Who is still nursing? - Page 2

[ErinBird]

I am!

My daughter is 28mo next week and rarely nurses during the day. We nurse down to sleep (usually under 5min), once around 4am (another 5ish minutes) and again when she wakes up (she drains both sides over about an hour of off and on nursing and dozing).

I do suspect my supply has taken a hit in the last few days, as she has been demanding food straight away in the morning and eating lots.

I'd like her to nurse a few more months, as it will help build tissue for next baby (I have suspected hypoplastic breasts basically underdeveloped milk making tissue.), but I do suspect that she will not be nursing by the time this baby is born.

[SUOMI-SOFIA]

I'm nursing my 11 month old & am in my 8th week...I don't have a decline in milk yet & it seems like she wants to nurse more than ever now...it's like she can sense something is different. I'm very torn on physically doing both. I love nursing her, but I hate the first trimester. I'm so sick & weak that I feel like the nursing is wiping me out...I'm moving forward as is for as long as I can...I feel so horrible if I dry up or have to wean her,she LOVES it so much...

[Kellyh_01]

My son is 26 months and nurses at naptime, bedtime, and sometimes early morning. My nipples are so tender right now, I am ready for him to be done.

[junipermuse]

I'm still nursing also. My dd will be two next month. She is a very enthusiastic nurser and still nurses more times a day then I could possibly count. However, we have managed to finally night wean her which is the biggest issue for me. I love co-sleeping, but not night nursing, so it's taken the night nursing to realize how much I love to snuggle with her while we're sleeping. I'm planning on tandem nursing when the baby comes because i don't think she (or me either really) will be done with nursing by August (she'll be exactly 2 and a half). I am really focusing though on limits (for ex. if she asks to nurse and I don't want to I sing abc's while i nurse her and she pops off at the end of the song). I would ideally have her to the point of nursing just 3-4 (first thing in the am, before nap, after nap, and before bed) times a day though when the baby comes. I haven't had too much of a problem with nipple soreness or tenderness though so i'm lucky on that front. I have a feeling my milk won't dry up though either. i got my period back almost immediately after having dd even though she was nursed on demand around the clock, so I have a feeling my body just thinks nursing while pregnant is normal.

[Glittergal]

I can't believe all these kids who nurse so infrequently. My son would be at the breast ALL day if I let him, lol! He is 29 months. My milk supply seriously dipped at the very beginning and I was a little worried because he was furious, but it seems to be back up now. I really don't want to tandem nurse, so I am hoping he tapers off and naturally weans. My daughter weaned when she was 2.5 and I was 7 months pregnant and I'm hoping something similar will happen this spring. I really don't want to force him to wean but I have a feeling tandem nursing would throw me over the edge and force him to wean in a not-so-gentle manner. So....trying to keep him busy during the day and eating a good dinner, so he doesn't nurse all night.

[wombatclay]

I can't believe all these kids who nurse so infrequently. My son would be at the breast ALL day if I let him, lol! He is 29 months.

A year ago (when dd1 was 2.5yo) I would have said the same thing! During my pregnancy with dd2 she gradually cut back to 3-4 nursing sessions a day but when dd2 was born she wanted to nurse every time the babe nursed. We used family led weaning techniques to gradually move back to 3-4x a day (first thing in the morning, at nap, before bed) but it took several months to get there. Then when she was around 3 or so she dropped her nap so that session vanished, and then morning nursing tapered off as DH took over more of her morning routine, and I realized just the other day that she hadn't asked to nurse before bed for about two weeks. She'll be 4yo in April, so maybe she's done?

But I know that I'd see people posting about 2-3 sessions a day and I'd just be in shock.

[mouso]

Another one here whose 25 month old DD would nurse every hour if she could (and sometimes does).
I am not planning on tandem nursing and hope that she weans before the new one is born. We will see, though. We have such a special nursing relationship and I won't end it on a bad note, so I'm kind of just going with the flow in the next few months.

