Nursing pregnant mama's update - Page 2

[donutmolly]

I also have a 12 mo who is still going strong. I'm feeling good about my supply, and she's doing so well eating solids that I'm a lot less nervous about her nutrition than I was before. I think we'll make it. She's got some annoying behaviors going on that I have to be careful of not reacting really strongly too (she gets so sad when I jump and say ouch!) but we're working on that. Thankfully she only nurses once at night (doesn't co-sleep anymore.)

My older DD (3.5) is weaning -- I have been actively encouraging this for my sanity. And I'm ok with that now. She's the more demanding nurser, and I really can't imagine having 3 kids yelling for milkies! So, she's nursed once in the past week. I've done a lot of distracting -- offering stories and snuggles. It's working ok.

Yeah, there aren't too many people irl who tandemn -- I live in super-crunchyville and still know zero people who have/are tandemning. But I'm glad I did, and will again... even though it hasn't been easy.

[treehugger75]

My DS (2.5yo) is still nursing once a day, for varying amounts of time. I tried to cut him off altogether a couple weeks ago because I got so dehydrated that I ended up in the ER. I was very concerned, since I couldn't keep anything down for so long, that nursing him was just putting me over the edge as far as staying hydrated. Thanks to my local LLL leaders, I knew that I didn't need to worry about the baby as it would take whatever nutrients it needed first, but then nursing comes second and I come last. Not normally a concern for me, but when it comes to not being able to keep anything down at all for days and landing in the hospital, you have to worry about how your health could be affecting the baby. Plus I can't take care of my two children if I'm lying in a hospital bed.

Anyhow, I said I *tried* cutting him off. After 3 days I couldn't take it any more. The poor little guy was SO heartbroken! I still say no at naptime (we snuggle instead), but I'll nurse him before bed if he asks...and he always does. He says "can I ah-rah (his word for nursing/milk/boobs - I don't know where it came from!) a big one or just a lil' bit?" How can I say no to that?

A couple times he has popped off pretty quickly and one time he said "milk all gone," but I think he's still getting some. I'm just really hoping he weans soon. I can already tell that having a new baby is going to be very hard on him, harder than it was for DD; I don't want to add having to share his "ah-rah" to the list. Plus, I have absolutely NO desire to tandem!

[rjruiz_415]

Well, I am shocked that DD actually went about 9 hours last night before asking to nurse. And then she slept for another 3.5 hours! So, I am not as horribly exhausted this morning as I am most mornings Now lets see if this was a coincidence, or a new trend

[Caroline P]

My DS (25 months) is still going strong. I swear he'd nurse all night if I let him. I am fortunate to be able to sleep through it but lately find my nipples getting more sore. I do let him nurse to nap and sleep at night and then whenever he wants during the night (about 3 times) but I have now started breaking him off after he's fully back to sleep. I do plan on tandem nursing (never though I would but hey!). I wonder when milk supply does drop? I don't think mine really has...I'm 12 weeks now.

[chrissy]

Rowan wants to nurse all night long too. Before getting pregnant I could sleep through it, now it hurts too badly and I wake up every time. I think we're going to try night-weaning him this weekend. He isn't going to like it though.

[lily7]

My supply is definitely down. I hardly pump 3 oz. total from 2 sessions at work. I had couple of sleeples nights when my 15 mo. old DS would nurse whole night and kept switching from side to side. Now I supplement a bottle of cows milk at 3 AM, he would not accept water and then he wants a bottle at 6AM. We relied so heavily on brestfeeding that now we are lerning that he really did not eat too much solids. I am actually wondering what to feed him with. We do not want to overdo on cow's milk (we do raw milk from farm). I am not big fan of grains, but my DS loves oatmeal. I want him to eat veggies and meats but he does only snack amounts of them. So milk, cheese, and oatmeal are now his favorite foods...

[DahliaRW]

So we moved ds2 (17 months) into ds1's room in the same bed actually) and he slept 5 1/2 hours straight last night in there! Wooo hooo! Now if he'd do that every night I'd be one happy mama. Less night nursing is definitely nice.

[haren.13]

DD (15 months) is still going strong. Some days she'll nurse constantly, but others it seems like she'd be happy going all day with no milk I'm definitely not ready for her to wean, and went into the pregnancy fully intending to tandem, so I think that the next few months will involve a lot of encouragement on my part to nurse without milk (which is pretty much how I feel now ~ there seems to be hardly any most of the time). She does still nurse constantly at night and I have no intentions of night weaning, only because I don't want her to wean altogether :P

I'm planning on getting some more More Milk Two (had some but ran out) to try to get my supply back up at least a little bit...I also have "Adventures in Tandem Nursing" but haven't gotten around to reading it yet!

[2sweetboysmom]

I am now 13 weeks. My 17 month old is still nursing at bedtime, night-time, and at morning. I do hear some swollowing still so there is something there, but he always asks for a bottle of milk (rice) or water as soon as he is done nursing, so there is not much. On nights and weekends when he is with his bio-dad I am not getting so full that I need to pump or express any milk
My breasts were only vaguely tender in the first tri but they are now super ouchy. It is impossible to sleep thru the nighttime nursings.

[mamabohl]

Hello! I'm actually in the June DDC, but at the very end and expecting to deliver in July, so i thought I'd pop over here. I'm 15 weeks now and still nursing my 4 year old son. He really only nurses to bed at night, and every once in a while he'll ask during the day but then it's only for a few seconds. He realized a few weeks ago that I have no milk and he was very upset. I wasn't making much before getting pregnant, I could only express a few drops, but i guess it was enough for him. After being really angry about it for a few hours he decided he'd make due until the milk comes in again, lol.

