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Nurslings roll call

1K views 10 replies 9 participants last post by  1Plus2 
#1 ·
Hi every one! It's been a while since I have been here on a regular basis. I have really missed this place (disconnected the internet for the summer) I have especially missed the companionship of like minded ppl. I have had a few insanely busy moments being a mother of twins, as you all know! But what gets me feeling so different from ppl IRL is the fact that I am still BFing my almost 4 (in oct) y.o. twin girls. The struggles and rewards I have gone through cannot be shared with anyone IRL as everybody in my twin world chpse not to BF at all or chose to stop at a very young age. The longest mother know weaned her twins at 8 months(which is still pretty good!) So, I feel so alone and hey, sometimes it's good to get a little support in life too.
If you do have older nurslings, how do you nurse them? and do you still co sleep with them? Or, do they prefer to sleep with each other only?

I am looking forward to meet alll the newer(to me) mama's here too!
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#2 ·
hi! i'm elyssia
my b/g are 16 mos. old and still nursing like crazy
esp. thomas, he actually seems to nurse like 3x for every time that iris does
we co-sleep
i've been letting dh start putting them to bed tho'
b/c they just go to sleep for him - go figure
last night i went out to a bar and watched the fb game w/ some girlfriends
and when it's just them and dh
they just play and when they get tired they cuddle up and fall asleep
they must not nurse all the time at night b/c i don't remember so much, or else they are so good at just latching on by themselves w/o disturbing me
i think that's what iris does
her diaper is always much wetter in the morning
i guess he is filling up during the day and she is at night

my next oldest will be 3 in november
and she JUST weaned last month
yay!!
she hung in there during the pregnancy when the milk totally disappeared, was thrilled when it came back
but was down to once a day, maybe 2x if she was having a rough day or something
we went on vacation and she was so busy running w/ the pack of kids, she didn't ask for days
so i just decided that was it
and she is fine w/ it
my oldest daughter is 8.5 now and she weaned on her 3rd bday
we talked about it from when she was about 2.5
"when you turn 3. . . .. "
she had no problem, was also just once or twice a day at that point
i don't know how long the babies will nurse
i feel crazy sometimes doing it but i know i will miss it a lot when it is over
so i'm not in any hurry
i figure they should at least get to 3, or close
altho' it is already a lot harder to nurse them than one
i mean they are very demanding, vocal, pulling my shirt up over my head and all that
i'm thinking i will institute a "rule" that we nurse at home, not at the mall, restaurant, park or wherever
but then i will need to be a lot better about making sure i have snacks and water w/ me

how do you handle that??
do they both demand to nurse at the same time at this age
and btw - congratulations on nursing them this long!!!
that is awesome
i don't think i'll make it to 4 w/ any of mine
(but i never say never, of course, my other 2 wouldn't have weaned at 3(ish) if it hadn't been okay timing for them)
 
#4 ·
Mine are 7 mths old and we're still nursing. Which may not seem that much but considering I was only able to nurse my singletons for 6, 5, and 10 months - I'm pretty proud we've made it this far.
Esp with multiple bouts of plugged ducts, mastitis and thrush and with having to EP for 2 months in the beginning. I don't usually nurse them together though - they didn't latch well enough to nurse together for a LONG time and then even after they started latching well enough they prefer to be nursed separately. So I spend a LOT of time nursing.
The girls have also started on some solids.
 
#5 ·
Hi everyone. Just checking in. I don't think we're at the "extended nursing" stage yet (when is that, exactly?) but my girls are 11 1/2 months old and still nursing. We had a really rough start because they were 7 weeks premature & it took them 3 months to learn to latch/suck/swallow/breath correctly. I love nursing them and I'm really happy I stuck with it. I don't have any plans to stop until they let me know they're ready.
 
#6 ·
Hi mamas!!


I'm a newby compared to all of you! My girls are 2 mos...well gosh they are almost 3 months now. Will be 3 months on 9-21. Time is flying before me!! They are nursing fools :LOL and have only had my milk since birth.
I work 3 days a wk and pump 2x/day at work on those days. We almost always use v hold to nurse. Use to use double football with a boppy when they were younger (like they are so old now
) but they seemed to not enjoy that anymore. I guess they didn't like me getting to have my hands free. In bed I also feed them individually laying down. I'm looking forward to doing the mama bear position laying down with both of them once they are bigger.

I have a 20 mos ds too. He was formula free as well. I nursed him till he self weaned at 13 1/2 mos. Wish we could of gone longer but at that time I was 4 1/2 mos prego and my milk changed taste. He'd look up at my like what the heck is this mom!!


