Should you breastfeed while pregnant

Breastfeeding while pregnant | Pregnancy Birth and Baby

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You can carry on breastfeeding while you’re pregnant with your next child, without causing any harm to your toddler or your unborn baby. Here’s what you need to know if you decide to breastfeed while pregnant.

Is it safe to breastfeed while pregnant?

You might choose to breastfeed through your next pregnancy for several reasons. For example, you might unexpectedly fall pregnant while your first baby is still young (it is possible to fall pregnant while breastfeeding, even if your periods haven’t come back). Or you might not be ready to wean your toddler yet (weaning usually happens any time between birth and age 3).

Whatever the reason, it is usually perfectly safe to breastfeed while pregnant. Your body will carry on producing enough milk to nourish your older child, while your unborn baby will get all the nutrients they need from your body.

Breastfeeding does trigger mild contractions. These are safe in uncomplicated pregnancies, but if you are at risk of preterm labour — for example, if you are expecting twins or more, or if you have had a miscarriage or preterm birth in the past — then seek advice from your doctor or midwife.

Looking after your first child

Your breastmilk will still provide your first child with the nutrients they need. However, you are likely to produce less milk as your pregnancy progresses. Also, the content of your milk will change as you start to produce colostrum, and it might taste different. These changes might lead your older child to wean themselves at some point during your pregnancy. This often happens around the 5-month mark.

Colostrum is a natural laxative, so your older child’s poo might be more liquid than normal. This is nothing to worry about.

If your older child is less than 1 year of age when you fall pregnant, keep a close watch to make sure they’re putting on enough weight after your milk changes. You may need to introduce extra feeds if they are still relying on breastmilk for their nutrition. Talk to your maternal child health nurse for advice.

How to look after yourself

Breastfeeding while pregnant can make your breasts sore and your nipples tender. You might find you are even more tired or experience worse morning sickness than you normally would during pregnancy.

These side effects are due to your pregnancy hormones. They may clear up after the first trimester, but for some women they last the entire pregnancy. It can help if you make sure your older child is attached well, or change your position while breastfeeding.

You can look after yourself by eating well, making sure you are well hydrated, and getting plenty of rest. You don’t need to take lots of vitamin or mineral supplements — your body will adjust to making breastmilk and nourishing your unborn baby at the same time.

After the baby is born

You can keep feeding your older child after the baby is born. This is called tandem feeding. Your newborn will still get all the colostrum they need. You don’t have to limit your older child to one side.

There are different ways of tandem feeding. You could feed both children at the same time (you might need some cushions to prop you up or you might find it easier lying down). Or you could feed the newborn first and then your older child.

You might find your older child wants to feed all the time because you have a lot of milk. If you like, you can limit their feeds. You might also find that your newborn has trouble coping with your let down reflex because you are producing so much milk. You could try feeding your older child first then attaching the newborn to the other breast after the milk has started to flow.

How to wean your older child

If you decide to wean your older child, it’s a good idea to do this while you’re still pregnant so they don’t have to cope with so many adjustments after the baby is born.

If you would like to encourage your older child to wean while you are pregnant, you could try weaning them slowly by delaying feeds or encouraging shorter feeds. If your child is old enough, explain to them that your breasts feel sore.

For more tips, see weaning.

More information

Call Pregnancy, Birth and Baby on 1800 882 436 to speak to a maternal child health nurse for advice and support.

Sources:

American Pregnancy Association (Breastfeeding while pregnant), Australian Breastfeeding Association (Breastfeeding through pregnancy and beyond)

Learn more here about the development and quality assurance of healthdirect content.

Last reviewed: November 2020

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What to Know About Breastfeeding While Pregnant

Written by Roma Kunde

Do You Ovulate While Breastfeeding?

Most women don’t ovulate for six weeks after giving birth. Breastfeeding delays ovulation. Ovulation depends, however, on the frequency of breastfeeding. If you breastfeed frequently, you may only ovulate after many months or more than a year. This is considered a natural but temporary form of birth control. It is called the lactation amenorrhea method (LAM) of birth control.

LAM is effective only if you breastfeed exclusively and frequently, though. The time between two feedings must be less than 4 hours in the day or 6 hours at night.

Fortunately, this method is safe and has no side effects. It can be used for 6 months after giving birth or until your period returns.

If you stop breastfeeding, you may start ovulating within 3 weeks after giving birth. This can increase your likelihood of getting pregnant while breastfeeding.

Can You Get Pregnant While Breastfeeding?

Breastfeeding and pregnancy can overlap. It usually happens if you breastfeed your older child over a long duration. As your older child becomes a toddler, you may choose to continue breastfeeding them. At that age, they can get their energy supply from other foods and still have breast milk for nutrition. When your breastfeeding frequency reduces, though, your chances of ovulation and conception increase.

Is It Safe to Continue Breastfeeding While Pregnant?

