Nursing Mamas

[doulanichole]

Thought we might be able to get this board moving a bit! Who is nursing? How old is your nursling? Any plans to wean? Plans to tandem nurse?

My ds is 8 months old so I have no plans to wean and would actually prefer to continue nursing and possibly tandem nurse as well. My biggest problem is that my supply tends to take a dramatic dive after the first trimester so I am working hard to build it up. It has happened to me twice before so I am pretty sure it will again. Doing what I can to avoid that though! How about everyone else?

[4Marmalade]

I'm here. My ds is 23 months and is still nursing all day and night. No plans to wean yet but the all-day pregnancy sickness & sore nipples along with ds's struggle with a cold & molars are starting to wear me pretty thin . Other than that my plan right now is just take it one day at a time and see where that leads us. I can't see ds weaning just because my milk changes because he is such a comfort nurser but you never know. Tandem nursing scares me a little but I think if we make it that far it is a definite possibility.

[kathywiehl]

My dd is almost 19 months and still nursing alot. I have a feeling we'll be tandem nursing cause there is no way she's going to go from nursing constantly to weaned in the next 35 weeks. I just hope she can handle sharing her beloved boobies with her little brother or sister.

[dancingmama]

dd is 25 months and only nursing at naptime and first thing in the morning. Our weaning down to this point has largely be initiated by me (and some by her), bit by bit. We night weaned at some point when I couldn't do it anymore (dd was not very happy about that), and we changed bedtime ritual to stop nursing then for various reasons. Other "sessions" dd has dropped herself, like the 3 days/week she goes to daycare -- she used to "reunion" nurse, and then she stopped asking.

Anyway, I digress.... At it's current level, it's no biggie to keep going like this. I'm kind of hoping she'll wean, but I won't force it. Mostly, I'm hoping if she weans, she'll still be easy to get down for a nap (it takes about 60 seconds now!)

[monkey's mom]

Yep! My son will be 3 in Dec. and he still nurses quite frequently. I'm hopeful that he will be able to continue through the pregnancy and then we can tandem with the new baby.

[miamommy]

I am nursing my soon to be 5 year old and there is no end in sight! I have mixed feelings about her weaning during pregnancy, I don't want her to feel like the baby is taking her "nannies" but she is getting so old. I am just going to take it day by day, drink plenty of water and if she sticks around, that will be ok. She is really high needs, so I expected that she would nurse long, though I never really anticipated she would make it all the way to 5 (and beyond!) I do think that it would be a wonderful bonding experience for her to tandem nurse, but then again, what if she is all possessive about it? It's kinda hard to nurse as I am really sensitive, but its not painful to the point where I would wean her. I committed myself to child-led weaning a long time ago, so I guess that it will happen sometime, due to pregancy or not

[Max's Mami]

We are still nursing but barely. Maxi will be 23 months at the end of Oct. and he nurses one time a day usually, sometimes 2x, sometimes not at all. In fact he hasnt nursed since Fri. night and its now Mon. AM.

I am just letting him wean whenever -- I have a feeling he will be pretty much done by the time he turns 2 at the end of Nov. so pretty positive we wont have any tandum nursing which is fine by me.

If he were younger I would be all for it but I am ok with him weaning at 2 years old.

[IntoTheRoseGarden]

I'm here too! DD is 24 mos, and is nurses a lot! Her nursing has actually picked up quite a bit since I've been pg; not more times a day, but longer sessions. Maybe my supply has begun to dip? I had always hoped that she would wean if I got pg, but I don't think that's happening! I am starting to look forward to tandem nursing. Thankfully, I haven't had any pain during nursing yet. Hopefully I can handle the pain when it comes! I can really tell how important nursing still is to dd, and it's the only time she stays still long enough to sit with me!

[Pepper]

I'm here, too

dd is 26 months and nurses quite a bit. I am actually a bit nervous because I've heard that my supply might drop or that I could get sore nipples...neither of which would be good. I'm all for tandem because dd will be almost 3 when the baby is born and will be pretty good with understanding reasoning and sharing. My son was just two when dd was born and for me it was a little too soon. I would have liked a bit more time with him as the baby.

But anyway. I'm glad to have so many other nursing Moms here and hope that we can support eachother through this!

[umsami]

My son just turned one (today!)... and yesterday, I found out that we're expecting a little bro/sis for the guy. In Muslim tradition, we nurse until a child is two years old. It is considered the child's right. Even if it wasn't tradition, I have no plans to wean. (Although, I realize he may choose to self wean.)

The book "Adventures in Tandem Nursing" is a wonderful resource, which I can't recommend enough. I plan to loan it to my OB.

Peace,
Karla

[~Nikki~]

I am nursing my 16 month old daughter, and had planned to let her self wean. But with another baby on the way, who will arrive just in time for her second birthday, I'm considering starting to wean her early. I'm just not so sure about the tandem nursing thing. I've never known anyone that tandem nursed, and I'm sure I'll get a hard time about it from everyone in my life. I plan to read up on it a bit more before I make any final decisions.

