Breastfeeding while pregnant is absolutely fine for most women. Confusion tends to arise for the simple reason that it is not as common as it once was for women to do this.
Despite this, one issue to be aware of is that breastfeeding produces the hormone, oxytocin, which plays a role in contractions during labour. This has led to some concerns regarding premature labour and miscarriages when breastfeeding while pregnant. For most mums, this won’t be an issue. However, you should consider weaning your baby before the next one is born and consult your doctor for more advice
if you have:
- Experienced premature labour
- Experienced a miscarriage
- Had some bleeding
There are also a couple of less serious issues to be aware of when it comes to breastfeeding while pregnant:
- Your nipples and breasts may be more tender than usual.
- Your milk supply may diminish a bit.
In most cases, maintaining a particularly healthy diet to nourish newborn and yet to be born is all that is required to ensure no problems when breastfeeding while pregnant.
For more information about breastfeeding view our breastfeeding advice section, which includes information about breastfeeding and alcohol as well as several other articles.