January 2016 Moms

Nursing check-in

For those of you who are still nursing, how is it going these days? Is your LO nursing the same number of sessions? Any idea how quantity has changed as they eat more solids? How is it going overall?

I have been nursing before and after each sleep, which is 6x per day, and generally once at night still. But in the last few days he has not been interested in the nursing session after his first nap, even if I offer a few times. Are your babies starting to drop nursing sessions at all?

As to quantity, he used to take 5-6 oz/feeding but based on my pumping output and what he takes from the rare bottle he gets, I think we're down to about 3 oz at a time. 

My nipples are often sore because I'm now nursing while pregnant, but other than that I'm still very happy nursing. He's gotten more focused again in the last month or so and that makes it a much more pleasant experience :)

Re: Nursing check-in

  • Still nursing and it is going fine, although myself personally am looking forward to the 1 year mark and will begin the weaning process. I just need my space and more energy back again after giving so much. My milk supply has been on the lower side and I've had to work hard with pumping several times a day before and during work day to get enough milk to send to daycare to keep up with her. I wouldn't change a thing, but I am ready to have less drain on me in that way.

    We're still at 6 or 7, 7 most often, feedings a day in addition to her 3 meals and 1-2 snacks. She does nurse for less time for some of them and rarely nurses from both sides, so I'm sure her intake has gone down.

    She gets three 4-4.5 oz bottles at daycare while I'm at work. She used to do three 5 oz bottles so those have decreased a teeny bit.

    Go you @mamadcb! That is hard work keeping up with your LO and new baby growing!
  • We're still nursing! I think on average between 5-6 times a day. So when he wakes up. Before both naps and before bed. He also usually eats between his afternoon nap and dinner! And then of course there's some days he is just all about it lol 

    he has 8 teeth and we did go through a thing where for a couple weeks he was leaving teeth marks around my nipple. He wasn't biting me but was I guess resting them on my nipple with a pretty shallow latch. I've just been relatching and repositioning him which seems to be helping! 

    He he will be one year Jan 5 and I'm not really sure when Ill stop. We want to try for baby 2 soon but I got my period back 6 months pp so I should be good to go. Honestly as long as he enjoys it and I enjoy it I will prob keep doing it and not stress about weaning soon or anything. 
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  • Same as most people here. About 5-6 per day. She is getting her top 4 teeth and has been biting me like crazy. For 2 whole days every time she went to the boob, she would bite or scrape her teeth on my nipples, ow!! I thought a lot about weaning, but she may be my only baby and I love nursing so much I don't want it to ever stop! It was really tempting though, bc like pp said, I would love my body back and to stop having to stress so much about supply, pumping, what meds I can/can't take, etc. She seems to enjoy it over all, so I think I'll stick it out until at least a year, then go by what she wants to do. I don't think I'll go past 2 years though, that's just extreme for me!

