New here, and who else is nursing a toddler?

[Mindy70]

Hello, everyone

I have a 25mth old dd and am expecting #2 June 13th, 2005. Very nervously, as I had a blighted ovum in December. But I saw a strong heartbeat last week, and all seems well.

I am still nursing dd, who totally loves and depends on her "nummies" Especially in the morning, when she wakes up from a nap, and sometimes to go to sleep at night. Nursing is still totally important to her, and I enjoy the special connection, too. Nothing better than making all right with the world in her eyes when she gets her nummies.

However, nursing is getting painful, and I would also in some way like a break before #2. I am trying to limit the number of nursing sessions during the day, but sometimes nothing else but nummies will do, though we do plenty of cuddling.

Anyone else in the same boat? Any feedback?

Thanks, everyone.

[kathywiehl]

I'm still nursing my toddler. Madelyn is 19 months and she loves her boobies! Just the other day walking through walmart, she spotted the bra section and got soooo excited. "Boobies, Boobies!!!!" and She was pointing at mine and trying to lift my shirt to show me!

It will be a miracle if I get a break before this baby comes, lol!

[~Nikki~]

I'm still nursing my 16 month old, but hoping to wean before the new baby comes. It's getting painful, she's started biting again, and I really can't see myself as a tandem nurser.

What I've been doing lately, is when she tries to lift my shirt to have some milk, I'll get her a cup of milk instead. I'd say about 99% of the time, she's fine with that. I still nurse her in the morning when she wakes up, and before bed. I'm hoping that she'll self wean, with my encouragement, before the new baby is here. If not, I'll continue with the morning/bedtime nursing until she's ready to give it up. I'd feel bad taking it completely away from her before she's ready.

[mamabike]

I'm still nursing my 24 month old and baby #2 is due June 25. Kieran is still nursing 6 times/day - but two months ago he was nursing every 2 hours around the clock so this is much improved. It is starting to become painful, especially when the letdown hits. I wonder if this is as painful as it will get, or will it continue to get worse as the pregnancy progresses. I've noticed it doesn't hurt as much if I'm well fed/hydrated. Makes sense :)

[Pepper]

I'm joyfully nursing my 27th month old and will do so as long as she wants to. I cherish this special part of our relationship and am looking forward to tandem nursing...I imagine I will feel like a Mama-Goddess ;)

I have noticed that my nipples are a little sore but nothing too bad so far. That reminds me that I should get out my trusty old tube of Lansinoh to help with that. I :love that stuff!

One thing I am worried about is being away from her if I chose to birth at the hospital--she nurses to sleep at night, for naps, first thing in the morning and about 6-8 times during the day. How in the world is that going to work..??? I guess I have a few months to figure it out.

[kathywiehl]

One thing I am worried about is being away from her if I chose to birth at the hospital--she nurses to sleep at night, for naps, first thing in the morning and about 6-8 times during the day. How in the world is that going to work..??? I guess I have a few months to figure it out.

I'm pretty worried about that myself. I'm not planning on having this baby in the hospital but if I change my mind or need to transfer, I have no idea how Maddie will handle it. She is a total addict! I'm even worried about labor, like what if I have a long labor and don't want to be touched. What will she do if she can't nurse? Mike says he'll just offer her a cookie and she will be fine, which is true. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that either, but I guess we'll do what we have to, huh?

[Selissa]

i am still nursing my 21 nth old ds and have no plans of quitting. we are havign a homebirth...so really if i had to transfer..ds not being able to nurse much would be only one aspect of the nightmare. lol

[Katiemare]

I *think* that we are weaned now-- DS is 30 months and I too would enjoy a break. By 24 months we were down to one or two short nursings to get to sleep. I decided to have a discussion with him about it-- about how much longer he thinks he will nurse, if he would like to have a cake and nurse only one more time etc.

He actually said to me, "sometimes I don't like mammamelk." I said that then he shouldn't have to have it everyday. He went one full week without and then one night said he needed it. That was on Thursday. Two nights ago he fell out of bed and didn't ask for milk- I was shocked. We'll see how it goes . . .

I am a little worried about all the big changes in his life-- weaning, potty training and now becoming a big brother (haven't told him yet since we haven't yet told the rest of the family. Probably at eight weeks we will).

Peace!
Katiemare due last week in June.

