Pregnant and still breastfeeding
Aug 31st, 2005 by Lilian
This is in response to the good news I heard today. Another breastfeeding mother just discovered she is pregnant. Actually, I am always extra perky whenever I heard of another woman pregnant. That’s my driving force in running MyMomsBest’s forum. Pregnant and giving birth. Miracles of life.
So, if you are still breatsfeeding your baby/child and you discovered you are pregnant, what do you do? Should you stop breastfeeding immediately?
Here is what Dr. Koe Swee Lee, a paediatrician cum Lactation consultant said in MyMomsBest FAQ:
I’m breastfeeding my child, and now I’m pregnant. Do I stop breastfeeding?
Dr Koe told one of our moms through an email that during pregnancy, the milk is still catered for the older child until a few weeks before delivery of the new baby and your superiorly engineered body will change the milk into colostrum for the baby. As long as you have milk, as long as you want and can nurse and as long as your baby wants milk, your breast milk is still the best of the best!
And Dr. Voon MH, a ob-gynae have this to say (full info at the forum):
…. the main medical reasons for weaning during pregnancy are:
uterine pain or bleeding, a history of premature delivery, or a mother’s continued loss of weight during pregnancy
The reason for that is oxytocin is being produced during lactation and oxytocin also causes contraction of the uterus. However, the receptors in the uterus is not responsive to oxytocin during the early part of pregnancy. The worries about breastfeeding causing miscarriage during the early months of pregnancy is unfounded. Having said that miscarriage is quite a common during the first 3 months of pregnancy. It is quoted to be as high as 20%.i.e. about 1 in 5 pregnancies ends up in miscarriage. If the mother was nursing when that happened, she should not be made to feel guilty as it is not related to breastfeeding.
The LaLecheLeague has a very complete information on tandem nursing and breastfeeding during pregnancy.
My advice – Find a supportive ob-gynae who understands. Watch out for the danger signs highlighted in bold.