21 month old still nurses all night (some nights)

[rumi]

should i be concerned? what should i do, if anything? in particular, does this mean she's not getting enough food during the day? if they wean by age 2 or 3 shoudln't they at least decrease nursing by 21 months?

just wondering .... i don't really regulate how much food dd eats or when / how much she nurses. i just figure between the two she will get all she needs. but maybe i need to be more proactive???? she is on the thinner side, as people keep on reminding me ...

[AmandaBL]

if they wean by age 2 or 3 shoudln't they at least decrease nursing by 21 months?

If you're doing total CLW, I very seriously doubt that they'll compleatley wean by 3. I don't know if that is your goal, or if that was what you understood to be the age most CLW are done. I've never made it that long, so hopefully more moms who have will chime in, but the average SEEMS to be b/t 4 1/2 - 5 1/2 some longer, some shorter.

[LylasMom]

I think if you are fine with you DC nursing at night, it's not an issue. If the Dr says her weight is fine and she's healthy and you are happy to nurse at night, I think it's great!

[bu's mama]

I was in a similar situation. Dd is very skinny & tall & still nurses frequently at 34 months (minimum 3-4x/day). Food is not an issue & really try to have her follow her own cues on hunger & fullness. We do have 3 meals a day but I don't force anything on her.

She was never a big eater & wasn't interested in food until well after she was a year old. She still has a pretty limited diet (self-limiting), not excited about trying new things to eat, and doesn't eat a large volume of food. She eats 99% healthy foods so I don't obsess too much about it. Like you said, between what she does eat & nursing she's getting what she needs.

She would nurse multiple times at night, sometimes all night, until she was about 2 (I think right after). She is in bed with us, but she just got to the point where she didn't need it at night anymore. Now she'll say what she wants... 'I want milkies', or 'I want to cuddle with you.' I think she's just able to express her needs better.

As long as she's healthy. I wouldn't be too concerned about it.

[TiredX2]

Both of my children nursed through the night at 21 months. (If by through the night you mean no longer than 2 hours between nursings).

We "night-weaned" DD (for 4-5 hours a night) when she was 25 months. She was over 3 before she stopped night nursing (nursed to bed, nursed in the morning before getting up, but not in the middle of the night). She officially weaned at 50 months (4 years, 2 months).

DS is only now (at 3.5) starting to go 2-3 hours instead of 1-2.

If you mean that your DD still does not go more than 30 minutes, I'm sorry

[mom2threenurslings]

It's totally normal for a 2 year old to night nurse. If your child is nursing during the night at 21, 24, 36, etc. months than that it what's normal for your child. Every child is different. There is nothing not-normal about night nursing and in most cases it's a need, not a want. Also, children have different body types. As long as she's healthy, I'd say that she's doing what she needs to do. She knows her body best and will nourish it in the apporpriate way. To me, the last thing I'd want to do if my child was on the "lighter side" and I was concerned would be to cut down on nursing. Nursing is providing her with such wonderful nourishment...the right balance of protein, fats, vitamins, minerals, immune factors, etc. for her.

It's sometimes difficult when people outside of the nursing relationship make comments on "thin" or "fat" babies, saying we're nursing our babies too much/ too little. It's often difficult for us mamas to remember that our children are doing what they need to do to meet thier bodies needs and that young children normally don't starve themselves! It sounds like you're both doing great!

My 27 month old nurses several times during the night and many (sometimes more than 12) times during the day. She loves to nurse!

[rumi]

Originally Posted by LylasMom

I think if you are fine with you DC nursing at night, it's not an issue. If the Dr says her weight is fine and she's healthy and you are happy to nurse at night, I think it's great!

well i haven't checked the chart for some time. i have a question though - what would / should I do in case she IS underweight? would i then have to try to feed her more solids? nurse more? both? any insights? i feel that unless it is really necessary i dont want to disturb our current practice of letting her eat by herself, what/how much she wants (our diet is limited to healthy foods anyway).

[bu's mama]

Originally Posted by rumi

well i haven't checked the chart for some time.

The charts are actually based on formula fed babies so I tend not to put too much faith in what they have to say. I have plotted Hannah's measurements to observe the general trend. When they are this young, it's more about having a smooth continuing trend (vs lots of ups & downs) than where they actually fall on the charts.

Originally Posted by rumi

- what would / should I do in case she IS underweight? would i then have to try to feed her more solids? nurse more? both? any insights? i feel that unless it is really necessary i dont want to disturb our current practice of letting her eat by herself, what/how much she wants (our diet is limited to healthy foods anyway).

IMHO, at this age it's more important to develop healthy eating habits than what their actual weight is. I *really* don't want my daughter to have food/weight issues so I want her to listen to her body as to what she needs. If she wants to eat grapes with every meal for a day or two, fine. Some weeks we'll go through 2 bigs tubs of yogurt; other weeks, we may not finish one. I really want it to be up to her. As long as it's healthy, I let her eat what/how much she wants and most of the time nurse whenever she wants as well.

[rumi]

learned my lesson!

Originally Posted by mom2threenurslings

t's often difficult for us mamas to remember that our children are doing what they need to do to meet thier bodies needs and that young children normally don't starve themselves! It sounds like you're both doing great!

yes, it is! at the times we need it most! so the day before yesterday dd ate very little for breakfast and showed no interest in lunch. so i decide to start "feeding" dd - for the first time in her life i played airplane, etc. she actually ate a substantial amount so i am thinking, okay, this is what we need to do soemtimes. then an hour later, for the first time in her life, she throws up the whole thing and nothing's been chewed. looks pretty much like how it was on her plate, only on the floor.

so we're back to our original track: she eats what she wants, when she wants.

someone else here wrote it's more impt to have healthy eating habits than gain a certain amount of wait and i sincerely hope that is true. because dd certainly eats healthy and has a very positive attitude to food. i just have to find other ways to quell my doubts about her weight. i read in another thread that the doctor recommended growth hormones for an underweight baby .... well there is no way i am going for that!! the only other thing i can imagine to increase her calories is to feed her junk food ... but that can't be right. so like i said, we're back to our old habits.