nursing mamas...how is it going? - Page 2

[MrsBone]

Well, it seems like the timing is right to nightwean, or wean completely. The only time DS nurses right now is to get to sleep, and that's not even working anymore. I have little to no milk and it's just not settling him down like it used to. He still seems like he wants to nurse, but gets frustrated..He's been putting himself to sleep lately after fitful nursing sessions. Tonight he nursed for a few minutes, and he was still tossing and turning all over the place(hurting my nips in the process) and I finally had to tell him no more. He tossed and turned for about 5 minutes, then finally went to sleep. I've been giving him a sippy cup with water (and a little stevia, cause he really wants juice, but I don't want to give him juice before bed) and that seems to help him with the want to nurse and get milk but not be able to, so it satisfies his thirst enough that sometimes he'll just roll over and go to sleep after sipping water for a bit. I hope this doesn't take very long though because I'm so tired! The thing that's going to be more challenging is the nightwakings to nurse. He wont go back to sleep unless he nurses, so that's gonna be tough.

[clutterbug]

hugs to everyone facing the nightweaning challenge. It is tough!

I discovered this morning that I cannot express milk from the one breast I am still nursing from...even right after DS2 comes off! How did that happen? He doesn't seem to be getting much, either - it just seems like it dropped off to nothing overnight. A few days ago he still had visible milk drips on his lips when he came off. Eek! There must still be some coming out, though, cause it hasn't started hurting.

Edited to add: Hmm, I have been having a cup (sometimes two) of peppermint tea some days, definitely once a day for the last couple. One cup of peppermint tea wouldn't diminish my supply, would it? Or maybe it could since there was so little there to start...? Maybe I'll avoid it and see if it picks back up a little.

[penstamon]

bp- I was told not to drink peppermint tea while nursing so maybe that is what is causing your supply to diminish

We need to nightwean NOW but move in a week so can't start anything yet. Happily I went and bought DS's new full size bed for the new house so I have somewhere to go when DH is stuck with DS and vice versa. We are not doing well with the night nursing. He has been up every 45min-2 hours every night and in between fusses half asleep. He was only in bed for 9 hours last night too and fought going down. It has been like this almost a month now after waking every 2-3 hours, so it is just getting worse and worse. He has plenty of solids and fluids all day, so I am not worried about nutrition.

I think its the same situation as MrsBone- I am not producing enough milk to calm him to sleep even though I still need to wear a breast pad on the other side. I make him detach after a few minutes tops and he will settle himself but I am up sometimes until he wakes again. Even for an hour or more. I CANNOT SLEEP and this is making everything worse.

Both DH and I are feeling a little resentful in our exhaustion and even our midwife thinks we may need to wean entirely and get DS to find other ways to sleep. We have been trying everything for 15mo now and I am at a loss. I think we will try a modified Jay Gordon and also move him to the new bed over time. If thats not working, we will have to do cold turkey with some in-arms crying because he basically does that now AFTER he nurses.

Our day sessions only include nursing to nap and sleep so if those dont work either I sadly think we may be getting close to ending nursing. I need to be a good healthy rested mama for both of my kids, not a cranky sick exhausted mama. I am soooo frustrated and I can't parent a high energy toddler all day, let alone a new baby too when I don't sleep more than 2 hours at best.

[MrsBone]

Originally Posted by penstamon

bp- I was told not to drink peppermint tea while nursing so maybe that is what is causing your supply to diminish

We need to nightwean NOW but move in a week so can't start anything yet. Happily I went and bought DS's new full size bed for the new house so I have somewhere to go when DH is stuck with DS and vice versa. We are not doing well with the night nursing. He has been up every 45min-2 hours every night and in between fusses half asleep. He was only in bed for 9 hours last night too and fought going down. It has been like this almost a month now after waking every 2-3 hours, so it is just getting worse and worse. He has plenty of solids and fluids all day, so I am not worried about nutrition.

I think its the same situation as MrsBone- I am not producing enough milk to calm him to sleep even though I still need to wear a breast pad on the other side. I make him detach after a few minutes tops and he will settle himself but I am up sometimes until he wakes again. Even for an hour or more. I CANNOT SLEEP and this is making everything worse.

