[moonshine]

What I mean is, how long do/can you not nurse and not be weaning? Dd, now almost 23 months, generally only nurses before sleeping. Dh can get her to sleep, without nursing

, without problems. There are times when nursing really gets on my nerves, but I am not looking to wean. There have been days when either I am away, or we are just busy, etc when it can be a full day and she will not have nursed. This obviously works because she is ok with it, but I sometimes worry that I have to nurse her to keep us going. True??

On a side not, she bit me SO HARD yesterday, she drew blood and I didn't nurse her on that side for 24 hours and then it still hurt!!!

I think that she bit as a reflex as we were both sleeping, but *)(#$)*@#& that was not fun!

One last question -- are they still getting a fair amount of nutrition from bfing at this age? Sometimes I wonder how much milk is even in there, but I hear her gulping away, so obviously there is enough.

 

[TiredX2]

I would encourage you to offer more often (does she not nap any more? could you offer when she wakes up, etc...?). With young children (under 2ish) don't offer, dont' refuse *is* a weaning method.

It can take a long time before a child weans, but at 23 months she still really needs the nutrition *and* the immunilogical benifits of nursing (esp with cold & flu season coming!).

Good luck

 

[bleurae]

First off I just wanted to say this is my 500th post yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As for getting nutrition, YES YES YES YES they are getting so much still. Mine is almost three and nurses throughout the day and night still. Sometimes very short comfort nursing, but also longer chug-a-lugging. Today in fact he is sick for the first time in well over a year, his throat is hurtine and his ears are clogged as is his nose. He is nursing and getting LOTS of my immunities, it is soothing his throat as well. He also does not have any fever, which I trhink he would were he not bf'ing still. He does eat tons of food, but the nursing still gives him lots of immunities, helps in the defense of allergies, and builds his growing body with so much more nutrition than simply food can do.
When he had roto-virus last year he was vomiting and having horrid diarrhea for 7 days straight. He could not eat at all, not even a bite that whole week, but he could nurse, which also kept him from dehydration, the number one severe issue with that virus. The doctor even was mentioning how surprised he was that he showed no signs of dehydration with how severe his vomiting was.
Vomiting breastmilk is also one of the gentlest thing to vomit.

I got real sick about two months ago along with my roomie, we were both very very ill and in bed for 3 days each. Bliss didn't get it at all, and I believe it was only because of the bf'ing.

 

[moonshine]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TiredX2 I would encourage you to offer more often (does she not nap any more? could you offer when she wakes up, etc...?). With young children (under 2ish) don't offer, dont' refuse *is* a weaning method.

Yes, thank the lord, she does still nap. Most times I am the one getting her to sleep, so we nurse. I am also the one 99.9% of the time getting her to sleep at night too. But if DH gets her to sleep, it is not a problem, although if has been a long time since she last nursed, I will make a point to nurse her before bed even if he is going to get her to sleep. That is just my instinct that I feel I need to keep up with it. It is also my theory that she sleeps better (ie longer) at night if she is nursed before bed then if she isn't.

Another thing that had me wondering about how much milk I was making, or if she was weaning, was that there was a spell where she would stop nursing and ask for some water. Weird?? Seemed strange to me. She would drink some water and then go back to nursing.

 

[TiredX2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by moonshine Another thing that had me wondering about how much milk I was making, or if she was weaning, was that there was a spell where she would stop nursing and ask for some water. Weird?? Seemed strange to me. She would drink some water and then go back to nursing.

DS has done this before too. I really don't know what is up with it, but I do know that my supply is VERY VERY low at this point. Well, today I actually felt a little full in the evening, but generally there just isn't much there. So it could definatley have to do with lowered supply. Another option, since my supply decreases w/AF is that the taste could be a bit "off".

 

[my2girlz]

DD2 did that right around her 2nd birthday. We did the don't offer/don't refuse method and she never did ask again. Before that she would go a few days without nursing, but always ask for "mum mums" and I would nurse her. This was in the spring though. Coming into the winter I would just offer more often though.