Who's still nursing?

[haren.13]

I know we had another one of these threads, but since it's fallen off the homepage I figured I'd start a new one, since several of the original mamas/babies have likely weaned!

DD (18 months) is still nursing day and night. I think every single night I have visions of night-weaning her via Jay Gordon's method, but by morning I decide that we're not ready. We're out of town this week but when we get back DH and I are planning on starting to transition her to a toddler bed, so I'm hoping that cuts down on the night nursing :P I really wouldn't mind it, but since my supply tanked she chews more than sucks, and it HURTS! I think I would be sore no matter how she was nursing, but this makes it extra bad :P Plus, she FREAKS OUT when I unlatch her, which at this point with my crazy hormones just makes me irritated I feel bed for her because she didn't choose all the changes...I really never thought I'd have any negative feelings about nursing! She has also started to be quite acrobatic while nursing, and while on a normal day that wouldn't bother me, again the hormones make me feel mad

[Caroline P]

Oh mama, you could have written my thoughts right there. My son, who is 2 yrs and 4 months is almost totally weaned now. I was hoping to nurse all the way through the pregnancy and even tandem but I did not expect my own body's reaction when the milk supply went away. It became this skin crawling feeling and I hated it. Me, who LOVED nursing so much. It was such a shock. I could not do it anymore. I would let him latch on, tell him, I'm counting to 10 and then we can snuggle. We did, it had a few crying episodes in the middle of the night, he even hit me a couple of times but it too passed. I just held him and told him I wish I could but my "mamas" hurt. I also told him it was ok to get angry, I understand but I always will love him. Now, two weeks later, he hardly asks for it. I do give him a sippy cup of cow's milk at night (warmed) before bed. He loves the sucking and warmth. Its totally a replacement but its working. It broke my heart, way more than I though but slowly we are moving on. He may or may not come back to nursing when the milk comes in, I'm open. Though I don't know how the latching would work. I've let him try to latch since (in really desperate times - like a nightmare) and man, it seems like he does not know how anymore....anyway, rambling. Just wanted to share my story.

[rjruiz_415]

I, too, did not expect to react to nusring how I am-lol. It hurts so bad and I have DD nursing one time in the afternoon before a nap, and before bed. She has been sick, So i have been nursing her in the middle of the night for a few days. Normally it is just the two times though I do not think that she will stop nursing before baby is born though.

[vonn's_mama]

I totally thought my ds (2 y. 3 m.) would be one to stick it out, but he is pretty much weaned now. Every few days he asks to nurse, and I always let him try, but there's nothing there, so it doesn't last long. Recently he just put his mouth on and didn't suck. I guess he just wanted the feeling.

It's weird. I'm kind of sad and kind of proud of him/relieved. I'm guessing he'll ask to nurse when the new baby comes, and I'll let him try, but it's weird how unnatural nursing him feels now that we don't do it much. Just 2-3 months ago he was nursing 5-7 times a day, and now it feels so foreign. Weaning is definitely a lesson in letting go and letting my ds grow up. I'm glad we bed share because I think I would really miss him if I didn't nurse and he was away from me all night (I work full time, so that probably contributes).

[poiyt]

Im still comfort nursing - but havent been making anything for weeks now. She still asks, and I dont refuse...so Im not sure what will happen as we move closer and closer. She is 18months.

[LilMomma83]

My milk is back pretty strong (as of the past week or so), but, DS usually sucks for just a few seconds, tells me, "dis baby tadib's yeches" (this is baby caleb's milk) and then says, "lay on mama" and goes to sleep on my shoulder. He's gone 2 days (not consecutive though) without nursing in the past week, so I suspect he might be weaning...but, we are also moving to a new apartment Sunday so that may affect him...I'm ok with whatever he wants to do at this point--he's 23mos.

