Anyone still nursing?

[txgal]

I am still nursing my 19 month old and I am waiting to see a change in my supply since I am into the second trimester, but so far nothing has changed. Anyone noticed a difference yet, know when to expect it, is it all at once or does it just go down gradually? I really don't want DS to wean before he is 2 (in March) so I hope he doesn't mind if the milk dries up for a little while.

[Titus2fam]

I am 17wks and am still nursing my 2yos. I have been nursing for eight years straight and noticed with my last two that they were really attached to nursing even when my milk was pretty much kaput~but I don't know about when that happened.

For the first time I've begun the weaning process without another child to put to breast, and it's been HARD. I started by cutting out day and nap nursings, but we still nurse at night. By nightfall I feel so full! and my breasts are more painful than they've ever been. NO FUN!

Well, it felt good to talk about it, but I'm not sure I was much of a help! (((((HUGS))))) sandi

[Hollycrand]

I am around 18 weeks, and still nursing my 27 mo. The past two weeks, she's been drinking much more rice milk and eating like there's no tomorrow, so I am asking myself if my supply has taken a dive.
Dd still nurses to nap, to sleep and in the morning, but much much less than before. Sometimes it hurts, but since I'm determined to CLW I just get through it.
Not too many people know I'm nursing while pg, so it's great to be able to be 'open' here!

Are any of you increasing your food intake to compensate providing for two (or more?)?

[mamatoady]

i'm almost 16 weeks and still nursing my 3 year old.my milk dried up almost immediately and she could care less. I wish she'd quit already,but i think i'm the one who's going to have to make the changes...she's to much into the habit of it.

sarah

[PinkSunfish]

I'm still nursing my 19 months old. I think there is a lot less milk than there used to be but she is still nursing like anything.

I am ready for her to quit now but not keen to forcibly wean her. She has been dropping nightime and afternoon feeds though so I am hopeful that this is the begginning of the end so to speak. I had planned to continue until she was two but I am finding pregnancy and nursing very draining and I do not want to tandem nurse if I can at all help it.

I think she mainly nurses for comfort because she eats non stop all day and the feeds feel like comfort feeds. She gets very angry if I try to refuse her though.

[RaRa7]

I am still nursing my 30 month old ds.
He wass till nursing ALL the time until I was about 15 weeks and sudddenly he's only nursing to sleep and in the morning!
I can't express any milk but he says it's there????
I also think he just nurses to soothe at this point and doesn't really care if he's getting any milk or not.

[Black Orchid]

Nursing mama here too! My DD is down to nursing after waking and before sleeping- 4 times a day. I actually feel like I have more supply than before. It seemed to dip at first but now I feel HUGE! I ask her if she is getting milk and she says yes and I can hear her swallowing... Its getting uncomfortable, though and I've been cutting the sessions short. I figure she'll have lots of time to make up after the baby comes and its more comfortable.

The biggest thing I am looking forward to is not having to go through the sore nipples again! When this baby is born I'll have been nursing for nearly three years and I'm hoping that I will avoid engorgement and nipple sensitivity in those early days. Man was that bad last time!

[giarose]

I have a 19 mo old as well but he's not nursing much anymore. only trying maybe once a day now. My supply dipped dramatically immediately upon getting pregnant (that's how I knew something was up...). It would always dip when I ovulated as well and so I took herbs to increase my supply, but nothing this bad. ds was pretty angry and upset at first, he was still nursing around 6x/day before I got pregnant. He would keep his sippy cup full of water nearby and grab that after waiting forever for milk to come out. My dh started watching after ds in the mornings so I could get some extra sleep and he would give him milk instead of letting ds wake me up. and since ds is soooo into daddy these days, he just kind of let go of the first nursing of the day which has led to his weaning more or less. But, like I said, he still checks in on me once a day or every other day and nurses to see if anything is coming out. I imagine he'll start nursing again if and when something does.

[lmonter]

I'm still nursing my 2yo. Not as much as before I got pregnant, but he's still nursing a few times a day. I think he may be slowly weaning himself anyway, and I'm proud he's nursed so long - especially with people around me making passive snide comments about it.

[eilonwy]

my 36 month old is nursing infrequently-- 2-4 times/week. BooBah, my 16 month old, has totally weaned. BeanBean says that there is no milk when he nurses, but he really doesn't care-- he's always been strongly attached to his nursies. BooBah was never a comfort nurser, she nursed for food and when the food was gone, she wasn't interested. Now when I ask her if she wants to nurse she says, "no" and walks away. It's a total change from BeanBean, who always wanted to nurse. I can remember him holding a bottle of soymilk right next to my breast and trying to get both nipples into his mouth at the same time, poor kid. If I could have afforded a SNS, I'd have bought one for him even though he was older. He just physically and emotionally needed to nurse, and I felt wretched when he didn't get much milk.

BooBah is all good, though. She's digesting her food (has been for some time, her brother was fully 18 months old before this happened), growing, and happy with things the way that they are. She likes to snuggle with me, but she's just not interested in nursing.

[AtThePark]

Add me - still nursing my 28 month old - between the two of us we have cut down - my supply has dipped (if ds naps in the car and we don't nurse all day I'm not at all engorged) and due to pain and justthe food thing I've been trying to limit him a bit.

Gosh if I tried it 4 or 5 months ago it wouldn't have worked, butnow I can tell him before sleep that we'll nurse now and in the morning - and after nursing a bit I tell him "ditty" is sleeping and he'll snuggle next to me and fall asleep without nursing.

So we still nurse upon waking - for naps when we're home and at bedtime - with other times sprinkled in between when required. We've been having busy days out a lot and DS will nap in the car and I'll park it and read a good book - so with that a few days a week we are cutting down.

