Ruth: regarding your daughter-in-law, still nursing your granddaughter
while pregnant, and feeling antsy:
I have nursed through all of my pregnancies.(I have 3 kids). Yes, I
experienced that antsy feeling . It was never "horrible" for me
personally, but I understand for some women it is really hard to bear.
What bothered me more was that my nipples were sore as a side effect of
being pregnant, and of course when my toddler nursed, that accentuated
the soreness, but I found if I could hang on for a few minutes, most of
the soreness went away. I am sure how a mom deals with this situation in
part depends on how often the toddler is nursing. If the child is
nursing a lot, it will be harder on the mom, if the nursing is really
bothering her.
a suggestion I have read of, I believe in Womanly art of Bfing, is to
practice the relaxation and / or breathing techniques taught in
childbirth classes. The basic Idea is to do something that will help
you(the preg. mom) stay relaxed and calm. so, it could be that
visualization, deep breathing, listening to music that calms and relaxes
, for example could work for some moms, to name a few ideas. Whatever
helps the mom stay relaxed and to some extent distracted - get her
attention away from the bfing so she won't notice the discomforts so
much. \
This is an area that is very much each mom's individual decision,. Some
moms can't stand the bfing and feel that they just cannot continues.
Others, regardless of any discomforts, feel that this is a natural time
to wean the toddler.Others feel that if the toddler is not ready to wean
, that they (the mom) will continue to nurse and will endure any
discomfort and try to adjust to and deal with the discomforts (this was
my personal choice).

I can understand a mom not wanting to accept any more discomforts , in
addition to what one already deals with in being pregnant. It is each
mom's choice.

Well, to recap, the antsy feeling is quite common.a few resources that I
can come up with "off the top of my head" are Mothering your Nursing
Toddler by Norma Jane Bumgarner, available through LLL, and The Womanly
art of Bfing has sections on pregnant and nursing and tandem nursing.

Depending on your granddaughter's age, your daughter in law might be
able to work out a sort of nursing plan, for example if naptime and
bedtime are mandatory nursings (as far as the child is concerned), those
nursings could stay in place, but others in the day could maybe be
replaced with other things, if the child is not too attached to them.and
your daughter in law could decide on a certain amount of time that she
is willing to nurse for, 5 min., 10 min., whatever she can deal with.
set a timer and explain to the child that when it goes off, nursing if
over, cause mama's nummies are sore. usually toddlers do not like mama
to be in pain and will agree, at least some of the time.
I also found that if I focused on fulfilling my child's needs, and not
on my discomfort, it made it more bearable.
hoping this is helpful,

Ellen Vegh, LLLL
Pittsburgh, PA