Just a little more anecdotal evidence regarding the variability of milk productiuon during pregnancy...
   
  I live in an area where tandem nursing is rare. However, in the LLL and Attachment Parenting circles I "run in," it's pretty much assumed that a mother will continue to nurse on cue during pregnancy if she has an infant or toddler who is still nursing at the time of conception. Those with older children who are still nursing at the time of pregnancy often wean.
   
  I know many of these mothers quite well, and I assume that what they have told me is true, which is that they continued to nuse on demand throughout pregnancy. Some mothers had to suppliment their babies with formula becuase the baby would get SO frustrated at the breast as the pregnancy progressed, and they indicated that with manual expression (using the Marmet Technique), there was little to no milk expressed. Others had no problem feeding their babies at the breast, Most of these mothers used few solids until the baby was at least 9 months old.
   
  One woman I know had to wean her baby because nursing would make him so angry (because of the lack of milk). She was heartbroken when she had to switch to formula (baby was 9 mos. old). I wittnessed him crying at literally beating his mothers breast during feeds. It was devistating to see, but I tried to assure her that that is the reason why we have formula...as another Lactnetter recently posted, for the few circumstances when a mother truly can't prodce enough milk. She is my best friend, and we tried everytingwe could think of to increase her milk supply. Due to her husband's concerns regarding disease transmission, donor milk (including mine) was not a viable option for her. Also, I was nursing a baby and a 3-year-old at the time, so I was pretty "tapped out."
   
  Here is my own experience: My children are 22 months apart. My son was nursing 15 - 20 times a day (5+ at night) when I became pregnant. I had some discomfort in the early weeks of my second pregnancy, which is how I knew I was pregnant. After that, my son continued to nurse happily. Periodic manual expression showed "normal" milk until I was about 8 months pregnant, at which point the milk changed over to colostrum. Around that time, my son expressed an increased interest in solids, but continued to nusre as frequnetly as ever.  
   
  After my daughter was born, the children tnadem nursed for quite a while. My son night-weaned (with some encouragement from his exhausted mama) around the age of 2 1/2. He weaned fully at 3 years, 4 months.  My daughter, at age 2, shows no signs of weaning readiness, which is just fine with me!
   
  I guess my point is that a mother can never know how her body will respond to pregnancy. I think that it is important for pregnant nursing mothers to be open to whatever happens. A woman can never know ahead of time how her milk supply will react to pregnancy, or how her psyche will respond to nursing during pregnancy. Some women seem to have a strong psycological aversion to nursing during pregnancy, or immediately after the birth of the next child. I think it may have something to due with a mother's drive to pritect the most defenseless child (in this case, the neonate). In my area, I am referred many calls from mothers facing the prospect of tandem nursing. I try to be supportive and optpmistic, but also realistic. I let them know that, if for some reason they need to suppliment, they are not brestfeeding failures. Even if their milk dries up to the point where their babies or toddlers refuse to nurse and need to switch over to formula completely, they have done their
 children a great service by breastfeeding up to that point. I also point out the tremendous gift they are giving their child in a sibling.
   
   
  Got to go...the kids are freaking out...sorry if this was rambling or unclear :)
   
  Kellie Whitney,
  LLLL, CA

			
---------------------------------
Yahoo! Mail goes everywhere you do.  Get it on your phone.

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html