Who here is still nursing?

[Ravenmoon]

I am nursing my 2 1/2 year old still.I have to admit i am having a major problem wanting to continue.It hurts so bad.It got better for a few weeks but now the pain has returned.I'm trying to figure out if i can keep going.How are you all getting through it?

[Marysmama]

Hi, Ravenmoon, just dropping in from the Jan. board. I am still nursing my 20 mo dd. I have had the same experience as you've had. Lots of pain in the beginning and then it was better, now the pain is back.

I know for sure my milk is going away. And my dd all of the sudden decided to sleep through the night at around 13 weeks. So no more night nursing. We are down to 2x per day. I really don't think she's getting anything at all.

How am i getting through it? Gritting my teeth and breathing really deeply when she latches on. It's so painful. I want to quit too. Though, it is my intention to quit before the next one is born. I don't want to tandem nurse.

Though, I've heard of several moms that have continued to nurse throughout pregnancy with few problems. I hope some of them will post.

Good Luck

[eminer]

Me, too. The pain could be a lot worse -- it only hurts when she first latches on and if she unlatches carelessly. But it's sometimes irritating and unpleasant, so I've been putting her off a lot more. Also, I can't seem to sleep through it (which I always did pre-pregnancy). So I usually end up telling her we can do a "medium nurse," then I want to go back to sleep on my tummy, or just cuddling.

[crayon]

How am i getting through it? Gritting my teeth and breathing really deeply when she latches on. It's so painful. I want to quit too.

I second this one too! But, I dont want to stop- even if my boobs think they want to ;) DD is way way not ready right now to stop- It has gotten better the last 2 weeks, and I noticed if I dont have a bra for about an hour before I nurse it is less painful.

I dont know what is going to happen, I hope I can keep my milk supply up, but I hear the second tri it tends to dry up! Right now it has dropped a ton, but still have some. I dont want to dry nurse!

Hang in there!

[Finnsma]

I'm nursing my ds who turned 2 last month. It's also very painful for me when he first latches on or if he pulls off roughly. OMGosh the other day, he fell asleep while nursing and something startled him and he bit down HARD on my nipple. I literally screamed that god aweful blood cuddling scream. Oh it was bad. And my nipples are soooo incredibly sensitive even seatbelts bother me! Still wear them of course but man it drives me nuts when anything even brushes them! I had the same during ds's pg. I nursed dd through his pg and tandemed for about 20 months. I really feel that tandem nursing really helped dd with the transition and brought them incredibly close. It's mostly because of this and that I know ds is not ready to wean that I keep going. I know it'll pass...

It was so funny, at 28 weeks during ds's pg, dd came off the breast and said, "MMMMMM YUMMY!" My colostrum had come in! LOL She gained like 8 pounds in a little over a month! :LOL

Hang in there! :hug

[Momica]

My dd is 28 mos. and still wants "nursie" Morning, Naptime and Before Bed...luckily i do not have much pain...except mentally since it would be nice to have my breasts back! (she actually grabbed one and said "MINE" last week!!!) I am wondering what &/or where you are having pain? Is it the teeth or the suction ?...there must be a solution...nothing this precious should cause you pain...let me know...

[Patchfire]

Dd was nursing one-two times a day before; now it's down to once every day or two. I had some pain awhile ago but it's not so bad. I have it on good authority that they are making less milk, though. :LOL I don't know if she'll keep nursing or just gradually stop. I have a feeling I'm going to wake up one day in a few months and not remember the last time she nursed. I'm not sure how I feel about that!

[Finnsma]

I think the pain is just from hormones causing breasts to be extra sensitive. I know with my 2 it's not because their latch has/had become bad or anything else has changed... just the hormones. :eyesroll Fortunately it's just at initial latch for me or if he pulls off too quick/roughly. I don't think I could handle it if it hurt the entire time.

[mimim]

I'm still nursing my 28 mo DS. It's still really important to him and he asks to nurse anywhere from 3 to 8 times per day. It's really painful for me, so I distract or delay him a lot lately. I'm determined to tandem nurse if that's what he needs, though. I'm going to start going to LLL meetings for support.
For now though, I try to relax and breather deeply while he latches on. I figure it's good practice for labor. ;)

[muse]

I'm nursing my 2.5 yr old, but with all the morning sickness and exhaustion I had to ease up and he now seems to have spontaneously cut down to once a day. I don't know why but it's not at all painful yet. I do think there's less milk though; he nurses for a very short time.