[Onemagicmummy]

i am still nursing my 15 month old, and getting fed up with it cos my nipples hurt a bit, and she has this whole BF acrobatics going on that makes it hurt even more, and she will not keepp her feet out my face, it makes me heave.

i dont want to wean, i want to keep going, but if she doest quit sticking her feet in my face adn quit the acrobatics i may have to start reducing her nursings to mornings and bed times and in the night. i am also fed up of the night wakings too, althought i did manage to get her back tosleep with out nursing night before last. it seems that DD2 is just a cry to sleep baby and i just have to be there with her while she crys.

so if things carry on as things are going i may have to night wean or reduce day time feedings to save my sanity.

i do want to tandem so i am reluctant to do teh above. but i will just have to see how things go.

Kiz

[BlueMonday]

Originally Posted by Onemagicmummy

i dont want to wean, i want to keep going, but if she doest quit sticking her feet in my face adn quit the acrobatics i may have to start reducing her nursings to mornings and bed times and in the night. i am also fed up of the night wakings too, althought i did manage to get her back tosleep with out nursing night before last. it seems that DD2 is just a cry to sleep baby and i just have to be there with her while she crys.

:

I accidentally posted in the July DDC about this, but last night I realized that DBF can't comfort her at night, much less put her to sleep. So tonight I have to move him to the other bedroom and somehow get DD to understand that we're sleeping at night now. She doesn't normally wake too often, maybe 2-4x a night, but it's been a bit more frequent/constant recently and tbh I'm rapidly getting over it.

Thing is, she's so persistent! She doesn't just cry, she screams this high, piercing, crazy scream. She did it for 30 minutes last night until I took her back from DBF and nursed her back down. I've been suppressing my nature as a toss-and-turner for the past year. I cannot be sleeping with her latched on once leg cramps and nighttime peeing kick in.

So I feel like I'd love to wean her before the babe comes, but she is still the titty monster and I don't want to incite ill will and jealousy when she sees there's a new nursling in town. My compromise may be limited tandem nursing during the day with nighttime weaning. Her father has got to be able to achieve a nighttime parenting routine with her, but I don't think it will be easy on either of them.

[mama*pisces]

I did it! I did it!!

I successfully set some limits with nursing ds today -I told him last night that we were going to nurse three times - in the morning, before his nap, and right before bed - and that's exactly what we did! The morning session was lonnnnng - I slept through most of it, and he had also snuck in a mini-session at about 5 in the morning. Then we nursed right before his nap, and after his nap he asked briefly but then asked about some chocolate that was in the fridge, and I was like "Yea, let's go get chocolate!" He asked a couple of times in the evening but I just reminded him about what I had said and he didn't even get upset, just settled for hugs and "kissing the milk", when he kisses my boobs one at a time and says: "I wuv you so much, milk." : Even when he got hurt tonight and after a major meltdown before that, he didn't get upset over not being able to nurse(if he would have gotten upset I would've given in, this was more like a trial run than anything). I'm in total shock right now - I never thought I would see this day come!! He is usually such an avid nurser, especially if we are just hanging out around the house, which is basically what we did all day.

NOW I feel like I can deal with nursing a little better! I am still sort of hoping that he weans when my milk supply goes away - I can tell it has dipped already. Though I do feel kinda sad at the thought of him weaning, even though it's going to be three years pretty soon. I know that when he's done I'll miss that special time with him.

Just had to share, hopefully I won't jinx myself!

[Glittergal]

That is great news Mama*pisces. It can be really nice to set some limits and even better when they respond so positively. My son is a bit younger than yours and has also drastically slowed down, which is a huge relief to me. It feels so much more manageable when he really needs to nurse. DS was nursing a few times a night until I was maybe 8 wks pregnant and then he just naturally started sleeping until 5 am! He was trying to nurse but then would flop away when he wasn't the meal he was used to, lol. It's really sweet to me when this all starts to happen without me forcing it - now I'm getting better sleep at night and am happier to nurse a few times during the day. We are noticing a huge increase in his appetite, which is great, because he is TINY and was sustaining himself on my milk before. But we've noticed a substantial increase in our grocery bill --- which seems kind of funny since he is only 2!

I am still hoping he will wean before summer..think this might be easy when the weather improves and we are outside all day.

