Curious -- How often does your Toddler nurse?

[babygirlsmama]

I find myself stressing sometimes about how often my nearly 16 month old daughter nurses.  I really want to just follow her lead, but she is such an active little one that I fear she would start to wean herself if I didn't step in sometimes and encourage nursing.  Still, she probably nurses at least 10 or some times per day (including night time sessions).  She definitely still nurses to sleep for naps and at night.  She eats plenty of food too, so it seems nursing is becoming more for comfort.  She was exclusively breastfed before we started solids, and she's been a pretty good eater.   

So, just curious -- how old is your toddler, and how often do they nurse?  I'm guessing there is a huge range in this age group.

[averlee]

From birth to age 3, my daughter nursed pretty much every 2 hours! Since her 3rd birthday, she's nursing about 6 times every 24-hr day.

[belltree]

My 15 month old nurses about 6-12 times (10hrs) at night and 3-6 times during the day. Usually if he nurses only little during the day, he nurses more at night. However, nursing more during the day, does not mean he will nurse less during the day. I think he once slept 5hrs in a row, when he was 7 weeks old or so.

[Lizbiz]

My daughter is 13 months old and nurses 3 or 4 times per day.  It's 4 times if she wakes up at night once for a feeding - which is really most nights.  But every once in a while she'll sleep all the way through.  Then she nurses at waking, before afternoon naps, and before bedtime. 

[plantnerd]

My 14 month old nurses an average of 10 times a day.  A lot of it is "snacking" or just kind of play nursing while we cuddle and watch a show or read.  At night, oh man, he would nurse all night if I let him!  We're transitioning out of cosleeping right now and working towards night weaning, so at this point he will sleep till between 3 and 5 am, and then nurse and sleep again until 7.

[remijo]

My LO will nurse on average about ten times a day too (she's 13mo) - alot of these are little snacks but some are longer. She still nurses about 4-5 times a night. She never sleeps longer than 3 hrs at a time and naps (if I'm not sleeping with her) she will only sleep about a 1/2 hour to an hour - then she might wake up to nurse and go back to sleep or she might just get up. 

[DoulaReese]

My 3 year old would nurse 5-7x/day if she had it her way but I am willing to do it 3-5.  

[Addie]

My 15-month-old nurses 3x/day.

[Ldavis24]

my 20 month old (ignore the outdated signature I keep forgetting to change) would nurse constantly if I let her.

In reality I am lazy and generally do not say no to nummas. She nurses at least 8-10 times a day even if only for a couple of minutes.

She is not hugely interested in solids so I don't deny the breast all that often. She loves her "sippeee mama" and she drinks from that 

a lot but still nurses. She barely eats solids and I am torn if it would help if I denied her nursing more.

She nurses maybe 2-3 times at night too. She has been sick for the past 3 days so we have basically been nursing every 2 hours

or so...Sigh.

[D_McG]

My son nursed about 10x day/night at that age. It was too much for us for many reasons. With my daughter I cut us down to 3x day by then. Worked much better for us.

[kohlby]

At 16 months, DD had cut down to just 5 times in 24 hours.  She was at 8 times at 15 months.

ODS was at around 15 times and YDS at about 12 times.  My two boys have sensory quirks and had problems with solids as a result so they needed to nurse a lot.

[crunchy_mommy]

At 16mos, Ds nursed 20+ times a day. Now, at 24mos, he is down to about 10-15 times a day (he did not cut back on his own, that was mommy & daddy-led, and we just partially nightweaned him so we can get 5-7 hours straight of sleep!)

[Asiago]

My son is 15 months and I would say 20+ within 24 hours.

[OdinsMommy0409]

My 22 month old DS nurses anywhere from 4-10 times during the day and an additional 6-10 times during the night. He still requires nursing to fall asleep and always nurses upon waking. 

[thedenverduo]

DS is 18 months old and he nurse 5-7 times in a 24 hour period... he never really snack nurses though, when he nurses it is for 15-20 minutes and he is all business. (:

[fruitfulmomma]

Your dd sounds about normal for that age. My current nursling is 26mo. She is very active but will also come find me for snacks throughout the day. She usually nurses for longer about 2-4 times a night, when she wakes up, when she naps (not every day), and at bedtime.

[BeezeLueez]

My 13 month old nurses 4-5 times a day, only at naps, bedtime and once in the early early morning, for max 10 minutes, he's very busy!  I'm thankful to have this because we had a very rough start to nursing and it's the best it's ever been :)

[momma besuwi]

My son (2 years 4 months) would nurse every single time his 3 month old brother nursed if I let him.  He asks all.day.long.   And he does not take "not right now" for an answer.  *sigh*  My daughter (now 4) was SUCH a patient and pleasent tandem nurser.  But the 2 year old is not patient about anything.  I'd say, on average, he nurses 8+ times a day.  Sometimes for several minutes, sometimes for 5 seconds.

When I had my last baby, the 2 year old did really well with sharing Milk and didn't ask all to often...at first.  But for the past 3 weeks or so he's begging constantly.  He is a little under the weather so I"m sure that has a lot to do with it.  I hope he slows down soon, I am feeling very toddler-touched out right now.  On the plus side, I am producing a LOT of milk!  haha

[bluegrassbonnie]

My 17mo dd nurses every 2-3 hours.  I usually take her upstairs to our nursing spot and feed her.  She does not eat that much in the way of solids so I feel it is important.  She will ask occasionally, but usually I just look at the clock and feed her, same as always.  I look at the clock to feed my 4 yr old his meals so it is the same to me.  My son weaned as my supply decreased when I got pregnant (done by 28 mo.)  I hope she will continue longer.

[arounds]

my youngest child is going to be 2 on Saturday and she nurses all the time : ).  I think we're going through her second infancy. 

Remember the research also indicates that it's best for a  child to nurse until at least 2 years and up to 5 years.