Tandem Nursing Tribe - Page 4

[KittyMommy]

Originally Posted by eightyferrettoes

My 18 month old is noticeably skinnier these days, too... I'm hoping he'll fatten up a little once the milky comes back. Seems like all he wants to eat now is banana and pancakes.

DS seemed like he was gaining weight at least as fast as his sister the first couple of months. Great health-wise for him, but MAN did it get hard to carry both kids around really quickly!

[georgia]

Me

I've tandemed now twice, and for a short period of time, triandemed

I'm currently constantly nursing an almost two yr. old and an almost four yr. old. I'm so happy to have found y'all

[eightyferrettoes]

Peace.

[timneh_mom]

Originally Posted by eightyferrettoes

My 18 month old is noticeably skinnier these days, too... I'm hoping he'll fatten up a little once the milky comes back. Seems like all he wants to eat now is banana and pancakes.

I do give cow's milk, though, as un-MDC as that is. He enjoys it, and it's one of the few sources of fat he'll regularly take.

This sounds like my son too. I'm 15 weeks pg now and he LOVES bananas and pancakes... and pb&j's too! Thank goodness for them! LOL He gets cows milk too, but we are a cow's milk drinking kind of family. It seems like even colostrum is a long way off for me... *sigh* But he still wants to nurse 4-6 times per day so that's cool for now!

If you get Adventures in Tandem Nursing, there are a lot of good pictures in there if you're having trouble visualizing how to nurse two at once...

[bigislandmama]

So my ds is officially night weaned. DH tried to help but ds wanted nothing to do with him. I slept out on the couch for one night and it was horrible listening to him cry for his "mamas". I ended up having to cuddle him for about 5 nights when he would wake up and then the last three nights he has been just sleeping right through. Yesterday ds even slept in until 7:45! That was a treat. I have noticed that he has been taking a better nap for me during the day too, which is really nice. Before I could only get him to sleep for a hour if I was lucky and so I would give him two naps. Now he is taking one 90 minute nap and then waking up for some nursies and then sleeping/cuddling with me for another 30 minutes. It has been really nice and I've been enjoying all the extra cuddle time with him.

[honeybee]

I'm a strong supporter of bfip with my babies, but I have to admit I don't bfip with my 2-year-old (let alone tandem) unless absolutely necessary. He just kind of grew out of asking somewhere around 18 mos - 2 yrs. Now he asks sometimes, but I just don't feel comfortable doing so. I just don't want to deal with the comments. Maybe I'll be more progressive when ds2 gets older.

There was a nurse-in in my town last year, and one of my friends got her picture in the paper tandem nursing her two girls. You can imagine the letters-to-the-editor that caused! She wrote a great response to a particularly nasty one. She's my heroine!

[JessC]

Hi ladies...
I have an 8 mo baby... and I am about 6 weeks pg with the next one.... Lots of questions, of course.
I plan on continuing nursing with DS ... he's not on solids yet, so will he get enough? I read all this about milk drying up at 4 mos pg. Yikes!

[Mama2ABCD]

my 1st was 7 months when i became pregnant with #2. we had just introduced solids, but when i confirmed i was pregnant #1 went on a food strike and continued to exclusively bf for the next few months. i looked up tandeming as soon as i found out i was preg and the most important thing i read was to make sure i drank extra water. i did. and i did not have any problems with supply or nipple sensitivity. that was a perfect pregnancy to nurse through.
my other pregnancy did not go that well as far as supply and sensitivity. despite the amount of water i drank. in my 3rd preg, i had much morning sickness and my supply dwindled. but, the boys nursed throughout the pregnancy. one was already 3, and the other was turning 2, so i didn't worry about them getting nutrition. and the colustrum came in at the end of 2nd tri so they welcomed that! they even gained a little weigth. of course, nothing like when the milk comes in!
the 4th preg, and lost a majority of milk after 1st tri. that's when #3 started showing an interest in solids again. the older boys went from nursing 3x's a day to a lot less (especially duration) as they noticed there wasn't much and they weren't patient enough to work the flow. but, they were 4 and 5 so it was more of knowing they could have it if they wanted. #3 was already 1 1/2 when i got preg with #4, but she kept nursing throughout at any time. and i know she was getting some milk. she self nightweaned within a few months after her 2nd bday. the colustrum came in again at the end of the 2nd tri.

hopefully your pregnancy will be like my 2nd preg.

i wanted to add that in the 3rd preg, i did get dehyrated alot with the morning sickness which is what led to the supply drop and nipple sensitivity. but, in this last pregnancy, i did keep very well hydrated, but the nipple sensitivity was actually the worst of all pregnancy (still not as bad as what other's go through), but nursing my youngest nursling the sensitivity was at a minimum and usually could be solved by drinking a glass of water. i don't know if the older ones i had some natural psychological instinct to turn them away to protect the fetus while it didn't bother me as much with a younger nursling. i'm getting too deep now, and tandem naking is getting in the way of typing so i'm ending this.
water is definitely the key!

