have these conflicting opinions from these medical professionals.
What is your experience with this, moms? Thoughts?
My OB told me that 3 babies ago. I ignored her advice!!
i nursed while pregnant with both my 2nd and 3rd babies. no problems. i could tell my supply was dropping BUT the nursing baby was getting more table foods and starting regular milk, so they were also nursing less. i agree with LLL. my ob said it's a rumor that nursing while pregnant is unsafe. actually i got some paperwork about it too....something about nursing myths....wish i had saved it now. i don't remember who authored it or anything. unless you have some underlying medical condition i really don't see why it would be harmful....if anything it should help, right? it's a natural thing for our bodies to be doing!
whatever you decide is what is best for you and baby. good luck! congrats on not having any morning sickness yet!
It is totally safe. I did it and went on to tandem nurse too. M second was actually born two days later than my first so all those people who say it causes preterm labor are nuts. I stayed in great shape. I raked in the fall and shoveled all winter and in turn had a quick fabulous second labor. My daughter felt no jealousy towards the baby either because she still nursed so never felt threatened by him. I also recommend Adventures In Tandem Nursing. It was a great book. I bought it cheap on Amazon. You might think about looking for a new ped too. If you plan on tandem nursing, I'm guessing they won't be supportive if they are already kind of ignorant about breastfeeding.
Good luck and you can pm me if you have more questions. I have a great midwife and ped who are very supportive of our family.
I think your OB and ped don't know what they're talking about. Ask them for *references* for their assertion - In my experience doctors frequently spout things off the top of their head that are opinion, and then when pressed for actual data they can't back it up. I suspect LLL can provide you with many references showing you that nursing throughout a pregnancy and even tandem nursing is completely safe. They get this sort of question all the time and are likely to have done their homework. Every midwife I've ever talked to assures me that it's FINE to continue nursing while pregnant. I know many women who have. I myself got pregnant when my son was 16 months old and still nursing. I continued to nurse him through most of my pregnancy and weaned him about 2 months before baby #2 was born. Someone at www.mothering.com/discussions can probably give you some good references to back this up - many of the moms on that board have nursed through pregnancies too. Congrats on your new pregnancy!!
M.:
you have already heard from a number of mothers...
there is NO data to suggest that breastfeeding while pregnant is harmful.... you can ask you ob and ped for the research....
the exception may be a high risk pregnancy where mom is also told that she may not have any stimulation that might release oxytocin.
interestingly there are a number of mammals that do nurse through pregnancy...
warmly,
P., RLC, IBCLC
Breastfeeding and Parenting Solutions
I nursed through my second pregnancy with no problems whatsoever (not even any Braxton Hicks up till the last few weeks). I know many other women who did the same, with the same healthy/happy results. Unless you have preterm labor problems or have major difficulting eating enough calories and drinking enough water to keep yourself healthy, there's really no medical reason I'm aware of to not nurse into or through a subsequent pregnancy. Your supply might dry up however, as mine did or close to it by week 12-13. And you might also be more likely to experience tenderness or other feelings of discomfort during nursing as things progress -- all are normal, and many women stop due to them while others continue on. Other women don't notice any differences or discomfort at all. Sometimes the nursing child doesn't like the change in taste of the milk and will self-wean and other times they will not be phased by the changes at all. There's a great book called "Adventures in Tandem Nursing" that talks about nursing through pregnancy and beyond, and it would be a great read for lots of stories from moms, medical information, etc if you want to look for it at your local library or LLL chapter.
Congrats on your pregnancy!
