How did you nurse DC2 while caring for DC1?

aggieoj

A friend has a 7 week old baby and an 18 month old.  She nursed her DC1 for a few weeks but had to stop. With her second pregnancy she said she wanted to be more successful and go for longer.

She's having a hard time recently. Her dd's recent growth spurt isn't matching her supply and she is taking a long time to nurse. She is feeling like she doesn't have time to spend with her DC1 as she feels she is spending so much time on the nursing.

 I have no personal advice on how to help her nurse with DC2 while she wants to spend quality time with DC1. Any suggestions? She's using this weekend as her guage to continue or stop. I'd love to help her continue, for fear she'll regret stopping, but don't want to pressure her...advice please!

BLONDIE6FT

if she's made it this far, i really think she's made it thru the tough part (not that it's easy, but you know what i mean...).  i had shows recorded for dd1 and books ready.  i also read that you should have snacks and /or milk ready for dd while you nurse. some moms multitask and nurse and read at the same time.  as soon as i was done nursing, i would get up and ask dd1 what she wanted to do or we would try to do something she wanted to do--color, swing.  i carried the bouncy seat around to put the baby in. (i'm not a baby wearer, but she could definitely try that!).  also, for another month or 2 she can try to time it that the baby is awake during her toddler's nap. sucks for mom, but then when your toddler wakes up, it's time to put the baby down for a nap. 

it's hard. there's no way around that.  but it does get easier, because your kids get used to it.

molliedb

getting a snack for dc2 right before i nursed was helpful.  we read books a lot while nursing too.  we also watched short clips of dora or the like- one 20ish min show was usually a nursing session. 

 i found it much easier to nurse with 2 littles (or 3) than pump.  don't get me started on pumping with 3 little babes!  lol

colleenor

PBS kids on the iPad was/is a godsend:)

rssnlvr

That was when I'd put on a show for DD. It was a special treat for her b/c she rarely watched TV. Another thing is that we'd use that time for scavenger hunts--I'd send her out on hunts ("can you find me a . . . book about cats? Can you find me a . . . blue cup?" etc.). Each hunt would take a minute or two, and she loved the challenge.

Honestly, it was a LOT easier to nurse DS with DD around when he was itty bitty. By the time he hit about 3-4 months, he started being way too distracted by what was going on and we started having to nurse in a different room.

Mrs.Froggianna

Luke has a special Big Brother bag of toys that he can only play with while I'm nursing. We went to Target and let him pick out a few things, that way I knew he'd be interested in playing with them. So far it's working great. He usually always picks playing with his big brother bag over watching TV (our other option). Best $25 I've ever spent.

Duckie07

If I was home alone with the girls, DD1 would either watch a show (sometimes the afternoon feedings would be a fun movie and popcorn treat time for DD1) or I'd just try to nurse DD2 wherever DD1 wanted to play.  DD1 loves to play in her room, specifically her closet.  She was good to go if I would just nurse DD2 in their room and I could do my best to still play with DD1.  If DH and are both home, then as soon as I'm done feeding DD2, DH and I will switch and I'll go and play with DD1 and he'll take DD2.

Is she adamant about it being all or nothing?  Before she considers dropping breastfeeding altogether, would she be open to supplementing?  Or perhaps she could pump enough to have be able to give her baby a bottle every now and then so that she's not having marathon nursing sessions?  I know it's not easy to pump when you're alone with two, but maybe she could pump when her husband is home to help.