[welldone]

Dry nursing is not fun. I've been doing it for a while, as my 22-month-old still nurses about once a day. My milk has been gone for months, even before I was pregnant; we're not sure why. There were still drops before this pregnancy, I suppose, but now it's totally gone. My breasts are sooooooooo sore, and I really don't look forward to nursing. It is not my intention to tandem nurse, but I have no desire to stop nursing prematurely, either. New baby's not due until March, obviously, and Maya's been slowly weaning herself. I hope it happens naturally.

If not...then I don't know what we'll do.

[Ravenmoon]

Dry nursing makes me cringe and shudder.

I still have milk but the pain is :guilty

I nursed my son until i was 7 months pregnant and one night i said it hurts mommy too much and he stopped.That was it.He never asked again.But he is exceptional.My dd now is totally different and freaks on me if i say to stop please.This transition will be hard but i will keep at it until we are both happy.

It's good to know i am not alone but sad to know the pain doesn't stop.

[CityGirl]

I'm nursing my 3-year-old dd. It hurts. Quite a bit. Like someone is inserting a long, thin needle all the way through my nipple into my breast. I say no a lot, I tell her it hurts, and she understands. Once a day I make myself say yes. I'm hoping it gets better in the second trimester.

[EMZ]

My 3 yr old just weaned about a month ago. I'm 11 weeks now so I was only 7 weeks when she nursed for the last time.

It was not painful, it was excruciating pain! I felt as though my breast were being slammed in a window. When I was awake, I could "zone out" and grin and bear it as it was only during the "latch on" that I felt the pain. However, in the middle of the night, when she'd latch on while I was still asleep, I could not control myself from screaming out. I screamed so loud I believe I woke half the neighborhood.

My daughter, sadly, has not nursed since. I have offered it to her and she will say yes but as she approaches she backs off saying she doesn't want to. I tell her it will be ok, but she doesn't want to hurt mommy. We talk about it, she tells me she misses it and I tell her that if she'd like to try we can, but she doesn't, so though I miss her nursing I don't miss the pain.

We have found other ways to be close. Sometimes, when she's feeling really "needy" she'll ask me if she can "hold it" (meaning my breast). I have no problem with that and she'll put it against her face, close her eyes, and sometimes make movement with her mouth as though she is nursing but she's only "pretend nursing."

It is sad, but we are getting through this together.

[rad]

My DD just stopped nursing about 4 weeks ago. :( I was honestly really surprised since she's only 14 months and we had been nursing so frequently. She started acting like I was feeding her vinegar, like my milk tasted bad. Then she just stopped. If I offered it to her, she'd get really upset. I feel really bad. I really had hoped she'd nurse alittle longer. It was getting really painful, but I miss it now.

[sm3247]

Just a few months ago DS was nursing like a newborn - up to 12 times a day. I kept track and was trying to cut down because I was afraid it was preventing my getting pregnant. it wasn't working very well (the weaning) and I got pregnant anyway but the funny thing is that he is now down to 3-4 times a day and only nurses for a few minutes at a time. I was afraid he'd never self-wean but he seems to be well on his way.

[SunniB]

just joining! I'm due on March 28th and am still nursing my 13mo dd. I have had some pain on an off and I keep going back and forth as to weather I want to continue to nurse through the pregnancy or try to ween. I am trying to cut back to just bedtime, naptime & morning. I was hoping she might think about stopping on her own, as my milk has gone WAY down, but she just loves her 'yum yum' and doesn't seem even close to self weening. I guess I'll just play it by ear and see what happens... I just don't know if I can do the tandem thing. :2tandem :flipped

[RedWine]

Dd basically self-weaned a month ago...and I have to admit, I am glad she did. I loved nursing her, but she was at the stage where she would never be still and nurse. Instead, she would latch on and twist herself in a million different directions just for kicks...

Now that I'm 13 weeks into this pregnancy, my breasts and nipples hurt like mad and I am SO grateful she's not on them, twisting away. I am also very grateful she weaned on her own timetable, so there was no drama or fuss.

[puddinnpeanut]

Another nursing mama here! I think my 3 1/2 year old is done, it has been about 3 or 4 weeks since she has asked, although she has gone a month before and then surprised me and asked to nurse again! However, my almost two year old is still nursing about three times a day! Morning, nap and bedtime and yes it is painful! In the morning I do this really deep gasp thing when he latches on, I'm sure you can hear the sound! AAHH! But I'm hoping he will self wean as his sister has done, although the pregnancy may end up weaning him. I feel like he is nursing less, either for shorter length of time or sometimes skipping. We will see...hang in there mamas! I never in my wildest dreams thought I would nurse through pregnancy and go on to tandem nurse and now I'm doing it again!:raz

[muse]

hmm, i wonder why nursing is still not painful for me? i guess i should be happy!
Ds is down to 2 times a day, but has actually gone 2 whole days without nursing; the first two days of his life! It makes me sad, but he seems to be forgettign about it a bit. I guess I should enjoy the break, but i worry that if he skips a few days the milk will disappear and not be there when he wants it again.