[mama*pisces]

Glad to hear your LO has slowed down a little too, Glittergal. It gets so uncomfortable at times, doesn't it?

Yeah, I didn't even think about the weather warming up, that will definitely help! He kinda did the same thing last night that you mentioned - we read a couple of books while he nursed, then moved to my bed and he wanted to nurse off my left side, which has been hurting more than my right - I said "just for a little while cuz it hurts mommy" - he nursed there for maybe 10 seconds and then popped off, laid down and went to sleep. I was like: "Well....that worked out!"
I'm going to see how it goes with my supply over the next couple of months, if he doesn't stop on his own I will talk to him about it and if he agrees, throw him a weaning party just after his 3rd birthday in May. That will be nice for him, having two parties in one month, and then it will be a lot warmer out so we'll be out all day, like you said. We'll see how it works out.

(and just to clarify - it wasn't so much that I couldn't set a limit before and stick to it, I just didn't make the commitment to do it because it seemed like too much of a hassle, since we are inside all day most days and he usually asks A LOT. I didn't want to be fighting with him all day about it, yk? I was shocked that the first time I decided to go for it, it actually worked with no tears or a fight. )

[Jilian]

Mia that is great that everything went so smoothly! I guess it is true that when they are ready, they are ready.

I'm trying to cut back on nursing because my supply has really dropped and it is getting more and more uncomfortable but DS2 still asks to nurse pretty frequently. Luckily I can usually distract him, but there are times he gets really, really upset and I give in. I'm wondering what will happen when it completely dries up.

[samikashi]

We'll be tandem nursing if that's what Joseph wants to do. His 3rd birthday will be weeks within baby's birth.
He typically nurses 3-4 times a day and has been like that for over a year. My supply dipped a few weeks ago, but an added session has gotten it back to normal; I think it's actually more than before now.

I remember being pregnant with Joseph and seeing a picture of a nursing triad... and thought, "Oh no, that looks crazy!" Of course, I also only thought I'd be nursing to one year!

[mama*pisces]

Haha - I started out saying I was going to nurse for three months, and look at me now!

I love the idea of tandeming, but I don't think it's for me.....I was getting so wiped out just nursing Donovan, let alone him and a newborn. BUT if it came down to it and he really wasn't ready to let it go, I would do it for him. Especially if he was a little younger....but I think 3 years or so is more than a wonderful start, and that if he is okay with gentle prodding in the direction of weaning, then I am also okay stopping, since the idea of nursing two kinda scares me. But if we were to do it there would be DEFINITE limits in place, like only twice a day or something.

[samikashi]

I probably won't place limits at first because I'm suspecting (from reads) that he'll want to nurse like a newborn, and that's normal and OK, at first. I will want him back to his own "schedule" shortly after and hopefully he'll be weaning within the year.

Nothing is set in stone though. I'm really looking forward to the new dynamic whatever it'll be.

[BlueMonday]

Last night was #4 of no nursing between bedtime and dawn. She goes down late, 10-11pm so she has daddy time. Last night was a little rougher than the night before, but she's definitely realized that she gets water and not titties when she wakes up. She seems fine with it, doesn't actually cry tears or freak out and get super angry when she wakes up like she did at first. But she likes to crawl back and forth over me before she settles back down, so I'm not sure how to progress to Dr. Gordon's second step of having her go back to sleep without being picked up. I might just do as we are until next week and then let her sleep alone with daddy for a night or two, see how that plays out.

[ksera05]

I'm still nursing my almost 1 year old and oh my goodness it HURTS. We're down to only nursing in bed in the morning and then before bed at night because I just can't take it. He wasn't getting much anyway - one of the reasons I took a pregnancy test actually was that his diapers were suddenly looking very dehydrated, sigh.

I still haven't decided about tandemning. I'm not sure I'm up for it.

[AlyssaMyahJulian]

I had planned to allow alyssa to nurse even after my twins were born...however I had to wean her at 2 years and 4 months when I went into pre term labor and was hospitalized(I was in the hospital from 25-30 weeks when I delivered) I nursed my twins till they were 4 they are 6 nowso no tandem nursing for me this time...hoping it is nice and peaceful with only one baby to nurse..lol