Both DH and I are feeling a little resentful in our exhaustion and even our midwife thinks we may need to wean entirely and get DS to find other ways to sleep. We have been trying everything for 15mo now and I am at a loss. I think we will try a modified Jay Gordon and also move him to the new bed over time. If thats not working, we will have to do cold turkey with some in-arms crying because he basically does that now AFTER he nurses.

Our day sessions only include nursing to nap and sleep so if those dont work either I sadly think we may be getting close to ending nursing. I need to be a good healthy rested mama for both of my kids, not a cranky sick exhausted mama. I am soooo frustrated and I can't parent a high energy toddler all day, let alone a new baby too when I don't sleep more than 2 hours at best.

That's my biggest issue as well. When DS wakes up to nurse, I rarely go back to sleep right away..it takes me time...so when he wakes up all night long I feel like I never sleep. We cosleep, which helps I'm sure, but it's starting to get so frustrating. I am going to try and get DS on a better schedule to see if that helps with the nighttime battle of fighting sleep. Right now we don't have much of one, which I know isn't good for him, but for the past 7 weeks I've felt so sick and yuck, that battling bedtime wasn't worth it.
Let me know how the weaning goes for you! I'm going to work with DS this week with nursing at bedtime, but not to sleep and then next week my mom is going to take him for a night, then my MIL the next night. I hate that I am basically going to do this cold turkey, but I don't really see any other way to do it and keeping my sanity. My sister always told me that I should nurse as long as both baby and mama are happy.. when one or both isn't, it's time to stop! So I don't feel too guilty. Plus, DS is 22 months old..I am glad I made it this far!

[Mom2K&Gray]

Nothing much has changed over here. DS has been night weaned for a long time and still nurses 3-4x during the day.

[MrsBone]

Well, after my last post, I worked hard on getting DS to sleep with just a brief nursing session, then letting him settle on his own. My milk completely dried up so that made it a lot easier. The following week, I got him to start going to sleep without nursing. So, for a week now he's not nursed. I think we're done! I'm happy but a little sad. It was getting so frustrating, and I don't want to tandem nurse, so it's going to be fine, but it's just so different and going to take some getting used to! Good thing is though he's sleeping at least 8 hours straight without waking for a drink or a snack(he's got a high metabolism!), and he seems to be sleeping better, so that's good.

[jennifercp8]

I decided to stop nursing DD first thing in the morning, and she was already STTN on her own. She has stopped asking for it before bedtime, but we still nurse at naptime. Her poops are still a little 'soft' but hardening up now that we are nursing less. So I definitely think my milk is changing. It is not that mustard color anymore, either. In general, she doesn't ask for nursing, and is happier just to snuggle with DH or myself.

[KarenMT]

I was down to just wake up, occassional nap and bedtime when I became preggo. My DD was 3yrs old so I was ready for weaning. I changed our morning routine slowly to eliminate the wake up nursing and naps are now mostly non-existent. We still do a tiny session at bedtime but I tell her - only one minute. My supply is pretty much nonexistent and I'm okay with that. She is slowly learning to cuddle and put her head on my chest. She has had moments of anger but I try and not take it personal. If I hadn't become preggo I wouldn't have pushed the weaning. When the new baby arrives I'll do as I did with my older DD, offer the 3yr old "mommy milk" in a sippy cup. I would pump and give it to my older DD. She would maybe take a few sips and that would end her need to see if I would share.

[CinCanada]

Wow I've really noticed a huge drop in supply over the last week. Feels like it completely tanked almost over night. On one hand DD is being really accepting of when I agree to nurse her but just count to 5 on each side. It's funny how she's so insistent to nurse but pops off with no complaint whatsoever like she could really take it or leave it.
Night nursing has cut down some too but I'm still REALLY struggling with the insomnia so even a brief waking often has me up for the rest of the night. I think I'd still really like to night wean but I'm kind of playing it by ear for now as for the time being she's doing it less.

[Fluga]

DD doesnt seem to have slowed down at all. I dont know how much she is getting out of there by now but I'm guessing not a lot. She has been ill so she really wanted to hang off my boobs yesterday, my nips are killing me today. I suppose a combo of a lazy toddler latch plus sensetive boobs/nips will do that.