[cmili]

I'm nursing my son. He's not a toddler, only eleven months. It is becoming really painful. Also, he still night nurses alot. That is really the only time he "has" to nurse. It is really wearing me out since I work full time and am not getting a good nights sleep. I was doing okay till the pregnancy tiredness set in. I'm not sure how we'll go from here. I'm thinking about night weaning, but that will almost end his nursing and I don't want that. Taking it day by day.

[mamabike]

:hug to cmili.
Has anyone else read Hilary Flower's Tandem Nursing book? What an eye opener! Pain, agitation, nausea... :eek

I too am worried about separating from ds during childbirth. He is so very shy and is not happy with anybody else other than myself or dh (dh for about 2 hours at a time). Ds loves my Mom, but we have moved and now she is an 8 hour flight away. I hope my little man will be better about being away from his mama in 8 months time.

[Clarity]

I don't really know how to nightwean without totally weaning - do people really manage that? My recently turned 3yo is an intensive nurser. I'm worried it might get too much for me, but then the chances are about even that I might lose this baby halfway through pregancy - so for dd, and in case we adopt, keeping lactating might be a good idea. It's very hard! I just keep hoping for the best. And then I'm not sure about juggling a tandem nurser.

[miamommy]

I am nursing the oldest kid out of the lot, she just turned 5 :nut We never night weaned. She still wakes up once in a while for a quick "nanny" and then I whisper "roll over" to her and she lets go and rolls over and snuggles against my tummy. I am about 11 weeks now, and the nursing pain has almost completely disappeared. I made a commitment to child led weaning a long time ago so I am glad that she is still nursing while I am pregnant, I don't want her to feel like she is being "kicked off" nanny to make room for the baby, though I have no idea how she would actually handle tandem nursing!

She is older than your kids/toddlers, so she is much more cognitive of the idea of losing her only child status and she is having a little bit of a hard time with it. But, for those of you who want to continue nursing, I will say that nursing from 2-3 was the most enjoyable year for us (of course we weren't tandem nursing so I have no idea how that would affect it) and the pain has almost completely subsided as I get closer to the end of the first trimester. :)

[Mindy70]

[QUOTE=Clarity]I don't really know how to nightwean without totally weaning - do people really manage that? [QUOTE]

Yes, they do :) I nightweaned her at around 16 mths, and she still nurses alot during the day. But now from the time she falls asleep until 6 AM, no nummies. It helped her sleep through the night, too.

[Clarity]

How did you do it Mindy?

[Mindy70]

http://www.drjaygordon.com/ap/sleep.htm

Used Dr. Gordon's gentle night weaning method. The first five or so nights, she was not happy, but I was there to hold and comfort her. AFter that, she started sleeping through the night pretty much from 7:30 PM - 5 AM. Now I am getting her off that 5 AM nursing, I have had enough :lol

[Clarity]

My sister and my friend both did it that way, but then they kept going back when the kids got sick and they'd have to start all over. (which is how, despite years of reading about nightweaning here, I've gotten suddenly a little dubious...) How did that work for you?

[Mindy70]

You have to stay consistent. I think she was ill once when I very first started, so I tried again later. But after that, she did not expect to nurse at night, and I didn't offer it. She had the usual colds, ear infections, etc., but I guess I was able to get her back to sleep by just cuddling. But I hear if they are sick, and you do nurse, you just need to do the program again when they are well.

[mamabike]

We also used the Dr. Jay Gordon program with good results. Only we took about a month to do it (ds was 22 mos old) rather than the recommended 10 days. It really wasn't very stressful at all. Ds only fussed about 2 nights. He still nurses 6X/day but no na-na-nurse from 8pm to 5:30am. We all sleep much better. Good luck

[cmili]

Thanks for the link. I'm teacher so I think I may give a shot over Christmas break so if it does ended up meaning a few nights of less sleep I won't have to go to work the next day.

[cmili]

I didn't see it mentioned in the article but did your husbands participate or did you do it all yourself?

[miamommy]

Just wanted to say - I am going to start having Dr. Jay Gordon as our ped! My daughter goes to see him on November 30. Anyway, I was just super excited to see that so many people have read his information!

I think that night weaning just never worked for us because dd is so extremely high needs - the type of kid who wouldn't give up. Oh well, her day will come hopefully sooner than later (I am exhausted because she was having nightmares all night and trying to nurse them away).