[georgiegirl1974]

DD (3) is almost weaned. : She only "nurses" for about a minute right after I turn off the lights before bed. I haven't had any milk for a while now (at least a month), and I've finally been able to limit her nursing. She hasn't done it on her own. I've had to gradually restrict her. The first restriction was that she could only nurse in her room. Then I only let her nurse at night and in the AM. Then I only let her nurse for a set amout of time on each side (while I sing the ABCs). Then I only let her nurse at night. A week ago, I only let her nurse on one side at night. Now I'm singing the ABCs super, duper fast, so I doubt she's nursing more than 30 seconds. She also thinks it is pretty funny that I'm singing so fast, so she's giggling half of the time she's "nursing." I'm going to completely cut her off soon. But she just switched rooms at daycare, and she doesn't deal well with transitions. So once she is settled, I'm going to cut her off completely. Hopefully, she will be done in 2 weeks at the latest. I'm sooooo proud of her and myself, because I wanted her completely weaned by the end of March...and it looks like I'm going to meet my goal (or only be a week off.) :

(I knew that I didn't want to tandem nurse. I'm sad to say that nursing makes DD more needy and whiney. Since I cut out most nursing sessions, DD is so much better about sitting at the dinner table while we are eating. Before she used to whine to nurse a few mintues after we started to eat. but now she sits happily and either eats and chats with us.)

[ATruck]

Ohhhhhhhhhh. It is so hard. I never thought that I would hate nursing, but I do. We are down to 2x a day (nap and bed), and I can't stand the feeling, especially the night one. I feel like I want to throw her across the room, which just feels awful. The 2x a day thing is totally at my insistence, though has taken it pretty well. This is how it has been for the past few months.

I really am at a loss about the next step. We have started talking about how we are just going to nurse for a short time, and when I can't take it anymore, I tell her I am going to sing a song and then we will stop, then I sing her to sleep. Sometimes she is good with it, and sometimes she gets pretty angry/upset. She is really clinging to these last 2 nursing sessions.

If it were just me having an aversion, I might just keep trudging through, but I also have concerns about preterm labor. I think my focus is not going to be on stopping altogether, but on not letting a nursing session go over about 10 minutes.

It is nice to hear that many are in the same boat, though I am sorry that others are struggling.

[haren.13]

Amy ~ I get the "I need to throw something at the wall" feeling at nighttime nursing, as well I try to count to 10 and breathe through it, but if I still feel that way (and then I start to feel like I'm having a panic attack) I unlatch her and hand her to hubby as she has a complete and total meltdown

[bemommy]

Nursing here, sort of. It doesn't hurt but man does it give me the willy's. DS just turned 2 I'm pretty sure we'll stick it out enough to attempt tandem nursing. He's still got a good latch, even though we only nurse 1-3 times a day and often skip a day or 2 here and there. Nursing session are seriously restricted. . only on the couch, only when being still and only for a short period of time.

I've been a little less restrictive the past few days because we've all got the flu and hoping that there is a little bit of colostrum that he might be getting.

[Caroline P]

Originally Posted by haren.13

Amy ~ I get the "I need to throw something at the wall" feeling at nighttime nursing, as well I try to count to 10 and breathe through it, but if I still feel that way (and then I start to feel like I'm having a panic attack) I unlatch her and hand her to hubby as she has a complete and total meltdown

OMG me too, I would NEVER have thought me capable of this feeling but MAN its skin crawling sometimes. This is why we moved to a sippy cup and warm milk, I personally just could not take it. I tried. We did the counting to 10 thing - my son would count with me (too cute!) - mamas in the mouth and all!

I'm thrilled with how long my son has nursed, he was really down to only a couple of times a night (i work full time). But it's still a letting go. We snuggle a lot and thankfully cosleep because its nice to get him really close still.

So glad to hear of others feeling this way....don't feel like I'm all alone now.

[jwoodbri]

Still nursing my 22 month old 2x a day nap & bedtime. Definitely painful and not quite sure what we will be doing but feel like I need to make some changes again soon. He is still waking up once a night most nights and is still sleeping in our room. Ideally he will be sleeping through the night and in his brother's room w/o nursing before #3 comes along but I'm not sure how to get there... He still really wants to nurse and I hate to come him off but it does really hurt. So don't know what to do.

[blissful_maia]

Our dd (2 1/2) is still nursing very occasionally. Sometimes not for a couple of days! It's strange... but this is the way dd1 naturally weaned as well, during dd2's pregnancy. I know some would feel it's "unnatural" but it's just the way things happened! dd1 just decided one day that she didn't need to nurse anymore, but dd2 still comes back for comfort sometimes. There's absolutely not one drop of milk left, and it's very uncomfortable for me, but I think she just likes being close and cradled like a baby. We'll see what happens by the end of the pregnancy... I am open to tandem nursing, but would also be relieved if she stopped nursing before baby arrives.