I just can't imagine "forcing" my daughter to wean, though. I don't even think I could, so I'm sure she'll be the one making the ultimate decision on weather we will tandem nurse.

[kookaburra]

My ds is 2.5. He's nursing 3-4 times per day. Usually, it's morning, nap time, sometimes in the late afternoon, and then at bedtime.

He's always been a really avid nurser. We night-weaned him a few months ago. At that point he was nursing probably 5 times at night and all throughout the day. Since we night-weaned, he's cut down a lot!

I'm very happy with things as they are now and don't have any plans to make any changes in the near future. I would prefer not to tandem nurse (mainly because I'm afraid it will cause some jealousy issues and I don't want Alden to go back to night nursing), but I don't want to force Alden to give up nursing if he's not ready to.

Right now, we're just taking things one day at a time!

[punkprincessmama]

My dd is 22 months and we are a happy nursing couple I am gently working on night weaning her but other wise no plans to wean. I do plan on tandem nursing also. We are going to a LLL meeting on Monday and I am hoping that they have a copy of Adventures in Tandem Nursing that I can borrow.

Supply Issues - I haven't noticed any problems yet but how would I know? What can I do to prevent this?

[cmili]

My ds is 10 months and has actually slowed down on his nursing over the last month. I work full time so I pump during the day and he used to latch on when I got home and nurse off and on until I left for work the next morning. Then he would nurse all weekend. But lately he only nurse when I get home IF he's hungary. and then he will usually nusre before bed and once or twice during the night, and one more time before I leave for work. He pretty much keeps this pattern on the wekends only instead of pumping he nuses.

So he still nurses plenty but not like before. While part of me misses it, my nipples have been so sore I don't mind the break.

My ob suggested that I think about weaning in the next two months. He didn't really give a reason, and I don't think I'll listen anyway.

Thanks for reading all of that. I didn't realize I was writing a novel till I got done.

[punkprincessmama]

Originally Posted by cmili

My ob suggested that I think about weaning in the next two months. He didn't really give a reason, and I don't think I'll listen anyway.

I wonder why he suggested this? My midwife has not said anything of the sort. In fact she is quite pregnant at the moment and nursing two kiddos (talk about an inspiration!!)

[Karennnnn]

I'm nursing my just turned 4 year old!
I also never thought we'd still be nursing. However it makes perfect sense seeing as how we co-sleep and the number of times he's fallen asleep on his own I can count on one hand.
I haven't felt the need to try anything else at this point; it just works for us.
If and when we move before this baby comes he'll have his own room (we are in a one bedroom house right now), so that may or may not get the ball rolling.
In a way I'm looking forward to his reaction as far as how the milk will change quantity/taste wise for him when the baby arrives. I'm also thinking if he's still nursing it may make the transition easier if he can also nurse. He's old enough now to see that something which was his for 4 years now belongs to someone else, know what I mean?
And he may help with engorgement!!!
So anyhoo, I'm here too!!!
Take care,
Karen

[aja-belly]

that's a good point about him helping with enorgement! he's old enough where you could tell him what you need too. he could even help out during labor.

aja

[Karennnnn]

I'm looking forward to labor in a ton of different ways, many because of him.
I really hope that he will want to stick around. We've been talking about birth and babies and boobies for a LOOOONNGGG time. However we talked about him participating in a wedding for a long time too and that didn't work out lol Of course that's a different kind of situation.
He may help out in early labor prior to my water breaking via nursing, but after my water breaks, my "history" (two whole babies lol!) is that I birth within 3 hours of that.
It's this huge fantasy of mine that he'll be bewildered and amazed and even weep with joy when the baby is born (hehe I know. fat chance but I can dream!), but the reality is he may seriously rebel as his sibling comes out! That is one thing I worry about. I guess we need to plan on having someone there who can keep him occupied if he doesn't want to participate or gets upset. That's a given I suppose though.
Oy, maybe I'll start another thread about almost 5 year olds who participate in a birth.
Obviously you never know how a labor and delivery will go, but this will be my first non induced labor so it could very well last a ton longer than what I'm used to. I can't even wrap my mind around it, me and my just turned embryo from a zygote lmao!!!
Take care ladies,
Karen

[geminimommy]

I don't know if I'll tandem again with this baby, my 3 yo seems to be weaning, he started before I got pg. I tandemed with my 2 boys. My oldest cut back quite a lot when my milk seemed to nearly disappear in the second tri, but then started to pick it back up late in my third tri. He was a big fan of the milk that came in after the baby was born! I have a very cute pic of them nursing together and holding hands.

I found it to be a mostly pleasant experience. Occasionally my oldest would get a bit frustrated when he couldn't have his nonny all to himself, but he'd usually recover quickly once he was latched on and happily nursing and I was able to witness tons of head rubbing and patting and touching between the two of them - it was so amazing every time.

[Sasha_girl]

I'm still nursing Holden, who turned a year old on October 1. It has been sheer agony for about a week, but I'm trying to stick it out. I'm really upping my water intake and am going to begin evening primrose oil. Hopefully that will help.