I'm not opposed to tandem nursing if that's what my son needs, but I was getting faint after nursing with this pregnancy - I just simply can't seem to get enough food into my body - I was a healthy weight to begin with - but we are very very active and my metabolism has been zooming for a while.

My ds will also be almost 3 when this baby arrives - I know lots of people say the tandem thing hleps, but I just think it might mean 12 triggers a day for my ds and I'm not sure I'll be able to do both - again the calorie thing - even while just bf'ing my son for the first 6 months or so I had to be so careful about eating, I was loosing weight and really felt like I spent a good part of my day consuming food. I eat a ton of healthy whole foods, and they take time to prepare and eat - maybe I'll start on a junk food kick LOL! I was down to my pre-preg weight at 6 weeks last time and let me tell you if you had seen the copious amounts of milk coming out of me -it was shocking! I had to pump becasue I was running a fever and wean myself from pumping and then toss gallons of milk because my ds never took a bottle.

Hey - maybe I will encourgae ds to keep going - at least until all that stablizes (although I can't imagine having that much milk again - ds was a breech c-sec and with this one - a planned HBAC - I think my body might be a bit more tired than it was the first time around).

[PinkPixie]

DD is still nursing 2 to 3 times a day. Some days she has only asked to nurse at bedtime. She is getting less interested. And, as during all my pregs, my boobs are sensitive and nursing is a little uncomfortable.

[BetsyPage]

Still nursing my 23 month-old... my supply dropped but it seems to be improving now. I fully expect to tandem nurse, which is GREAT b/c I had OAL and over-supply with dd, so I'm hoping if it's a problem again dd can help me "manage" it.

[ktkb]

Still going here--day and night. DD is 16+ mos. Not sure how my supply is, but I do know that I have milk (25 minutes worth? you'd have to ask her , right after you pry her off : ).

Some days it hurts a LOT--for some reason much more when I am lying down, and since we nurse in bed before nap, before bed, and 2-4 times per night, it's been hard. Tonight I actually turned out the lights, banished dh to the spare bedroom, and nursed on the couch. Much less painful--maybe the angle of her mouth?

I'm hoping she stays interested--and that I have milk; I wanted to nurse her to age 2 minimum.

[azzuranotte]

DD, 19 months, is still nursing most of the night, but usually just once during the day. Just the last week or so it has become really painful. I'm trying to cut down all the night nursing. I'd be happy with once a day, before bed, and in the morning.

I'm also a little concerned that I'm not eating enough. I really haven't put on any weight yet and I was at a healthy weight before getting pregnant.

For now I'm just going to try cutting out the middle of the night nursings and see where it goes from there.

[KKmama]

My milk is gone, gone, gone. I don't know why this is happening now--my milk didn't disappear last time till I was 6-7 mos. along. Z is super mad, it's been a hard transition, a pretty abrupt weaning. I'd let him continue "nursing", except he's so upset about the milk being gone that he's cried as long as 2 hours the last few times he's tried. I'm just hoping that he thinks about picking it up again when the new baby is here. Sigh. This is why I wanted to wait another year before having another baby... I really like the 3 year spacing between T and Z, and I feel like Z is getting shafted out of a year of his babyhood.

[Tracyn]

Still Nursing

DS is 29 mos and still going. He's only really interested when he's tired (nap...if a nap actually happens, and at night). For me, however, I am VERY sore (nipples). I have started trying NOT to respond to every waking (cosleepers) and last night was the first night (ever!) that he fell back asleep 3 times without the boobie (I think he asks for it subconciously in his sleep!). He nursed to sleep but I don't think there is any/much milk. I can go 18 hours without nursing and no pain or engorgement etc..

The other night (about a week ago), DS was nursing. He stopped and looked at me and started crying, saying "that boobie not working mommy, other boobie please" - it broke my heart, but I must be honest and say that I do not look forward to the soreness in my nipples when he nurses, even when just for comfort. So, if he weaned at this point, I'd be fine if he picked up again when babe #2 is born.

As for eating, I feel like I eat a lot, but have put on about 7 pound total from my pre-PG weight, which was a good weight for me to start at (about 123).

Cheers,

[sciencemama]

Still nursing my 29 month old-- at bedtime, sometimes naptime and sometimes around 5am if she wakes up and rolls over into my bed (her toddler bed is right next to ours). Sometimes she'll go 24 hrs between nursing, if we are out and busy. She says there's still milk but I don't think I believe her! I haven't heard her swallowing since the early second trimester.

The soreness has gotten a bit better (I'm 28 weeks now) as long as I stay hydrated and eat well.

I think I'll be buying the book Adventures in Tandem Nursing sometime soon.

[myniyer]

I feel so much better just reading this thread. I can identify with so many feelings here. DD is 25 mos and although I have virtually no supply left we are still nursing. I've had to limit her drastically from what she used to be used to - we're down to 2-3x/day. Her main nursing is naptime, she can go for 20 or 25 mins and it is just making me crazy. For the first time I think I might be ready to wean her - although I like others wouldn't mind if she picked up again after birth. At the very least I'd want to give her some expressed every day for immunological benefits.

[sept04mama]

DS has weaned! He is only a little over a year, but sure enough, he hates the colostrum that my milk has turned into. I didn't expect this at all. He is totally fine with being done though, and just looks at me weird when I've offered. He just seems so young, so I am having a really hard time with this.

DH says that it's good I was willing to keep going, but shouldn't be so sad that it's over because DS is happy. I guess it's a good point, but I thought you guys would understand my sadness! I plan on spacing my 3rd further out than these 2, so hopefully this next one will get a little longer.