     @kaym6 we are having the same problem, so I'll try what you said! Although, she is so strong and fights to pull back when I try to snug her in close so she isn't so shallow. 
  • @ekscopp I also noticed him biting more because I would hesitate and pull back out of fear he would bite me when latching on which would lead to him biting me but accidentally haha for a while I had to go back to wait for him to open his mouth wide and close my eyes and shove his mouth over my nipple like I had to do when he was a newborn! Lol good luck when he was getting his top teeth it sucked for a while but it did go back to normal! 
  • mestokesmestokes member
    edited December 2016
    Still nursing here as well! 4-5 times a day and once overnight. I'm so happy we have made it this far. I'm planning to let him wean himself for now. He usually nurses for about 5 minutes on one side at each feeding. I have no clue what he's getting but doubt it's more than 3oz. We have to supplement with a little formula because I don't respond very well to the pump and can generally only get 2-3oz for a missed feeding. LO has 8 teeth and has bitten me several times - not fun!! I usually just take my nipple away and be done with that feeding for a little while. I will miss nursing so much, but like most of you have said, it will be nice to have less pressure to always pump and be available for feedings. 
  • We're doing all here.  Usually 5 times during the day and once or two at night.  I can't pump enough to keep up though, so he gets some formula in his bottles.
  • We still nurse but my LO doesn't really nurse during the day. He nurses when he wakes up in the morning and then again before bed. He's a horrible sleeper and I'm enabler haha so he nurses quite a few times during the night. It's kind of backwards but we just go with it. Keat has 8 teeth, and so biting happens my mom told me the best thing to do is to push them in to you instead of pulling back, if that makes sense.  It totally works. I'm ready to wean for sure, at a year we will be actively working on it. 
  • Nursing 4-5 times here, working on dropping the afternoon session. When I pump at that time I have trouble getting 3 oz and used to get 5 oz no problem so I think he is not taking much then anymore. That's the only time I have to pump at work and I'll be so glad when it's done with! No more MOTN nursing for about two months now. I expect to continue morning and evening sessions until 14-16 mos, but will be glad to have my body to myself again! ... Until we decide to have #2 at least
  • I was EPing and am just finishing up weaning from the pump, my body is ready. These last couple of pumps I've only been getting about half an oz. I've been cutting back really slowly since the beginning of Nov. I needed to have my body back, both physically and mentally. The weaning has been awful on my hormones even though I'm going slow. I have just enough of a freezer stash to keep LO on at least one breast milk bottle a day until her first birthday which makes me feel like I made it to my goal of a year. 
  • We still nurse 4-5times a day but I have noticed LO is definitely not as interested. Sometimes she has a couple sucks and then starts pushing me away. Of course it can't be the night time feeds she doesn't want! ;)
  • We're still nursing here! It's going very well. She's nursing 5-6 times per day and some night feeding (varies in number depending on the night). She still really enjoys it but is so much busier now...all over the place so very active during feeding. 
  • Man, I'm jealous of all of you ladies who are still nursing. LO weaned herself at about 7-8 months. She just decided one day that she was over it. It still makes me sad! I know there are tradeoffs, but I still miss those nighttime feedings! 
  • Oh man we are still nursing but barely holding on by a thread. LO eats solids like it's his job and I can barely get him to take 3-4 feeds per day. We purposefully night weaned at 9 months, and thats when I noticed a dramatic difference, now he is NOT interested except for first thing in the morning. I am trying desperately to hold on to his bedtime feed as that is probably the only one I'll be able to keep with any consistency once I return back to work in a month, but so far it's not going so well. I'm getting stressed about it, and it's affecting my let-down, making it delayed which makes LO frustrated at the breast so he just pulls away and screams, which stresses me out more, cue cycle. I really hope we can hold out until 18 months or longer, but I just don't think we are going to make it that far :(
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  • MamapemaMamapema member
    edited December 2016
    Mine weaned at 6-7months. I couldn't believe my eyes one morning when she refused to nurse. I didn't wonna let go. A months later, she started refusing pumped breast milk. It wasn't "yummy " enough for her. I started adding 1oz of goats milk to her bottles.  She began loving it again. I just stopped pumping, she loves her plain goat milk. 
  • MamapemaMamapema member
    edited December 2016
    Did you moms know this? Makes sense why I've been feeling low since I stopped pumping 2 weeks ago!!ugh 

    https://kellymom.com/ages/weaning/wean-how/depression-and-weaning/

    https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/1301233

  • Still nursing here. He will be 1 on the 27th so i have started cutting out pumping sessions at work. I am down to 1 now. He will nurse 10 times a night if i let him or just sleep with my boob in his mouth. Lol but i am ready to cut back some. I would like my time back with ny husband for sure.
  • My girl no longer nurses during the day, but is happy to nurse in the morning and before bed. She also has 2-3 times a night milk habit that I really want to work on after the holidays... 
  • Still nursing! How many times a day depends on if i work. If i work its only 2 or 3. And I'm only pumping a total of 8-10 ounces so we've been supplementing with formula. I'll miss the bonding, but I'm ready to wean when she turns a year. And have a martini.
  • I neglected to statw 2-3 if she sleeps through. Lol. Which is rare. So it's more like 4-5. I'm tired
  • Ugh, woke up today with sore right breast and I've had low grade fever most of the day. There is no clog that I can feel so I'm hoping that I cleared it already and this soreness will go away soon. It is not only physically uncomfortable but also mentally draining to be worrying about mastitis 11 mos into BFing, but I guess that's weaning for you :neutral:
  • MamapemaMamapema member
    edited December 2016
    @SDaniels19. Are you expressing? Take a warm shower and express afterwards morning and night.just to relieve the engorged entry ..beware of "weaning blues" due to hormones drop :'(
  • @Mamapema Yes, I have been now. Weird thing is I never felt too full, just woke up and suddenly it was sore but still not engorged feeling even then. It's gotten better today and no more fever/flu symptoms so I think it's just residual soreness at this point
  • @SDaniels19 I woke up with a super sore breast and a fever too! So weird. It wasn't full either, and I'm not even weaning. I haven't gotten mastisis before and I hope not to get it!! It felt like a clogged duct initially, but I feel like I cleared it, so I'm surprised it still feels this sore. I really hope this goes away. Any other tips are welcome. 

