Anyone due in march still breastfeeding? « Back to Group Discussions

[MissMuffet]

And if so how is that going? My LO is 21 mos and still nurses once for nap time and once at bed time. I cherish our nursing relationship but do not want to tandem nurse (and am worried his nursing sessions will increase again once the milk returns). I have tried weaning him completely but it's just not working. I'm hoping he'll give it up once the new one is born .. but knowing him, it's highly unlikely. Thoughts? Advice?

[Chapsie]

Chances are, when he sees the new baby nursing, he will want to nurse again! My son weaned a good 6 months before his sister was born, but he asked to nurse again when he saw his baby sister nursing. By that time, though, he had forgotten how to latch and got bored of it pretty quick.

My DD nursed for 26 months before we weaned and she still occasionally asks for "oaks" (her word for milk). I am curious to see how she will handle seeing her new sister nursing.

In the meantime, if you stop offering, sometimes the nursling will stop asking. The "don't offer but don't refuse" approach is a gentle and gradual weaning method.

Anytime a woman weans, it should be very gradual and never abrupt (the hormone shift can be unsettling if it is too fast).

Good luck! (And with as tender as my nipples are right now, I honestly can't imagine nursing this far into pregnancy. Good for you!)

[writermama12]

That's a hard one...since you are right about him wanting to nurse more once there is milk aplenty. My DS2 is 20 mo and I cringe through each nursing. I think I may be producing a tiny tiny amount of colostrum now but have been bone dry since the end of the first trimester. I am just going with what he shows me he needs. Right now, he needs to nurse a few times a day and maybe once during the night. I am pretty sure he will want to continue nursing once the new one is here and I am fine with that...I have been assured by friends who tandem nursed that once the milk comes my nursing aversion will disappear and I will be grateful for having weathered it. Breastfeeding is above all (in toddlerhood) a great tool for comfort which will be in demand once mommy is preoccupied by the newborn, kwim?

[velveeta]

My DD will be 3 in March and she hasn't nursed for a couple of days. My body feels relieved, but I do hope she will return to "napper" when Baby comes. My second child weaned during my pregnancy, and I am still sad about that (he has a variety of severe allergies).

I nursed number one and two in tandem. It was very hard, but glad I did bc number one has issues, too. Kids are all so different!

Whatever happens in your family will be right!

[jodieanneanton]

I couldn't see this and not post. Though, this pregnancy I am not experiencing a child still nursing, when I was pregnant with DD2, your experience describes mine to a tee!  And it is HARD.  Nursing through pregnancy made me hate nursing, honestly.  DD1 (then 2 1/2) would nurse before naptime and before bedtime and upon waking in the morning.  It would hurt soooo bad....  It would make my skin crawl.... and I would count down the seconds until it was over.... LITERALLY.  I ended up having to limit her sessions to two minutes on each side.  This is what our nursing sessions looked like by the end of pregnancy (I'll leave the descriptions of pain and frustration out of it ;)):  We would start on one side and I would say, "You can have 'mama' for two minutes." At one minute, I'd give a one minute warning and then when that was almost over, I'd say, "Mama's almost all done."  Then I would count to three and she would stop nursing. Repeat on other side.  Then if there were requests for more, I'd say that 'mama's' all done until bedtime or morning time or whatever.  Then we would have as much snuggles as she wanted to have.  

I did not wean before baby came because I knew that DD1 was not ready.  I had tried to wean on my timetable and it didn't work.  I refused to not be gentle about it, so by the time DD2 came around, she was still nursing.  Once baby came home, DD1 wanted to nurse as much as baby and I stopped with the time limits.  That lasted all of about 1 week.  I couldn't take nursing two like that.  The toddler latch felt so strong and overwhelming and I felt soooo 'touched out.'  I reestablished time limits and things were better for me and DD1.  She ended up weaning 9 months later quite randomly.

I don't know if that is helpful at all, just wanted to share what helped with us.

((HUGS)) It's hard.

[akind1]

I am not still nursing (DD weaned around the 18 week mark) but wanted to chime in on the un-weaning. DS weaned very early in my pregnancy with DD, and I think when she was about 6 months old, tried to nurse again. He couldn't latch. He wasn't sad, I was relieved.

Now, I really miss DD nursing - she's only 14 months - but when I offer, she just pokes and pinches my nipples, and doesn't try to latch. So, oh well. I don't really want to tandem either, BUT she weaned so young, and I'm sad about that. It was totally her though, and not me. Since she was/is so young, I was not trying to wean her.

You can try some other ways to get your LO to sleep - can your DP help? - because trying to nurse 2 to sleep once the baby is born may not be doable - timing wise or maybe logistically. Just a thought. and it might help you on the road to weaning, if you and your LO are ready.

[MissMuffet]

Well now we are down to just one nursing session- at nap time. For the the past week I've offered him a snack right before bed (usually an apple or an orange) and told him that after he finishes, he needs to sleep, no milkies. He eats the snack, plops down, and falls asleep. It's pretty funny. Strangely, it's the afternoon nursing that he's refusing to let go of. I'm fine with that and wouldn't mind continuing for as long as he wants with just one nursing a day, but much as I would love to, I can't do full blown tandeming with my other young'uns to take care of!

Thanks for all your input, I appreciate it.