Anyway I'm glad to have nurslings again. And glad to have this board to learn and share!
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#7 ·
Hi Mamas!!!!!!
:

It's so nice to meet everyone and to learn there are alot of us nursing!!!! It does not matter to me how old our nurslings are at all!!!! Just glad to have the support. In my twins group less than half BF at all. I think it's a HUGE acclomplishment to BF multiples for any amout of time.


BTW~I LOVE these new smilies!!!!!!!!!

:vax2: :vax:
 
#8 ·
Still nursing all day here too. Luke and Jaz are 19 months old. They nurse just as often during the day as they did when they were newborns (though, thankfully, not for as looooong at each nursing). We are still nursing everywhere we go. They mostly nurse tandem because it is too hard for them to watch each other nurse and not get in on the action. They are just starting to express a preference over which side they nurse on, and will tell each other to take the other side. And sometimes they will both agree to switch sides. . .

There is no question that nursing is their absolute most favorite thing in the world. I cannot imagine life without it. At the same time, I really don't feel like I enjoy nursing them that much anymore. I often get the skin-crawling feeling while they nurse and really can't stand it when they want to nurse for longer than 10 minutes and the milk is pretty much gone. I feel like I spend the whole day trying to distract them and then giving in and nursing them. They do eat solid food, but not enough to sustain them. Nursing is still their main source of nutrition. I have tried to introduce cow's milk as a supplement to nursing, but they aren't big fans of that idea.

I have left them for 3+ hours several times in the past month or so, and they didn't ask for me or ask to nurse at all during that time. But, of course, when I am with them they want to nurse at least every hour, often more than that. It felt so good to have those few hours without nursing.

I feel so torn between what I believe in (nursing them for as long as they want to nurse) and how my body is feeling (like I don't want to nurse them at all anymore). I sort-of think that if they were only nursing 2 or 3 times a day then I would enjoy it more. And I actually don't really mind just nursing them one at a time. But that is such a rare event, and I can't figure out a way to insist on nursing them only one at a time that wouldn't involve the non-nurser sobbing and pulling on my shirt.

I am committed to nursing them until they are two, but I'm not sure how much longer than that I will be able to stick with it. I really wish I was enjoying it more. . .

Charmarty, you are AMAZING!
 
#9 ·


Great going keeping on for so long!

you know, for me I noticed I wasn't enjoying the nursing as much anymore when I felt stressed and stretched out. I realized that in fact my nursing relationship was not to blame, but it did take alot of me physically and emotionally. Let's face it, it does take alot to nurse two! For me to get my outside stresses(and we all have them but there are times when life gets really really hard) undercontrol an dnot loose my nursling relationship, I had to actually set more boundaries.
I started to tell the girls that mommies boobies need a break sometimes. We are huge in this house about taking space for them selves so they understood that. I told them that my boobies get tired like they do sometimes and when they gat a break, they feel better and we can use them again. I mean we talked about it alot, and it was a long and slow and respectful journey that happened here and however you and your dp decide to go about it is up to you and your family. My point is that it's totally ok to set boundaries. If you find yourself nursing th eboys for 10 min at a time and your skin is crawling and teeth clenching, then scale it back to say 5 min by saying, ok boys it's time to give mama's boobies a break k?Or you could start saying, k, my boobies are getting tired, I 'm going to count to 3 and then we let go k?
I think it's important to let our children know that our breasts are attached to our bodies and that we share them with our children, that we love to but that they need to realize that ultimately it is our body. And I think it teaches respect of one's body as well. I mean I wouldn't impliment this anywhere near kids who are under 17 months, but at this age I think it's ok to plant a seed.

I hope I made sence and didn't seem preachy!

TK,
Char
 
#10 ·
DDs are 25 months and are still serious nursing fiends! Sometimes I get frustrated--I don't think they night-nursed this much when they were NEWBORNS--but all in all, I'm so happy to still be going. We are still co-sleeping; we bought a crib but never used the "blankety-blank" thing (our first tax return after having them was pretty sizeable, since we went from none to two, so we bought a king-sized bed with that). I think if they do not self-wean by 4, I will try some gentle encouragement--DH and I were thinking of having our next child when C. and L. are about 5 or 6, and I'd like a year to recuperate from the years of nursing.
 
#11 ·
Hello, all!! My girls are almost 22-months-old and are still going strong.
They are also still co-sleeping and are VERY frequently night nursing. I've thought of night weaning them but truthfully don't have the energy or the heart to do it right now.
 
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