    As far as a nursing check in, we are still going strong with 4-5 feedings during the day and usually just once during the night now. LO just loves nursing, I don't see her stopping any time soon. I love it too, but I'm also looking forward to being all done. Ideally she will drop more feeds soon and we can just do morning and night feeds for a while. I'm going to follow her lead though.
  • We are still nursing and pumping but my pumping output seems to have plummeted.  Violet eats milk 5 times a day and the number of bottles vs nursing depends on how much I've managed to pump.  If I haven't produced enough her nanny will bring her to me at work to nurse, which has been hugely helpful.  But it feels like a lot of playing catch-up and stressing and I am so sick of pumping at work.  I usually pump twice at work and once before bed.  I want to keep this up until she turns 1 on 1/4, or so, and then in consultation with her ped start a different kind of milk (cow?) while I'm at work and nurse in the morning and evening.  Continuing to nurse when I'm with her but being able to give up the pump is my ultimate goal, and once I get there I feel like we could stay in that place until she is done with it.  The pumping finish line is close, and I feel so proud of us!
  • @emzie54 I too want this exact thing! I feel like I could have written your post. Minus the nanny bringing me my baby, wildly jealous of that part! I'm lucky to have enough milk frozen to make up the difference. Although, I think I will always have to pump at least 1 time at work bc I work12 hour shifts and she is asleep before I get home. But still, I'd kill for that over this 4 times nonsense! So proud of everyone here!!
  • I'm thinking I might have to start weaning sooner than planned.  I had the stomach flu  last week and since then my supply has plummeted.  Today I've only pumped 6 oz.  Not quite sure what I'm going to do since DS refuses formula and I've only got enough frozen milk to get us through the end of the month.  Here's hoping I can bump my supply back up.  I feel kinda silly taking all the milk production enhancers a month before I planned to start weaning, but oh well.
  • nackie said:
    I'm thinking I might have to start weaning sooner than planned.  I had the stomach flu  last week and since then my supply has plummeted.  Today I've only pumped 6 oz.  Not quite sure what I'm going to do since DS refuses formula and I've only got enough frozen milk to get us through the end of the month.  Here's hoping I can bump my supply back up.  I feel kinda silly taking all the milk production enhancers a month before I planned to start weaning, but oh well.
    If you took any gravol or imodium that is probably what affected your supply. It should come back! Just keep extra hydrated and maybe take some fenugreek or drink some fennel or mothers milk tea!
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  • kvacmak said:
    nackie said:
    I'm thinking I might have to start weaning sooner than planned.  I had the stomach flu  last week and since then my supply has plummeted.  Today I've only pumped 6 oz.  Not quite sure what I'm going to do since DS refuses formula and I've only got enough frozen milk to get us through the end of the month.  Here's hoping I can bump my supply back up.  I feel kinda silly taking all the milk production enhancers a month before I planned to start weaning, but oh well.
    If you took any gravol or imodium that is probably what affected your supply. It should come back! Just keep extra hydrated and maybe take some fenugreek or drink some fennel or mothers milk tea!

    No drugs, just three days of not being able to eat and being really dehydrated I think.  Hope it'll bounce back!

  • @emzie54 my daughter is also Violet!
  • @emzie54 YOU ARE ALMOST THERE!!! And holy, what a freaking rockstar you are. I am so impressed with your dedication to pumping and organizing your life around LO. Seriously, you are amazing. 

    I have started to transition my LO to fewer day feeds. I give her cow's milk once a day now, and try not to breastfeed as often. I am just pray pray praying she doesn't reverse cycle when I go back to work next month. I despise pumping and have decided not to do it anymore. I have no stash anymore either, so it's straight from the breast or nothin' from here on out.
  • @l4rk thanks for the words of encouragement!  Violet had a tongue tie for the first 5 weeks of her life and nursing was tough.  I feel like we really persevered and overcame adversity!
  • First let me say this:

    Massive kudos to all you pumping mamas! I pumped for 9 months with my first and had enough stash to stop and still give him breast milk for the full year and it sucked. It was awful and I felt like a dairy cow. The mental aspect, the physical aspect, the amount of time you have to devote, good on you for sticking through it!

    Major props to all you formula feeding mamas! Dealing with all the bottles and cans and powder is a major pain in the arse. The worry about "is this formula going to react badly?" and "will he even eat it?" not to mention the cost of it all. Like my baby class teacher said, formula is not rat poison, and there is NOTHING bad about giving your babies formula! Good job taking care of your littles!

    To my fellow nursing mamas, it is worth it! The latching issues, the biting, the engorgement, the leaking, the feeling that your body isn't your's anymore. It's hard not being able to pass off feeding to daddy or a grandparent, and if you have older children, not being able to pass the baby off to play with your other children can make you feel like a bad parent. Hang in there, you've made it this far!

    We only nurse 2-3 times a day, depending on how Alex is feeling. Afternoon nap, bedtime, and if he is feeling bad, once in-between nap and bedtime. For morning nap we've moved to a bottle of whole milk, and he will eat anywhere from 4-8 oz. He will sometimes get up for a MOTN feeding, and we will nurse then because he is usually feeling bad when he does that (teething, low grade cold). He isn't getting enough nursing anymore, so I intend to move completely to whole milk bottles this weekend, he turns one tomorrow and I'm all kinds of done with nursing. I want my body back, and I need to start getting my hormones figured out (I'm already going through menopause at 33yrs old). We have also decided that we want one more, so we need to get cracking on that too. 
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