Hi I have a 13 month old daughter and have just found out I’m expecting again :D.
I am still breastfeeding and was just wondering how many people have breastfed while pregnant and still had a healthy baby, also how many continued breastfeeding the older child as well as the new baby.
I am trying to decide if I should wean my baby before the new one is born (I dont really want to) just wondering how hard people found it breastfeeding both.
Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Although I can’t speak from personal experience, my older brother was 13 months old when my mother had me and my twin sister. He was definitely not happy about sharing “his” milk with us, but she continued to nurse all three of us and we were all very healthy babies. You can see from our baby pictures that we did not miss any meals 
I know it can be done. The biggest issue is with your milk changing. Your older child might not like it once it starts to get thicker and taste different. But you know that you at least have several months to BF him until that happens.
If he still likes it, you will have to make sure the baby’s needs are the priority so that he/she is getting enough. There may be a few days after the baby is born (when you just have a little colostrum) that you need to just feed the baby to make sure he/she is getting all the important immunities. I didn’t produce much colostrum, but when my milk came in, it came in big time!
Then, of course, your older child may get jealous since the little one will be on the breast so much, so he may want more milk than you normally give him. It will be hard to explain tings to an almost 2 year old, but I think it will work if you give him lots of attention (maybe your spouse could so that while you feed the baby) and try to help him understand that the baby needs lots of milk to grow big and strong like him.
If you google “tandem feeding” or “tandem nursing” and you will get some sites that will help.
I know it might be tough, but if I could go back, i would have timed them closer then 4 years apart…i only BF until 6 months, but I wish you best of luck and congratulations!!!
Thanks for all the advice I would love to tandem feed but I know a lot of it will depend on my daughter if she decides to wean or not. I am not too worried about not having enough milk as I have always had enough milk to feed twins 
and still have plenty there. I will just follow my babies lead and see how things go.
Thanks again…its great to be able to share in other mums (and dads) experiences.
Hi, basing on everyones experience, it seems to me that breastfeeding while pregnant is alright. And I am so glad to know that. However, I read in one book before, that breastfeeding while pregnant isn’t good because breastfeeding triggers contraction which isnt good for the new little one inside. Nhockaday is also right, the milk is changing in taste as well. This is normal occurence so the older baby will stop breastfeeding in protection of the new one. This will make the older one quits breastfeeding. However I could be wrong as well, I might have not understand what I read before.
I was able to continue breastfeeding my son while pregnant with my daughter although my doctor asked at each visit if I was going to be weaning him. I lied and said yes. I think that he was only nursing at bedtime and in the middle of the night if he woke.
After my daughter was born I continued to nurse him but found it uncomfortable as he had a different latch. I gradually weaned him by telling him that it was empty and letting him try one or both sides. I sat with him while he went to sleep. I found that it was easier to nurse my daughter as I already had milk.
You can’t believe everything that you read in every book as they can contradict each other. You have to do what is right for you and your children. Books are a great source of information, but all the advice you get in them isn’t going to work all the time or with all children.
I don’t quite remember, but I don’t recall being engorged either b/c my son took any excess. I didn’t even think that I wouldn’t have enough milk b/c our milk is produced on demand. I think that mother’s who feel that they don’t have enough milk and supplement with formula are then going to not produce enough milk b/c the baby isn’t demanding the milk to be produced.
I would have liked to have nursed my son longer than the 2 1/2 years that I did, as I am still nursing my 4 1/2 year old daughter. Of course it will depend on whether your daughter decides on her own if she wants to wean herself. Good luck and enjoy your children!
I have very much experience with this. Currently I am pregnant and breastfeeding a baby 11 months old. For 4 pregnancies now I have breastfed for the entire pregnancy and then tandem nursed after that. For the first 3 or 4 months of one pregnancy I was still breastfeeding 2 children before the older one was weaned. I have never had an early labour… they always come late, despite allowing extra extra nursing in those last few days to hopefully ‘help’ things along! I have had 4 miscarriages, so I researched that concern extensively and I am convinced that breastfeeding absolutely does not cause miscarriage, just as it does not harm a healthy fetus either. Eat well (I mean the best nutrition, not ‘pigging out’!), drink enough water, get enough rest, and don’t worry about it. Breastfeeding in the last several weeks will activate more uterine contractions, but don’t let this alarm you… remember that real labour is not like those braxton hicks contractions; real labour is more crampy… anyways, by the end of your pregnancy you will be welcoming any glimmer of hope that your baby will come just a few days early! One thing I did observe… if I was only nursing a couple of times per day, then near the end of the pregnancy breastfeeding would become uncomfortable sooner… if I was still breastfeeding quite a bit, then it wouldn’t bother me so much near the end. Other friends have noticed this too. After the baby is born, it’s always neat to see the toddler plumping up more in those first few months… lots of milk now! The first time I tandem nursed, I actually nursed them at the same time sometimes… that wore off pretty quickly and I never do that anymore! Besides, there is NO WAY to do that discreetly in public! The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding for at least 2 years… it’s really good for your baby. Their immune systems are still immature when they are little, and even if they are only nursing a couple of times a day, the milk adjusts itself to your growing baby’s needs and they still get all that immunity benefit… not to mention how good nutritionally it is for them! Congratulations for another little blessing on the way.
You guys are the rockstar! I always admire mom who breastfed their babies. It’s always the best decision on raising a kid. I tried and tried but my milk never came in. I quit on my 3rd month. I had been pumping and feeding most of the time while I was on maternity leave. But when I came back for work, I know I could pump or breastfeed as much as I like. So I decided to just quit trying. Maybe on my second baby, I completely dish the formula!
So many women express sad feelings about not being able to breastfeed their babies (low milk supply esp.) Don’t feel guilty about it because you did the best that you could for your baby and still you loved and nurtured your baby which is the most important thing. When you have another baby and want to try again, then I’d suggest contacting a lactation consultant (many hospitals have them I think) or a person from the La Leche League (breastfeeding support group). Often ‘low milk supply’ can be a result of things like poor latch, sleepy baby, frequency of feeds, maternal anxiety/stress/tiredness or just misunderstanding (such as a baby who is suddenly wanting to nurse a lot more often is perhaps going through a growth spurt and only nursing more often to stimulate more milk production)… a lactation consultant can be a great support and a wealth of information. Rarely is a woman’s body truly unable to supply enough milk, and it’s very very likely that, with good support, the next time you will enjoy a long and satisfying breastfeeding relationship.
Thank you for your kind words… truly though, even though I know it’s the best for the babies and all that, I’m just too lazy for all the work of bottle-feeding! Hats off to you women who survived all that work… you are all so dedicated to your little ones no matter how they were fed!