First, a little background: I have a 2 year old son and a 7 month old daughter, both of whom are nursing. My daughter is on preventative antibiotics for recurrent UTI's, so we all have thrush all the time. I really don't like it, but I can't risk taking her off of the antibiotics; a single UTI would cause enormous problems for her.
Okay. My kids both need me a lot. Most of the time, I feel like the baby should get priority, but I wonder: should my son be the priority some of the time? If I pick my son up and nurse him, my daughter will cry for my attention, even if she doesn't want to nurse. If I hold or nurse the baby, my son will throw a fit at the top of his lungs and climb on me and try to pull the nipple out of his sister's mouth. This is exceptionally painful for me because of the aforementioned thrush. My son has loads of teeth, and it's often painful for me to nurse him, so I find myself more than eager to make him wait. Still, he's just a little guy, despite the fact that he walks and talks and acts like a little four year old in many ways; he needs his mamma just as much as his sister does, so I feel guilty for making him wait, especially when I'm doing it because I'm in so much pain.
If I had a clone, and could nurse both kids at once, my son would comfortably spend 25-45 minutes of every waking hour nursing, plus 1-3 night nursings. My daughter doesn't nurse nearly as much, but given the choice will spend all day in the sling, nursing, sleeping, talking, playing, etc.
It's very difficult for me to nurse both of them at once now, because we don't have a couch, the kids are too big to nurse in our one and only comfortable chair together, and our bed can't be placed anywhere that I could comfortably lean against a wall (I'd be leaning against the windowsill, which is right at the level of my head). I have managed to nurse them side-lying with BooBah on top of BeanBean, but that's very difficult and my son always pushes and kicks at his sister. The perch position doesn't work, because my daughter can't nurse that way and my son's teeth make it *very* painful for him to do so.
So I'm torn. Both kids need me, and while I feel like my son could wait, he apparently feels differently.
What can I do?
Okay. My kids both need me a lot. Most of the time, I feel like the baby should get priority, but I wonder: should my son be the priority some of the time? If I pick my son up and nurse him, my daughter will cry for my attention, even if she doesn't want to nurse. If I hold or nurse the baby, my son will throw a fit at the top of his lungs and climb on me and try to pull the nipple out of his sister's mouth. This is exceptionally painful for me because of the aforementioned thrush. My son has loads of teeth, and it's often painful for me to nurse him, so I find myself more than eager to make him wait. Still, he's just a little guy, despite the fact that he walks and talks and acts like a little four year old in many ways; he needs his mamma just as much as his sister does, so I feel guilty for making him wait, especially when I'm doing it because I'm in so much pain.
If I had a clone, and could nurse both kids at once, my son would comfortably spend 25-45 minutes of every waking hour nursing, plus 1-3 night nursings. My daughter doesn't nurse nearly as much, but given the choice will spend all day in the sling, nursing, sleeping, talking, playing, etc.
It's very difficult for me to nurse both of them at once now, because we don't have a couch, the kids are too big to nurse in our one and only comfortable chair together, and our bed can't be placed anywhere that I could comfortably lean against a wall (I'd be leaning against the windowsill, which is right at the level of my head). I have managed to nurse them side-lying with BooBah on top of BeanBean, but that's very difficult and my son always pushes and kicks at his sister. The perch position doesn't work, because my daughter can't nurse that way and my son's teeth make it *very* painful for him to do so.
So I'm torn. Both kids need me, and while I feel like my son could wait, he apparently feels differently.
What can I do?
poor baby! poor mama! 
to you, baby and mama!!!
