# Pregnant and nursing a 6 month old. Supply questions



## Renew (Jan 20, 2012)

Hello all!

I am nursing my baby who is 6 months old. I work full time and have been able to provide enough milk that she has only gotten breast milk. She still nurses quite a bit, but does enjoy eating 3 meals a day of pureed foods. She has (mostly) slept through the night for a few months now. I had my first PP period in December.

I found out that I am pregnant this week! I was very surprised, but we are excited. I am concerned about my milk supply though. She only gets one bottle at day care. She takes 6 oz and sometimes that is difficult for me to provide for. I am just barely scraping by right now. She gets no other bottles ever, so that I can save up whatever I can pump.

I am actually an IBCLC, but have been out of my practice now for several years, and didn't have much experience with pregnant moms nursing and supply issues.

It has been hard finding information on nursing a younger baby while pregnant. Much of the information is relating to safety of nursing and toddler breastfeeding issues. I have seen some information that around 16 weeks is when supply seems to go down quite a bit. So that would mean she would be about 9-10 months old when that happens.

Just wondering if you guys had any experience with nursing younger babies while nursing and what kind of supply issues you had. Obviously working full time makes this difficult, but that won't change (unfortunately!).

Thanks!


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## CherryBombMama (Jan 25, 2010)

I got pregnant when ds1 was about 7 months, and when he was about 10 months, I was barely producing any milk. My ds was used to a bottle and we had enough of a freezer stash to last us for one month after that, but that was it. He was on goats milk until a year, and then cow milk







BUT, I EPed with him, so he never had to cold turkey wean or anything like that.

My ds2 was EBF for about 14months, and I got pregnant with DD when he was about 11months. I lost all my milk when I was 14 weeks pregnant, and it was sooooooo hard for him. He still dry nurses and its so irritating. He does not take a bottle at all, so thats what made it harder, I think.

I don't really know what to tell you ... it was so hard losing my milk.


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## foreverinbluejeans (Jun 21, 2004)

Goat's milk is not recommended and there have been problems in Europe where feeding babies less than a year old was a more common practice than in the US. Of course formula is the only alternative to human milk in the US and now in Europe. Goat's milk is for baby goats and has not been modified to be similar to human milk. It could cause damage that you don't realize is from goat's milk or may not show up for years.

I breastfed through a pregnancy and always had milk. My son was 2 and was a strong nurser. I didn't have problems with sore nipples or breasts. He had his first asthma attack when I was 6 months pregnant and was in the ICU at a childrens hospital. My husband worked at the hospital as the head of the supply department and he got us a regular bed rather than the big cage beds they had for toddlers. I stayed all the time and our son stopped eating and nursed so much he brought in a full supply. His expected hospital stay was cut in half because he was doing so well breastfeeding and could stop IVs.

The rest of the pregnancy he continued to nurse a lot and I had plenty of milk. He didn't eat much and his allergist encouraged me to breastfeed him as much as possible. His asthma was severe and he had monster diarrhea. We didn't know it at the time but he has a genetic immune deficiency disease that was finally diagnosed when he was 8. I didn't (couldn't) wean him until he was 6 because of his medical issues.

I think you are in a difficult situation. For brain growth experts think babies need around 32 oz of formula or human milk a day. Developmental psychologists believe that whatever happens during that time can't be made up for by better nutrition or interventions. With what we know now if you don't think your baby is getting enough milk, formula is the best alternative. You might consider cutting back to working part time or quitting work to breastfeed more. The difficulties caused by not working may be worth it. Howerver, your body may not make milk even if you were there all the time.

Your baby can feed himself fork mashed foods rather than pureed food fed by spoon. Since you are going to have less milk the food your baby eats is even more important. Some people think that babies eating is for fun or learning or some other silly reason. The idea that babies don't eat for nutrition was promoted by baby food companies, Earth Baby may have been the worst. They want you to spoon feed their watered down, expensive food rather than letting your baby eat fresh food. You want the foods your baby eats to be mostly superfoods and avoid the typical American baby diet of "baby" foods, french fries, chicken sticks, and mac and cheese.


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## OrangeMoon (Sep 7, 2010)

I am going through this right now! What I've heard from my practicing ibclc friend and midwife is that more milk two is a great way to go http://www.amazon.com/Motherlove-Herbal-Company-Alcohol-liquid/dp/B000JZ1ZE6. And my ibclc friend said mothers milk tea generally isn't something they recommend because of the fenugreek, but my midwife said that the tea is totally fine since there isn't much fenugreek in it. She has rav reviews and everyone says she knows her stuff so I trust her. Also eating and drinking (a lot) as much as possible. I also have an appointment with my homeopath later this month to see what she recommends as well. I am really determined to BF as much as possible despite this surprise, lol. Good luck!!


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## OrangeMoon (Sep 7, 2010)

Also, I was told to nurse as much as possible to keep the supply up and doing that there shouldn't be a problem. That was my problem with my son, I nursed him for two years but when I became pregnant I didn't understand the working to keep the supply up part, i.e. nurse as much as possible.


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