[DahliaRW]

Yup, still nursing here, but I've cut ds back to right before bed, first thing in the morning, and before nap.

[treetop]

I guess I am pretending to nurse! My milk went away and came back. My daughter latches on but I never seem to achieve let down. I can't say that I enjoy nursing anymore. I just keep reminding myself that even if it is a few drops, it is better then nothing. I am hoping that once the baby is born she will be able to nurse during or after him.
I want to congratulate all you mommies that are sticking with it. : I also want to congratulate all the mommies of have gently weened their little ones! :

[dogmom327]

My milk dried up almost two months ago (DS is 21 mo) but he still tries to nurse at least once a week. It's like a status check. I feel so bad that I don't have any for him although it was a bit of a relief because nursing had become quite painful and was causing contractions.

[WNB]

Me. I don;t think there's any milk: it was gone by January ad the boobs were sore from Dec. throught Feb.. Less uncomfortable now, which is good b/c DD is definitely not ready to sign off. She calls them HER boobies, and corrects me if I call them mine. *sigh*

eta: yes, me too with the weird feeling of nursing with no/little milk. It's been rough.

[LilMomma83]

well after i posted that I thought we were about done yesterday, he's been nursing like crazy since I picked him up from daycare last night lol...

[georgiegirl1974]

Originally Posted by ATruck

Ohhhhhhhhhh. It is so hard. I never thought that I would hate nursing, but I do. We are down to 2x a day (nap and bed), and I can't stand the feeling, especially the night one. I feel like I want to throw her across the room, which just feels awful. The 2x a day thing is totally at my insistence, though has taken it pretty well. This is how it has been for the past few months.

I really am at a loss about the next step. We have started talking about how we are just going to nurse for a short time, and when I can't take it anymore, I tell her I am going to sing a song and then we will stop, then I sing her to sleep. Sometimes she is good with it, and sometimes she gets pretty angry/upset. She is really clinging to these last 2 nursing sessions.

If it were just me having an aversion, I might just keep trudging through, but I also have concerns about preterm labor. I think my focus is not going to be on stopping altogether, but on not letting a nursing session go over about 10 minutes.

It is nice to hear that many are in the same boat, though I am sorry that others are struggling.

I was there just a month ago, and cutting back the sessions in terms of length really helped. First, I stopped nursing her to sleep. I would rock and cuddle with her. It took a while for that to take, but it did eventually. Then I limited her nursing to while I sang the ABCs on each side. For DD, that worked way better than counting down (suggestion from someone at LLL). It is just about trial and error to see what works best for your child. DD has taken it so much better than I expected (yes there were tears). She was such a boob-aholic.

I totally understand that feeling about wanting to throw something across the room...or wanting to scream "STOP NURSING. THAT'S ENOUGH." It is hard because nursing was soooo wonderful for so long, and I could have never imagined I would end up hating it. That is why I wanted to stop ASAP, so I wouldn't have that negative nursing association when the baby arrived. DD still "nurses" for a minute each day, but it doesn't seem to bother me because it is soooo minimal and I know we are almost done.

[haren.13]

For me, anyway, I'm not *too* worried about disliking nursing when the baby is born. I remember the warm squishy feeling when my milk lets down, and I don't get that anymore (no milk = no letdown :P). I think that once my milk comes back in it will be MUCH better (to nurse both DD and the new LO).

FWIW, I'm almost 26 weeks and I've noticed that my milk (or colostrum, I suppose) is really starting to increase! For a long time I couldn't express even one drop, then the last couple weeks I've been able to get a few drops here and there. Yesterday I checked and I got enough to drip down on my hand! I forgot how sticky that stuff is :P So, that gives me hope that nursing will get better with DD (a friend told me that it's much better when your colostrum is in). When I was pregnant with DD I remember being able to even squirt a bit of colostrum (sorry TMI! ) so hopefully I will make as much this time around so neither of us gets so frustrated with the lack of milk!