I am working with a mother who became pregnant when her exclusively
breastfed baby was 4 months old.  She is now 6 months pregnant and her
daughter is 10 months old.  Shortly after becoming pregnant she noticed a
significant decrease in her milk supply, but she continued to nurse her baby
2-3 times per day, while supplementing with formula, and after 6 months,
with solids.  As of last week, the infant refused to breastfeed.  The mother
was hoping to continue breastfeeding throughout the pregnancy and then to
tandem nurse.  I gave her all of the usual suggestions for how to handle a
nursing strike, and explored with mom her reasons for wanting to continue
breastfeeding. She said she is primarily interested because she is not yet
ready to give up the bonding that breastfeeding achieves. Mom thinks that
the baby won't nurse because of severely decreased milk supply.  She asked
if she could use a breastpump to increase her supply so that she might
rekindle her baby's interest in breastfeeding.  I told her that pumping
might pose a risk to her pregnancy.  

Does anyone have any research about the impact of pumping or hand expression
on pregnancy?  What would you think is the difference between breastfeeding
and pumping during pregnancy?  Why would it be safe to continue
breastfeeding, but not safe to use a breastpump?  What if she limited her
pumping to the 2-3 times per day that her baby would ordinarily be nursing,
to help maintain whatever supply she might still have until the baby might
stop her nursing strike?

============================================
Ellen A. Steinberg, RN, LCCE, IBCLC
E-mail: [log in to unmask]



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