who's currently nursing?

[JenMidwife]

In the introductions page, I noticed that there are a couple of mamas who are nursing right now. I'm not anymore, but I just wanted to recommend the book Adventures in Tandem Nursing

I nursed dd through my pg w/ ds & felt very conflicted about it & unsure about tandem nursing. The book is great - it doesn't try to push one side or the other, but it has a lot of helpful info & lots of "stories" from moms who've btdt

[dex_millie]

I am still nursing, as I just found out today I am pregnant. My orginial plan was to wean at 2 and then get pregnant. I was also conflicted w/ the idea of tandum nursing and decided that it is not something I plan on doing. Right now I am wondering how to go about weaning DS now, I am hoping it goes ok.

[acp]

dex_millie, I'm in a similar situation. I have great respect for mamas who tandem nurse, but I don't think it's something I'm up for, especially since I'll be going back to work eventually and pumping for the new baby.

DD is currently nursing a lot less than she used to, but we're both pretty attached to it. I'm not sure how/when to wean over the next nine months. I don't want to do it now, but I also dont' want it to happen to close to the new baby's arrival, so that she's dealing with both a new sibling AND loss of the boob - especially since she'll be seeing the new baby nursing.
Maybe I'll try to gradually decrease our nursing and see if we can phase it out completely around December or January? Since she currently drinks cow's milk pretty happily, I'm hoping it won't be too difficult a process.

[katiedidbug]

DS is 21 mos,and we're nursing. I don't see us stopping anytime soon. I'm assuming we'll tandem nurse, and I'm fine w/ that.

[iluvmybabies]

I'm currently nursing my 24 month old dd. I really would like to let her self-wean but I have an irritable uterus and was on bed rest w/ my last 2 pregnancies (starting at ~24 weeks), so I am not sure if I will be able to continue nursing her or not. She really only nurses for naps and then a couple other times a day. So it might not be too hard to 'gently' wean her if I have to. Fingers crossed that I won't have to!

[Bexo]

I am currently nursing my 11 month old son. I am due with baby #2 in April. I haven't decided if I'm going to tandem nurse yet. My son will be a year old at the end of next month and is taking solids well, so I might introduce cow's milk at that point and begin weaning him gently. I expect my milk to dry up around month 4 since that's what LLL says. I know the nutritional benefits of extended nursing, but I've also heard from friends who've nursed while pregnant that it can be physically painful once the milk dries up. Anyone here care to speak on this?

[xiola]

I just found out today that I am expecting. I am still nursing my dd who is 25 months. I plan on tandem nursing as long as she wants to. We shall see.

[JenMidwife]

Originally Posted by Bexo

I've also heard from friends who've nursed while pregnant that it can be physically painful once the milk dries up. Anyone here care to speak on this?

I think it really depends, woman to woman. Maybe you could just play it by ear?

[Jude-a-buddies-mom]

I'm nursing my dd whose is 2. I did not have a plan to wean before and I don't think she is giving it up anytime soon so it looks like we may end up tandem nursing. The kind of odd thing is she weaned from my right side about 4 or 5 months ago so we only nurse on one side. Both my kids have shown a huge preference for the left side. My ds weaned before I got pregnant with dd so I am going into new territory with nursing during pregnancy but I figure I will take it as we go.

[scraphappy-Red]

Originally Posted by Bexo

I expect my milk to dry up around month 4 since that's what LLL says. I know the nutritional benefits of extended nursing, but I've also heard from friends who've nursed while pregnant that it can be physically painful once the milk dries up. Anyone here care to speak on this?

I've nursed through two pregnancies and from personal experience I can tell you that my "white" milk started to change over to the clearer colostrum around 20 weeks. It was completely colostrum by 25 weeks, but by then, both of them were nursing for the comfort and physical connection and didn't care too much about the milk being milk or being "apple juice" as my son used to call it.

I didn't experience pain because I didn't have much milk, instead I experienced discomfort like creepy crawly skin, or tickling that doesn't feel good. I was always able to breath through it, or if it was really bad, put off my toddler for a while until I was able to deal with it.

Like the earlier post, I am a huge fan of Adventures in Tandem Nursing. I recommend it regularly to mothers seeking information about nursing during pregnancy and beyond. Sometimes mothers are turned off by the thought of reading a whole book about tandem nursing, when they aren't sure if its really for them. So what I usually tell mothers is that the first half of the book does a really great job of exploring the concept of nursing during pregnancy, while the second half of the book talks about tandem nursing. So.....if you are pregnant and nursing, but not sure if you are interested in tandem nursing, the book is still worth the read and full of tons of great information...tandem nursing and just nursing during a pregnancy.

Plus...I'm partial to Hillary Flower (the book's author) because I had the privilege of meeting her and chatting with her about this book, and she was awesome. Very kind and down to earth!

