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Attachment Parenting
meltoine
member
Talk to me about tandem nursing
meltoine
member
We are considering TTC#2 and I'm almost ready to go ahead, but I really want DS to continue to nurse until at least 2. I would love to tandem nurse, but I'm concerned that my supply will drop if I get PG and that DS will lose interest. If you have experience with tandem nursing, can you talk me through the transition?
If it's important, DS nurses about 5x/day and eats 3 solid meals. He takes some sips of water throughout the day but gets no other liquids. I don't plan on giving WCM regularly anytime soon, though I'm not pumping anymore, so when I run out of freezer stash he will get WCM while we're apart (maybe 1-2 feedings per month).
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Re: Talk to me about tandem nursing
I got pregnant with DD when DS2 was 16 months. By 18 months my milk had almost completely dried up (about 10 weeks into the pregnancy). Weaning was easy because DS has gradually been getting less milk and I think the taste of it had changed with the pregnancy.
I wanted to tandem nurse, but it just wasn't in our cards. Good luck!
I'm pregnant with #2 right now and my milk is slowly going away so I don't have any real info from myself at this point, but here are two anecdotes:
One pregnant friend's 2 yr old son lost interest for the most part when her milk dried up. He would still try to nurse sometimes and she let him, but would just get frustrated and go do something else. She is third tri right now and has colostrum and her son actually said, "Yummy boobie!" and nurses daily again.
The other's son was about 2.5 when her milk went away during pregnancy. They ddin't nurse anymore through her pregnancy but after baby was born, she was pretty out of it (after c-section) and when her son asked if he could nurse after baby she said sure! They tandem nursed til he was 4.
I got KU when DD1 was 9 months. My supply tanked when I was 19 weeks pregnant (DD1 was 13/14 months). I thought she would self wean when my supply dropped but she still nursed strong. I did offer WCM though since I knew she wasn't getting much of anything from me. She didn't drink very much WCM for a few months and even then I had to make a smoothie for her to drink it at all. For DD1 nursing is obviously not about the milk, it's about the comfort she gets from it and that's why she continued.
I am now tandem nursing and it's surprisingly easy!
I did set a limit to how often DD1 could nurse. I started out with 3 times a day and now she's down to 2 (morning and night). I didn't really intentionally wean the midday BFing session, it just happened since I didn't offer.
I highly recommend reading Adventures in Tandem Nursing.
*** I just wanted to say that my labor with DD2 started at DD1's bedtime. I tried to nurse her as usual but had to abruptly end the session because it pushed my labor into over drive and the pain was ridiculous! DD1 was obviously upset and I felt horrible for her (and myself for being in pain). Labor with DD2 was only 2.5 hours from start to finish. I don't necessarily attribute my fast labor with BFing DD1 but it certainly helped speed things along!