One Last Nursing Mamas Thread

[superlori]

All right ladies... anyone actually tandeming now?

I am and I'll be honest - I'm really not happy. Dd1 is a pure nightmare right now, crying, whining, asking for milk ALL DAY LONG.

Does this get better? I posted in the breastfeeding forum too. This is really hard. It makes me wish that somehow I'd just decided to wean her after all... even though I know there never was a right time to do so! I think both dh and I are ready to throw our precious toddler right out the window. Gah!

What's everyone else's early experiences like? Of if you've BTDT, was the first part as terrible for you as it is for me?

[Haselnuss]

I tandem nursed DDs 1 and 2, and 2 and 3. It is harder at first! I actually had to limit the older one's nursing sessions (frequency and duration) just so I could tolerate it. I needed some time just for the new baby, especially when they were still learning to nurse properly - but it does get easier. I tandem nursed for a year both times, and once you get through the first weeks, you can find a routine that works for you and dd1... hang in there!

[theboysmama]

It DOES get better. This is my 3rd time tandeming and each experience has been a bit different. Ds3 is needy but not like ds1. your dd sounds like my ds1. You will get through it. I handled it by letting him nurse whenever he wanted not limiting it at all for about 6wks (I limit sooner now as it was so draining, annoying, etc) Then I set specific times that he could be nursing (w/ or w/out his brother). It was about 12x a day at first which seems like a lot but was less than what he had been doing and gave him opportunities to expect it and I new it was coming, etc. Then I gradually cut out times. Examples are when he woke up, before bath, after bath, before breakfast, after breakfast, after snack, after lunch and before nap, etc. This worked for us and we were both a lot less resentful about it. (He was 22 months when ds2 was born and we tandemed for 14 months at which point I weaned him by giving him a huge weaning party and sending him to Disneyland w/ his grandpa. He was a little over 3)
It was so worth it bcs he developed and excellent relationship w/ his brother as did ds 2 w/ ds3. He learned to share and to wait but wasn't always waiting for me to take care of hte baby. It was something special he could share w/ his brother, etc. They would hold hands and nurse together. It also gave me time to sit on the couch w/ both kids and not have to chase anyone.
PM me if you want to talk more or have any questions, etc.