Oh yeah...after my long winded post... I am nursing also. My four year old daughter and my two year old daughter. I would like to see my older daughter wean during this pregnancy, but only if she's ready (but boy I hope she is).

[Aimsley9]

I am still nursing my 21 month old dd. Right now she still nurses a lot so I am just going with her lead. I never thought that I would tandem nurse, but I am open to it if my dd wants to.

I am just so exicited to get to nurse her while pregnant. Both of my previous dd's were conceived using clomid. I was not sure I wanted to go on the clomid while nursing so I kept trying to decide if I should wean to get pregnant. I just did not feel right taking something away from my dd that she was so attached to so I kept putting it off, and I am so glad that I did now.

Aimee

[Pregnant_Midwife]

Not now, but I tandem-nursed my first two. I'm another huge fan of Adventures in Tandem Nursing.

[Guinevere]

Yet another vote for Adventure in Tandem Nursing. I nursed through four pg's, but am not nursing this time around. In three of those four pg's, my nursling self-weaned at some point in the pg. The last one didn't, and I happily tandem-nursed her and her baby sister for 13 mos.

My experience with nursing in pg is that it is more or less comfortable at different points. The first trimester was hard for me, b/c my breasts were just sore and sensitive overall, then it got much better and was pretty much fine until late 2nd trimester, when it began to hurt again. I also found hydration to be a BIG key to comfort when nursing and pg. It's important to drink a lot while pg, anyway, but I definitely found the days I'd skimp on fluids to be MUCH more uncomfy, nursing-wise, than days when I didn't.

I also had the "crawling out of my skin" sensations, which are difficult to explain, but very real. I dealt with it by limiting the time duration of nursing sessions so that I could nurse without feeling resentful. So I'd say to my toddler, "We'll nurse until Mommy is done singing the Alphabet song," and then when I finished, we were done for a while. Feeling I had some control over that process was very important to my ability to continue nursing.

To be honest, although I never considered weaning during pg b/c I strongly believe in EN, nursing while pg was definitely something I endured, rather than enjoyed. It was the best choice for my child, but it wasn't exactly fun for me. After birth, though, when my milk came in, having an older nursling was fantastic for taking care of engorgement issues, and I never dealt with any nipple soreness at all like I did with my first, b/c my breasts were already fully accustomed to nursing. That was wonderful! So was the bond between my tandem-nursed children. So I feel it's unquestionably worth it, but for those of you who are committed to nursing through pg, don't feel there's something wrong if you feel internally conflicted about it and are not always enjoying it -- I firmly believe that is extremely normal.

Guin

[SallyN]

*raises hand*

My 21 month old is quite the boob-monkey - she still nurses about every 2-3 hrs, including at night! Ugh. We tried night-weaning a couple of weeks ago and it just did not work - she wasn't ready. Though lately she's been skipping a couple of her night feedings, so fingers-crossed she continues the trend on her own.

I've found that if she is distracted during the day, goes longer than 3 hrs between nursing sessions and I get slightly engorged, THAT is when it's 'ouchie' when she latches on. Once she empties the breast a bit, the pain subsides. Hopefully it won't get much worse than that!!

[LydiaJW]

Still nursing my DD who is about 17 months old. I have never wanted to tandem nurse and was hoping to not get pg til she was 2, but that just wasn't in the cards. I may wean her at 2 anyway, or try the tandem thing...not sure yet.

[RachaelsMommy]

My DD is almost 21 months, and I plan on tandem nursing.


Erin

[smocklets]

I'm not sure if I count here because my 4 year old is down to nursing about once a week, so I don't think he will be nursing much longer. I have been nursing one or two children since 1998. My older two weaned around their 5th birthdays. My milk never dried up during pregnancy, but it did change to colostrum at some point(5 or 6 months I think) and apparently it tastes like strawberries.
I'm also a fan of adventures in tandem nursing!

[MelW]

I have a 2 1/2 year old (3 in November) who is still nursing, though given her pattern lately I suspect she might wean during the pregnancy. I'm not pushing anything right now, though, since nursing since she turned two has been some of the best/easiest time nursing that we have had :

Recently she has been nursing only 2-4 times a day, and some of the nursing sessions are pretty short. She's been commenting that there's less milk in general over the past couple of months, which makes me think that she might quit if it decreases too much. Though I can still spray across the room right now!

I'm another person in the "follow her lead" camp of nursing in pregnancy.

[riverview9]

I'm still nursing my 17 month old about 5 times a day. i figure i might as well continue until he wants to stop but i don't know much about it. thanks for the recommendation on the adventures in tandem nursing book. i'll definately have to get it.

[mamato2boys]

My youngest, who will be 5 tomorrow, still nurses before bed most nights. He's been talking about stopping for a few months now, but it doesn't look like he's quite ready. I just follow his lead. As it's just one time a day, I don't really think PG will affect us much.