So far his nursing hasn't been painful or uncomfortable...when does that start? Or do some not get that? I'm really wondering how tandem nursing is going to go. I wonder if he'll be shocked by all the milk? I'm kind of worried that once I have a tiny nursing baby he'll look huge and wrong to me. I know he's four and most would say that's long enough, but i know that he still really needs nursing and I'm worried about how this pregnancy/new baby will affect our nursing relationship...

[blissful_maia]

We're doing well, I think we're naturally cutting down a bit. This is sort of what happened during dd2's pregnancy, and by the end dd1 had weaned herself (age 2.5). dd1 still nurses a bunch during the day (when I'm home) and always to fall asleep at night. But she has spontaneously night-weaned herself. Which is sooooo nice. I think I have no or very little milk at the moment, but she still likes to nurse, so I let her. I'm not so sensitive/tender anymore and I love to relish our final months with her as my "baby". I am really hoping NOT to tandem nurse, but I will if it's what she wants/needs. We shall see.

[bemommy]

Wanted to give us a little bump on this.

How's everyone doing?

DS (22 months) is nursing 2-6 times a day. Thankfully he's mostly night weaned on his own because I have the hardest time nursing lying down now. I don't have any milk and don't think colostrum has come in yet.

This past weekend I felt horribly guilty. Both kids came down with the stomach bug and I know DS would have gotten over it quicker if I had any milk for him

I'm also having a hard time drinking enough fluids.

[treehugger75]

DS has weaned. :-( I'm torn because I feel SO sad about it, but relieved that I don't have to nurse him any more. I had a few more where I was having GI issues and couldn't get out of the bathroom to nurse him to sleep and he easily went to sleep without it. I miss my special night time snuggle with him, though. But I don't want to try to start again and if I try to put him to bed he'll probably freak out. He goes to bed no problem for DH. DS still asks randomly, every once in a great while, but he is easily dissuaded.

So we are officially done and though I'm sad about it, I'm okay with it and DS seems to be okay with it, too.

[vonn's_mama]

My ds (26 mo) is still going strong, and it's a bit of a problem because my colostrum has come in. He has really runny poops now that almost always leak out of his diapers. It's really tempting to wean him because I can't imagine 5 more months of these diapers, but then he says "nuuss" with his little nose all wrinkled up, and I just can't say no! He loves it so much, and I don't want to end it prematurely.

[plantmama]

I also night weaned ds (2 in Nov.) at the beginning of my pregnancy. I figure it's actually kinder to him because I have more energy to take him outside if I can sleep at night. We had a few set backs due to illnesses and about a week of screeching and a bit of him hitting me. So he's been nightweaned for a couple months and still wakes up between 11 and 2 and I just go sleep with him and he is instantly back asleep, so nice!
I am also planning on weaning him completely in the next few months. He says it's "all gone" sometimes when he's nursing so I figure I'm running out anyway. When he's distracted he hardly nurses at all.
Luckily it doesn't hurt. It was absolutely horrible nursing oldest ds last time I was pregnant. I don't know why it's different now. Maybe My nipples are just rubberized from 4 + years of nursing.

[TooShay]

My milk has totally dried up & ds (2.5) still asks to nurse for nap & bedtime. I think he is happier now that there is no more milk - he told me my milk was "no good" & really cut back, then it all dried up & he said "much better, mommy!".......

[rjruiz_415]

OMG my nipples hurt! I really didnt think I had anything in there, but each time DD is done, she has this big ole milky smile, and I can occasionally squirt a few inches, so i dont know if that is milk or colostrum... DD normally nurses to sleep at night, once at night (maybe twice) and before her nap in the afternoon. Sometimes she will nurse an extra time or two

[KimProbable]

We're down to DD latching on once every couple of weeks or so and then complaining that there's nothing there. When I've expressed a few times in the shower I only see a few drops of colostrum.

She's been sick a lot lately (like the rest of the family, unfortunately) and last night I so wished that she'd latch on for a bit. She was screaming and crying with an earache and I couldn't calm her down. Needless to say it was a long long night. This morning when we were waking up in bed she asked to nurse and holy man did it ever hurt. Ug. All I can say is that I'm glad she's old enough that I don't feel guilt about not nursing her.

[donutmolly]

It's fun to read the updates as we get further along!

I'm really concerned about my supply -- my 13 mo needs the milk and I've been so stressed (about other stuff) that I know it's affected my supply. I've not had to deal with this before. My sanity saver is that she is nightweaned (sleeps in another room) so we both get good sleep and I have more energy to nurse her during the day.

Should I be pushing cow's milk? My older DD had a milk allergy, so I never gave her milk, just nursed her. But it seems like DD2, who's such a young toddler needs some milk if mama's is not plentiful... I've only actually given cow's milk to her once, and she wasn't impressed. She's a great eater though, so maybe not to worry? She's definately getting some mama's milk, just not a lot.

[DahliaRW]

donutmolly - babies/toddlers/kids don't need milk, they just need a good amount of healthy fats. Whole milk is just a convenient source of those fats (and readily available, etc). You can get them into her in other ways. Cook foods in olive oil for one. There are also milks besides cow that are high in fat (my neice once said that coconut milk tasted most like "mama milk"). You can also do other dairy products if she won't drink milk, like whole milk yogurt or whole milk cottage cheese or cheese (most kids will eat cheese!).

As for me, I need to night wean, just not sure when. I know it's going to start driving me batty soon. Fortunately my youngest sleeps a good chunk in bed with big brother, and usually comes into my bed around 2 or 3 am. But, then he wants to nurse a TON. I think if I get him nightweaned and then to the ponit that dh can put him back to sleep (they went hand in hand with ds1) he'll start sleeping better as well.