[kiwimumtomykidz]

I'm subbing here

I'm tandeming with dd#4 (4 next mth) and dd#5 (11mths). Actually dd#4 was totally weaned until a couple of mths ago and now she wants to nurse a LOT! : Not sure how I feel about it really

Anyways, I'm here and glad to see this tribe. :

[timneh_mom]

Hello all,

Well, this is getting really depressing. The past two days, DS has only nursed twice. He seems to be dropping his morning nursing session, I'm sure it's because I don't have milk anymore and he's just hungry and wants to get on with his day. : It just makes me so sad!! I was SO hoping I'd nurse two, I know he'd still be going if I wasn't pregnant and had milk. :

The nice thing was that he nursed himself straight to sleep tonight, when he was finally asleep, that's when he slipped off. Even if we can keep the nap/night sessions, hopefully he doesn't forget how and will get a nice surprise in February when I get milk again...

[NinaBruja]

i tandem in public

im glad to know that having the oldest outnurse the little one is normal...
mt almost 3 year old is just constantly chasing me signing 'milk' and saying 'boobyboobyboobybooby'

hello everyone

[cheenya]

Originally Posted by eightyferrettoes

Sometimes I try to imagine how I'm going to nurse my newborn and my toddler at once. The logistics of where all these waving arms and legs are going to go boggles my mind. We shall see.

I had problems envisioning this one too. The two positions that worked best for us in the early days were DD (3) laying next to me and DS (newborn) laying on top of her side or back (a very common one for nights) or in a oversized rocker recliner (seriously huge, my feet don't touch the floor when I sit in it, so I sit cross-legged comfotably in it)) with him tucked into the space between her belly and mine. Now there are a lot more positions that will work because DS doesn't need as much help getting latched on. the most common at nights now is me flat on my back with a child in the crook of each arm, but that rocking chair is still more comfortable and I often will put DS in the "football hold" position - especially with the hot weather fewer sweaty bodies all in one pile is better sometimes
I generally avoid tandem nursing in public if at all possible though. I'll NIP either child alone with no problems, but the amount of my chst exposed to nurse 2 at onces makes me uncomfortable, my shirt seriously is usually around my neck, and only 2 of the handful of nursing tops I own are tandem friendly, : annoying since I bought thm with tandeming in mind, but not thinking enough about how it would actually work. Oh well, live and learn I guess

[eightyferrettoes]

Peace.

[cheenya]

Originally Posted by eightyferrettoes

Baby was born on Thursday evening, and the milky came in this morning. Yowch!

Congratulation!! By the way if your DS is nursing a lot (my dd sure did at first) and then suddenly stops nursing for a while (ex. leaves the house with dad, a friend or relative for a few hours) you may suddenly be dealing with engorgement. No one mentioned it to me, and it took me a while to figgure out, so I thought I'd bring it up. I started always keeping a raw cabage in the house to deal with it.

[jillmamma]

I am excited to say that as of tomorrow, I will be officially tandem extended nursing (as in tandem nursing for a year)! My little sweet Michelle turns one tomorrow, and she and her 3.5 year old brother are still going strong. It is getting easier as she and he get older, and has been so worth it!

[damyen's mommy]

jillmamma congrats on tandemning so long that is awesome!!!
eightyferrettoes congrats on the new baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[eightyferrettoes]

Peace.

[Mama2ABCD]

congratulations eightyferrettoes on the birth of your babygirl! And welcome to the world of tandeming
it's amazing how a toddler can suddenly look like he/she head grew 3 times it's size it just a short space of time. and it's really noticeable when you nurse the two together. Big head syndrome!


Jillmamma, happy one year to your dd, and congratulations on tandeming for a year

Timneh_mom, start looking for your colustrum to come in around the 6th or 7th month. that will help tide your little one over til the milk comes in after the baby is born. you'll notice it in your ds's stools...they'll be runny and yellowish green (the runny stools won't last too long). And off topic...the shores of Lake Superior in Luce County is one of my favorite places on Earth!

[ms. pacman]

Hello all, I am another tandeming mama as of 3 weeks ago! I have found it more difficult than I thought it would be to nurse both at once. I find that sometimes I still have the feeling that I want to push my older one away, the same skin-crawling feeling as during pregnancy. But it's not all the time, and mostly just when I'm nursing both at once and she's hanging off the side or slurping. But sometimes I just sit there and sigh and kiss their heads and love what I'm doing. I guess it's all just a roller coaster, isn't it

My older dd still nurses to sleep so naps and bedtimes have been fun
But I think we're gonna survive!

Oh, and her face seems just huge!

[honeybee]

Congrats on the new babies!

I thought we were doing pretty well with the whole tandem nursing, but lately I am hating it. Ds1 has started waking up at night (well, early morning anyway) crawling into bed with us and wanting to nurse. I spend the last 2-3 hours of the morning rolling over between both boys. I am SOOO tired. And I can't seem to get to bed early, either. I get the baby to sleep, but he invariably wakes up within 20 minutes after I get up, which is usually while I'm putting ds1 down. Dh takes the baby, who will not fall back to sleep for dh. Baby either cries or plays happily with dh. Ds1 finally goes to sleep and I lay down with baby, who after a short nursing session decides he's done and just wants to play, but does not want to go back to sleep. I just wish ONE of them would be able to go to sleep without nursing. Ds2 did for awhile, but would always wake up when dh tried to put him down. Now, he won't even fall asleep for dh. And there are times when dh has tried for a LONG time, while I was trying to get ds1 to sleep. (Ds1 used to fall asleep pretty easily, but lately it's hit or miss how long it takes him.) What's more, ds1 has NOT been going down for a nap in the afternoon, and I really miss the downtime. I am one grouchy mama lately.