Does anyone know when the colustrum comes in? I was thinking after 25 weeks. I just started wondering because DD's poop was runnier and more breastmilk poo coloured the other day. I'm really doubting that she's getting so much to do that so I'm wondering what's up.

[sh0rtchica]

Originally Posted by Fluga

DD doesnt seem to have slowed down at all. I dont know how much she is getting out of there by now but I'm guessing not a lot. She has been ill so she really wanted to hang off my boobs yesterday, my nips are killing me today. I suppose a combo of a lazy toddler latch plus sensetive boobs/nips will do that.

Does anyone know when the colustrum comes in? I was thinking after 25 weeks. I just started wondering because DD's poop was runnier and more breastmilk poo coloured the other day. I'm really doubting that she's getting so much to do that so I'm wondering what's up.

I've been wondering the same thing. My breasts have been feeling full, but DS (still non-verbal) isn't really into nursing in the evenings when I get home anymore. He still night-nurses, but I'm working on weaning away from those and into his own toddler bed in our room. I haven't tried expressing to see what's in there cause they're SORE from that lovely lazy latch

i'm 14 weeks today, but my LLL leader told me all of hers (she's PG with #5) weaned at about 22 weeks.

[beckyand3littlemonsters]

not too bad he'll only go in his cot asleep for me but if my neighbour puts him up he'll go awake, feeding him to sleep does often take a lot out of me though but i'm still not giving up i'm wanting to go down the child led weaning route this time

anyone else notice their lo's bm's are becoming looser?

[clutterbug]

I was definitely noticing lots of loose stools, and then my supply tanked (seemingly overnight, same as Carolyn described in her post) and now he is back to formed stools again. He is still nursing a couple of times a day, for short periods (except the other day when he nursed on and off for his whole nap - ouch! If that's what it takes to get him to nap, I guess we are phasing out naps!). He sometimes wakes up now at 6 am and asks for milky, but hasn't woken in the middle of the night for weeks. We actively night weaned DS1 when I was pregnant with DS2, but this time around it happened on its own. Yay!

[beckyand3littlemonsters]

caden still wakes during the night though has had 2 or 3 nights when he has slept through he also will only nap during the day if he is fed to sleep and now has decided he will no longer let my neighbour put him to bed it has to be boob to sleep or not sleeping at the moment

[clutterbug]

Originally Posted by beckyand3littlemonsters

it has to be boob to sleep or not sleeping at the moment

That is totally nap time here, too...and even then it's a crap shoot! However, the car still works (which is funny, he always HATED the car but has come around in the last few months). So I have been resorting to occasionally driving to the bus stop (2 minute walk ) to pick up the older guy, just to make the little one fall asleep.

[beckyand3littlemonsters]

little horror bit me 3 times and it really hurt ouch he'd fallen asleep so i was trying to unlatch him to get him to bed so i can have my bath

[Fluga]

I've started to feel in the past few days that she's nursing more out of a habit. She has asked for it and then not come to me or then she latched and nursed but was done within minutes, she still took both the boobs that time though. Other times she has asked and nursed for about as long as normally.

I have been hoping that she nurses throughout the pregnancy because I feel that if she weans during it that it'll have been influenced as opposed to being 100% her decision.

[Fluga]

I got curious so I squeezed a drop out of each boob and tasted it. It was salty. No wonder DD commented the other day that the boob tasted like cheesy bread. I thought she had been mixing things up when she said it but suppose not. Thankfully she loves cheese.

[beckyand3littlemonsters]

Think my ds may be self weaning he hasn't fed since last night and hasn't asked for it either not my baby anymore

[clutterbug]

Originally Posted by Fluga 

I got curious so I squeezed a drop out of each boob and tasted it. It was salty. No wonder DD commented the other day that the boob tasted like cheesy bread. I thought she had been mixing things up when she said it but suppose not. Thankfully she loves cheese.

about loving cheese! 

That is really interesting. I have read that salt content goes up in milk during pregnancy.  I am thinking that definitely that's what my son meant when he said it was 'saucy'. :P