[pixiemama]

I am still nursing my just turned 2 y/o...but she is self weaning! She is completely night weaned now by her own choice and is down to 2-3 nursing sessions a day. I am a little happy that she is weaning b/c nursing is a little irritating to me, but it's not hurting. At the same time, I'm sad b/c I know one day she will just forget to nurse and that will be it. :(

[Finnsma]

I think I posted before about my 24mo ds nursing upwards of 8x a day! He's now down to just 1-2 times a day! Maybe it's that there's so very little milk left... I'm a little worried he'll wean, I really liked tandem nursing dd and ds... but it'll all work out. It is nice not to have him constantly attached to these VERY sensitive and tender breasts! But at the same time I don't feel quite ready for him to wean!

[mimim]

Just wondering how all the nursing mamas here are doing.
Still sticking in there?

We're still going strong, although DS has cut back to about 2 or 3 nursing sessions a day. I still have a bit of milk and it seems to be tinged slightly yellow. A bit of colostrum already, I'm thinking. My nipples are also a little bit less sensitive, so nursing is more tolerable, although still very uncomfortable.




btw, forgive all my fragment sentences. :D

[Patchfire]

We're still nursing. Dd only nurses at night, though, and only every two or three days. I did notice today, actually, that I can't express any milk now, even though I could just a couple of weeks ago. It *looks* like there is milk there, I can 'see' white under the nipple, but it's not coming out. I'm wondering if it's transitioning to colostrum.

Thankfully, I've not had any nipple pain aside from just a couple of times. She's horribly lazy with her latch, now, so I think that was the problem both times.

[srmina]

Missed the first time this thread was going...

I pumped for my dd the first two months I was pregnant. She cannot take liquids orally, so I have always pumped for her and then given her breastmilk down her feeding tube. I was pumping about 26 ounces a day before I got pregnant (still had to pump during the night too); this slowly dwindled until I was only getting an ounce a day by the start of my third month. With pumping it is even more difficult to maintain supply, so I really had no choice but to stop. :( Too bad. I HATE the fact that she is now on formula. That stuff is nasty. Well, at least she got 13.5 months of breastmilk!

If you think nursing hurts when pregnant, try a hospital grade breast pump! OUCH!!!!!!!!

[eminer]

If you think nursing hurts when pregnant, try a hospital grade breast pump! OUCH!!!!!!!!

Ok, you win!



My dd is down to nursing maybe 3 times a day, and those are usually very brief. She'll come up and tell me somewhat sadly -- mostly mock sadly -- "Nope, no milk." I made the mistake of telling her I was going to get some new orange milk eventually (I've been carefully avoiding connecting this milk crisis with the baby, though). So about 15 minutes later, she said, "Do you have orange milk yet? I want to check."

As much as I hate it, I guess there must be something to this nature thing, because our relationship feels like it's changing. I remember still worrying just a little bit, a few weeks ago, about things like how they would both fit right next to me in bed. Dd found out that tiny babies don't eat food, they just nurse a lot, and she informed me that she didn't want to share my breasts. I spent a lot of time sort of dreamily enjoying her remaining babylikeness. Now she's become more like a co-conspirator, and she recently (without our having talked about it since the first time) announced that she's decided she will share my breasts, after all.

[pixiemama]

DD is down to one nursing session a day when she remembers to nurse. It's just so...strange for her not to be nursing anymore. I don't even think she misses it. She has traded in the nursing for extra cuddles though, so I don't mind. :)

[meant2beamom]

I'm also nursing my daughter, who is 2 yrs 4 months. We're down to once a day now, at naptime. For me it's not so bad if I'm sitting up; I had to night wean her because it was way too painful to nurse her while lying down. Same as with my son, I had to night wean at around 4 months.

However, my daughter was recently sick and so I nursed her if she wanted to in the middle of the night. Last night she was better, but has gotten used to nursing in bed again. So I tell her she can nurse for "one minute", which usually turns out to be more than one minute, but she's happy with what she can get. I know it's a comfort thing as I never hear her swallowing and don't think she's getting any milk!

Barb