Increasing Milk Supply When Nursing While Pregnant?

We have many, many MANY moms who nurse through their pregnancy and tandem nurse and infant and a toddler.

I completely agree with Dori - so many women think what they pump is what they make and it is completely FALSE. Children are the pump-pros and your body releases much better for them than a cold, mechanical pump. Feel free to join us on Facebook at Cape Cod Breastfeeding Moms!

If she seems happy and is satisfied, just continue to nurse her. Make sure you are taking a good multivitamin and I suggest LUNA bars as a great healthy snack. Drink plenty of water.

Also, as your hormones change during pregnancy you may notice your milk change slightly - increase, decrease, change taste, etc. As long as you keep nursing, it won't be a problem :)

Cheers!

PS - wetnurses from the 1600s could nurse 7 babies at once, so yes - when needed we super women can make a TON of milk :)

What you pump and what she gets are 2 very different things!!!! Baby is far more efficient and your body reacts differently to her than it will to the pump.

If your daughter is still nursing well and seems satisfied for the appropriate amount of time then she is getting what she wants and needs. Just keep doing what you are doing and don't stress yourself out!

Just a thought I had while reading, I nursed my daughter as well and she always refused a bottle. I thought it was just preference, but turns out she actually has a milk allergy and just knew better than to drink the formula. Something to think about. Good luck!

I've read that increasing your protein intake can help, and so can oatmeal.

I always go to KellyMom with all of my breastfeeding questions. Here is a link that explains how your milk changes while you are pregnant.
http://www.kellymom.com/nursingtwo/faq/16milkchanges.html

Here is a link that talks about increasing supply.
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/low-supply.html

My son wouldn't take a bottle either and had a really hard time with a cup until almost a year old despite lots of practice! The easiest cups for him were the Take and Toss cheapies, even though I bought and tried the most expensive ones under the sun! He just learned in his own time, like everything else! On a side note, after weaning him at a year he has been terrible about taking cow's milk, so my pediatrician told me to make sure he has lots of cheese and yogurt. I also put the milk in his oatmeal. Your baby is too young for milk yet, but yogurt and cheese may be an option. I think my doctor gave the greenlight on those at 9 months. Good luck!

as long as your baby is happy after a feeding dont worry about it, you might not be a good pumper, im not i dont get much when i pump but when i feed my baby i hear him swallowing and glugging. so i know hes getting plenty of milk, also a good way to help increase your supply is nurse on demand your body will make more as your baby nurses more, drink plenty of liquids. when i found my little guy was fussy after a feeding i tryed oatmeal also add a few extra calories to your diet, remember you are growing a boby nursing a baby and feeding yourself. just make them good calories. you can do it i got preagnit with my 3rd when i was nursing my 2nd and i made it till his first birthday, now im still nursing my 4th 18month old chubb who loves his boobie juice

I got pregnant 2 mos after my first son was born. I was able to nurse for about 6 months before my milk just got too weak and slim for him to be satisfied. I would imagine if you really want to continue nursing you will just have to kick up your calorie count on a daily basis in order to keep the milk supply up. Try drinking a lot more milk yourself for instance. I think tho, since most of your bodies energy is now going on to create another human being, your milk supply will just be super hard to maintain. Since I only nursed my first son for 6 mos... well actually longer than that but he had to have supplement bottles (I completely dried up by the time he was 8 mos old so my boobs just became pacifiers), I nursed my second son until he was almost 3 so I made up for it with him.

I nursed my son during my pregnancy as well, and although I'm sure my milk supply dropped somewhat, he still seemed to get plenty of what he needed from me. Your body knows to get nutrients in the right order - to fetus first, to nursing baby second, and whatever is left over goes to you. All the more reason to take your vitamins and eat healthy :) Because your daughter is taking solids, I don't see any reason to supplement with formula. Also, pumping is never a good indicator of your supply, so try not to rely to heavily on how much you are getting by pumping. Also, my first son took a bottle off and on, and my second son never took it at all, so I'm right there with ya on that one!