I regularly volunteer in our church nursery and take care of the 0-2 year olds during the services. Lately, I’ve noticed that there seem to be more kids than usual who grab on to the neckline of my shirt, seemly for comfort.

Last Sunday, I was telling a friend who was in the nursery with me that I was noticing this happening more often, and she said, “They know what’s in there. They remember.” My son has never been one for grabbing my shirt or putting his hand in my shirt. I suppose that’s probably because my husband and I have been showing him the baby sign for milk since he was three or four months old. We just did it to avoid having him cry without us knowing why he was upset. Looks like that sign serves more than just one purpose.

Well, since I’m 23 weeks pregnant right now, a lot of my breastfeeding experiences now include talking to people about breastfeeding while pregnant. I get a lot of questions from people like “Is that safe?” I have to bite my tongue when they ask that. If it wasn’t safe, I hope I wouldn’t still be doing it 19 weeks after I found out I was pregnant.

Another question is, “How do you have the patience for that?” or “Aren’t you exhausted?” When I first got pregnant, I thought that breastfeeding during the first trimester especially would make being pregnant even harder, but I found the opposite to be true. I found that breastfeeding my ds made getting through the day a little easier. I got to sit down and rest for 20 minutes first thing in the morning when we woke up. Then, mid-morning, I got another chance to take a load off for my son’s next feeding. Again, at around 1:30 and 4ish, we sat down and I relaxed with my eyes closed as he ate.

I really believe that breastfeeding my son actually allowed me an extra hour and a half or so every day to sit and rest.

Can I breastfeed while pregnant? Well, I can. Can you? Chances are you may have been told no. Chances are good that the answer is actually yes. Many women are told by well meaning friends, family, or doctors that when they get pregnant, they must wean their nursling immediately or risk having the unborn baby lack essential nutrients. This is not the case. If there are risks, they generally come when a pregnant mother is nursing a baby who is younger than 9 (or so) months. This is because the mother’s milk often changes flavor due to hormones. It can also change to colostrum or mom’s supply can drop. If you are nursing a young baby while pregnant, be sure you’re paying close attention to diaper output. Your baby should be wetting at least 4-5 diapers a day. If your baby is older than 6 weeks, he should be pooping on a regular basis. For some babies, regular is once every three days. For others, it’s once every 4 hours. Diaper output is a quick and easy way to determine how your baby is doing.

Currently, I have a 16 month old son who is nursing 2-3 times a day, and I am 22 weeks pregnant with our second child. Before my husband and I started trying to conceive our second child, I did a fair amount of research on the subject of tandem nursing and nursing while pregnant. Kellymom.com, the La Leche League, Dr. Sears, and Dr. Greene all have great information for moms who are looking for information and answers to their questions about nursing a toddler while pregnant.

During my pregnancy with my son, I suffered almost no morning sickness, so when I started having some mild to moderate morning sickness with this pregnancy, I worried a little bit that Baby wouldn’t be getting what he or she needed and that my milk supply would drop due to a lack of calories and fluid intake. Because of this, I made an appointment with a registered dietician at my clinic to discuss what would be necessary to make sure all three of us got what we needed during the pregnancy.

However, as much as I want to encourage you to keep breastfeeding if that’s what you want, there are a couple situations in which you should talk to your doctor and may have to wean. If you have had preterm labor (going into labor prior to 37 weeks), you should talk to your doctor and a lactation consultant about your choices. Also, if you have had multiple miscarriages, it’s also a good idea to talk to your doctor when making this decision.

The other situation is that it’s possible some women want to wean at the beginning of their pregnancy to have a bit of a break before starting to breastfeed again when their babies are born. That’s fine, and in my opinion you should not feel guilty about making that choice either. The most important thing a mom can do for her children is to take care of herself. If she doesn’t take care of herself, she will not have as much energy to take care of them. If breastfeeding is no longer the best choice for you, check out the weaning ideas and strategies to help you get started on that track.