I posted in one of the other forums asking for help setting some boundaries with my DD1 who has recently started nursing again. I only got one response. Anyways, I have some other questions.
I have an 8 month old DD and a 31 month old DD. DD1 self-weaned when I was 7 months pregnant (she was about 21 months old). She would ask occasionally to nurse, but would only put her mouth to the breast. I have never told her no, and I honestly just assumed that she had forgotten what to do. Well, about 2 months ago she asked to nurse and latched on and nursed through a letdown. For a while she would just ask to nurse every few days or so. Then, about a month ago she started nursing more frequently. The last week or so, she has been nursing a LOT. Today DD1 nursed 5 times, and that was with me telling her "no" several times. She nurses for a pretty significant period of time - I would say certainly long enough to pretty effectively drain the breast. My DD2 is still basically exclusively breastfed. She does experiement with solids, but I wouldn't say that she gets much from them nutritionally. DD2 is a bit over 21lbs, she is a BIG girl. So there's the background.
Now for the questions.
How do I know if DD1s nursing is taking away too much from DD2? My breasts feel VERY empty. I know that doesn't mean I don't have enough milk, but it's like they never have a chance to catch up with DD1 nursing all the time too. I have noticed that DD2 is nursing longer than she normally does.
I try to nurse DD2 first whenever possible. If DD1 asks to nurse, I always nurse her on the SAME breast that DD2 nursed on last - that way when DD2 nurses again she is getting a "fresh" breast. (I have never nursed on more than one breast/feeding, as I typically have oversupply.) Does that sound like a good plan?
Will my milk supply catch up to that much nursing? I typically make a lot of milk - I can usually pump 6-8oz from one breast with a cheap manual pump in less than 10 minutes. But I'm not sure if I'd get that much if I pumped 5 extra times/day, KWIM? I have been trying to add some extra healthy fat to my diet, and have been trying to eat/drink when hungry/thirsty.
Has anyone experienced a toddler un-weaning and increasing their nursing like this? Should I expect it to continue? Or do you think it's just a short-term regression type of thing?
I would really appreciate anyone's input or advice.
I have an 8 month old DD and a 31 month old DD. DD1 self-weaned when I was 7 months pregnant (she was about 21 months old). She would ask occasionally to nurse, but would only put her mouth to the breast. I have never told her no, and I honestly just assumed that she had forgotten what to do. Well, about 2 months ago she asked to nurse and latched on and nursed through a letdown. For a while she would just ask to nurse every few days or so. Then, about a month ago she started nursing more frequently. The last week or so, she has been nursing a LOT. Today DD1 nursed 5 times, and that was with me telling her "no" several times. She nurses for a pretty significant period of time - I would say certainly long enough to pretty effectively drain the breast. My DD2 is still basically exclusively breastfed. She does experiement with solids, but I wouldn't say that she gets much from them nutritionally. DD2 is a bit over 21lbs, she is a BIG girl. So there's the background.
Now for the questions.
How do I know if DD1s nursing is taking away too much from DD2? My breasts feel VERY empty. I know that doesn't mean I don't have enough milk, but it's like they never have a chance to catch up with DD1 nursing all the time too. I have noticed that DD2 is nursing longer than she normally does.
I try to nurse DD2 first whenever possible. If DD1 asks to nurse, I always nurse her on the SAME breast that DD2 nursed on last - that way when DD2 nurses again she is getting a "fresh" breast. (I have never nursed on more than one breast/feeding, as I typically have oversupply.) Does that sound like a good plan?
Will my milk supply catch up to that much nursing? I typically make a lot of milk - I can usually pump 6-8oz from one breast with a cheap manual pump in less than 10 minutes. But I'm not sure if I'd get that much if I pumped 5 extra times/day, KWIM? I have been trying to add some extra healthy fat to my diet, and have been trying to eat/drink when hungry/thirsty.
Has anyone experienced a toddler un-weaning and increasing their nursing like this? Should I expect it to continue? Or do you think it's just a short-term regression type of thing?
I would really appreciate anyone's input or advice.