Many believe that breastfeeding during pregnancy is harmful to the unborn baby. However, research shows that it's safe to breastfeed if your pregnancy is uncomplicated. Breastfeeding won’t affect you, your unborn baby, or your older child.

Still, you must be sure to get enough healthy calories and drink plenty of fluids.

While breastfeeding, you may also have to consider some side effects, and your nursing child may notice some changes in the breast milk.

Side effects of breastfeeding while pregnant include:

Uterine contractions. During breastfeeding, your body releases the hormone oxytocin. It stimulates breast milk production, but it also causes uterine contractions. These contractions are usually mild and aren't a concern for uncomplicated pregnancies.

In a complicated or high-risk pregnancy, on the other hand, oxytocin can increase uterine movement and affect the pregnancy. Your doctor may ask you to avoid breastfeeding while pregnant if you’ve had a previous miscarriage or premature birth.

Changes in breast milk. Breast milk remains nutritional throughout pregnancy. However, its contents, quantity, consistency, and taste may change over time due to hormonal changes. Breast milk can become saltier, and its production may decrease as your pregnancy progresses. This can naturally make the older child wean on their own before your new baby is born.

Physical discomfort. In the early stage or first trimester of your pregnancy, you may have nipple tenderness and breast soreness. You may have a decreased food and water intake due to morning sickness and feel tired. Such physical discomfort may increase while breastfeeding.

Health risks. Lactation takes up energy on top of your pregnancy. The high physical and nutritional demand of frequent breastfeeding during pregnancy can present health risks for your unborn baby. They include:

Decreased blood flow to the placenta
Slow development of your unborn baby
Low birth weight of your newborn
Miscarriage
Stillbirth

What Are the Risks of Breastfeeding While Pregnant?

If you have the following risks, your doctor will ask you to avoid breastfeeding while pregnant and wean your older child:

Painful symptoms in the first trimester
History of miscarriage or pregnancy loss
Bleeding during a previous pregnancy
Previous premature delivery
Preterm labor in your current pregnancy

Tips for Breastfeeding While Pregnant

Breastfeeding during pregnancy is a personal choice. If you choose to breastfeed while pregnant, here are some tips to help you and your child:

Take painkillers like Tylenol or use warm compresses on your breasts to ease breast soreness and nipple tenderness.
Ensure that you get enough rest if you feel tired due to pregnancy and breastfeeding your older child.
Ask someone to help you with household chores or childcare.
Avoid drinking coffee or energy drinks, as they can dehydrate you.
Have regular times for eating and drinking water throughout the day. This can reduce nausea and help you with your food and water intake to maintain your breast milk supply.
Drink lots of water. Have sugar-free drink mixes that are safe for pregnancy.
Make sure you have healthy food and get enough calories for the nutritional needs of your babies.
Reposition your older child during breastfeeding. Make sure it’s comfortable for you. You can lie down and let your child lie on top or beside you while nursing.

What Happens When the New Baby Arrives?

Tandem feeding. When the new baby arrives, you can continue breastfeeding your older child. This is called tandem feeding. You can feed both children in the same sitting. It helps save time and encourages bonding between the siblings. However, make sure you breastfeed your new baby before the older one.

After the new baby is born, your breast milk will become thick and yellowish for some time. This provides nutrients and calories to your baby. Your older child can have this newborn milk, but it may cause diarrhea.

Weaning. Weaning means getting your child used to having food other than breast milk. When you and your older child are ready, you can start weaning them. Your older child may stop having breast milk on their own before your new baby is born. This is because pregnancy can decrease milk production and make breast milk saltier.

Other Considerations

Although it is your choice to breastfeed during pregnancy, talk to your doctor or lactation consultant. They'll let you know whether it is safe for you to breastfeed during pregnancy. They will also help you with your diet, calorie intake, and how to wean your child off breastmilk.

Breastfeeding during pregnancy

There is a statistic that says that half of the women in the world become pregnant while breastfeeding their previous baby. And before each of them the question arises - whether to continue feeding, and how it will affect both children?

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There is no clear answer about the advisability of continuing breastfeeding during pregnancy. It all depends on the health of the woman and the child, as well as the course of the waiting period for a new baby. The woman makes the decision herself, but after a mandatory consultation with the supervising doctor. The thing is that pregnancy, childbirth and feeding is a stressful period for the body of any woman. It has been proven that a young mother needs at least 2 years to fully recover. Having realized this information, it is easy to guess that a new pregnancy, when the first child is still quite a baby, is a tough situation for the body, almost an emergency. Mom's, not yet recovered, resources should now be enough for three. However, it is not uncommon for a woman to cope with an increased load, so the situation is not considered critical. Rather difficult.

If, after discussing all the nuances with your gynecologist, you decide that feeding is not worth interrupting, make sure that your diet is as balanced and complete as possible. Take extra vitamins. During breastfeeding and bearing a baby, calcium, magnesium, iron, folic acid, and phosphorus are especially actively consumed. These elements must be supplied to the body of a young mother in sufficient quantities. Remember how important the presence of protein foods in your menu, because protein is the main building material for the fetus. Its main source is meat and dairy products. There is also a lot of protein in nuts and legumes. However, when adding them to the menu, remember that nuts are strong allergens, and legumes can cause gas in the baby.

You will not be able to feed during the entire period of pregnancy. In obstetrics, there is a so-called "gold standard" - feeding stops no later than the 20th week. If there is a threat of miscarriage or other complications (for example, a decrease in hemoglobin levels or significant toxicosis), the process will have to be curtailed earlier. Sometimes the baby himself refuses the breast. In the mother's body, hormonal changes begin to occur that change the taste of milk. It becomes less tasty for the baby. Often a woman refuses to feed, because she, naturally, noticeably increases the sensitivity of the nipples and feeding begins to be accompanied by pain.

#PROMO_BLOCK#

Weaning crumbs from the breast due to a new pregnancy, of course, is an undesirable phenomenon. In some situations, to the extreme. It is very important to continue breastfeeding for at least 6 months for babies born prematurely, treated with antibiotics, retarded, prone to allergies or have gastrointestinal pathologies.

It is better, of course, to plan a new pregnancy, taking into account all the nuances of your health and the health of a little person. Have time to recover after such a resource-intensive period for the body. And be healthy!

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Breastfeeding during pregnancy

It happens that pregnancy occurs even when the older child is still a baby and is in dire need of not only mother's care, but also breast milk. And often in such a situation it is possible to hear from a gynecologist that the child needs to be weaned urgently, because stimulation of the nipples can lead to neither more nor less, but to termination of pregnancy (receptors in the uterus will perceive breast sucking as a signal to contract the walls, which can provoke premature birth). Is it so? Let's figure it out.

Why do doctors insist on stopping lactation during pregnancy?

In fact, if your doctor recommends that you stop breastfeeding, it is important to understand the reason for the request. If there is a threat of termination of pregnancy due to, say, the tone of the uterus, then TERMINATION OF BREASTFEEDING WILL NOT SOLVE THIS PROBLEM. This will require a comprehensive solution to the problem, perhaps even hospitalization.

If we talk about the reaction of the uterus to oxytocin released during feeding, then it is very small until the last weeks of pregnancy, since the fetus has not yet matured and the time for childbirth has not yet come, and the number of receptors in the uterus that are sensitive to oxytocin is still very small. If the mother retains breastfeeding until the last days, then THE RECEPTORS IN THE UTERUS DO NOT RESPONSE THIS WAY TO IRRITATION OF THE NIPPLES , since this process continues in the background throughout the pregnancy, that is, it does not represent anything different from the usual state.

When all indicators of mother's health are normal, then THERE IS NO REASON TO STOP NATURAL FEEDING. Mom does not have new responsibilities for caring for a child who is learning to fall asleep without a breast, and the hormonal background does not change. Everything remains the same, which, of course, has a beneficial effect on the well-being of a pregnant woman.

What difficulties can you face while breastfeeding during pregnancy?

Nipple sensitivity . This is a fairly common problem and should be taken into account. First of all, you will have to reduce the time of breast sucking and the frequency of attachments. For this child, you can distract with conversations, and it is also recommended to water him more so that the baby does not seek to quench his thirst with breast milk.

Decrease in the amount of milk by the middle of pregnancy. During this period, lactation is greatly reduced, and for some mothers, milk may even disappear for several days or even weeks. This period can be used for gentle weaning, or you can keep the attachment, thus maintaining contact with the baby. By the third trimester, colostrum most often already appears.

What should a mother pay attention to when breastfeeding during pregnancy?

Complete nutrition. A pregnant and breastfeeding woman simply needs to get a varied diet, complex supplements and vitamins will also be useful. It is important to remember that the body distributes nutrients first to the growing fetus, then to milk, and the rest to the mother herself. The double load - pregnancy and breastfeeding - should be fully compensated by adequate nutrition, rich in all the necessary vitamins and minerals.

More rest. It is important for a future mother to understand that she receives an increased load on her body, comparable to carrying twins, so timely and proper rest is vital for her! Looking for helpers and asking for help from loved ones in such a situation is not a whim, but a necessity.

Carrying on the hands. It is impossible to refuse to carry the older child in her arms when a new pregnancy appears, especially if at the time of its onset the baby is less than a year old. The first child also needs mother's warmth and her hugs, just like the second, especially since babies often fall asleep in their arms with their breasts.

Mom's body usually copes with a gradually growing load, because it does not occur overnight. To make it easier for yourself to carry a baby in your arms, you can use the help of physiological carriers - slings, which can be worn so that there is no pressure on the stomach. For example, in a sling with rings it will be very convenient to rock the baby to sleep or wear it on the hip when he needs his mother's arms.

When making a decision to continue or stop breastfeeding during pregnancy, it is important to weigh the pros and cons well, and it is also especially important to understand that the older child is no different from the younger in anything, except for age, so it is worth doing everything possible so that both children were able to get everything they needed.
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