Extended Breastfeeding Check-in, 9/21

[vvvvvfee]

For the purposes of this check-in, we will define extended breastfeeding as breastfeeding beyond 1 year. Questions are repeated and suggestions are appreciated!

1. How old is your LO?
2. How many times per day does your LO nurse?
3. What would you title this chapter in your breastfeeding journey?
4. What is your LO's name for nursing?

Pregnant & BFing Moms: How are you doing this week? Any issues with supply, pain, aversion? Questions for other moms?

Tandem Nursing Moms: How are you doing this week? Any current challenges? Questions for other moms?

Non-BFing question of the week: What are you reading right now?

[byjove]

1. 21 months
2. A lot (it was every hour last night )
3. I am tired. And want a break.
4. Nilk.

QOTW: Almost finished the second Maisie Dobbs book (I love this series!). Also reading The Tears We Can Not Stop: A Sermon to White America.

[valiente]

1. How old is your LO? 3 and 1.5
2. How many times per day does your LO nurse? 2x
3. What would you title this chapter in your breastfeeding journey? Will you still be nursing in college?
4. What is your LO's name for nursing? DS talks. DD says "malk pwease"

Tandem Nursing Moms: How are you doing this week? Any current challenges? Questions for other moms? We're good. The kids are hilarious and will call the other one when it's time to BF or will tell me the other side is for their sibling, "Mommy, I drank all of my breastmilk. You save this breastmilk (points to other boob) for A." "A, come have your breastmilk!"

Non-BFing question of the week: What are you reading right now? I have a mountain of journal articles beside my desk. Does that count. 🤦‍♀️

[vvvvvfee]

1. How old is your LO? 2
2. How many times per day does your LO nurse? 3
3. What would you title this chapter in your breastfeeding journey? "I Pretend I'm Too Cool For Boobies, But I'm Really Not" (I ask DS2 at night lately if he wants boobies, and if he's busy playing with DS2 he'll yell "NO!" and then 3 minutes later he'll toddle in saying "Boobies???"
4. What is your LO's name for nursing? "Boobies"

Non-BFing question of the week: What are you reading right now? My Absolute Darling, by Gabriel Tallent-- got some rave reviews but I am just icked out by it, TBH (involves child abuse and I'm just not sure whatever "redemption" may be coming for the protagonist will justify the content so far).

[loony]

1. 21 mo
2. Many. Too many.
3. This is the end.
4. He doesn't have a word, but he signs "please" when he wants to nurse.


I have four books on my overdrive shelf, but I haven't gotten more than a page through any of them. I'm tired and my attention span is nil.

[lily]

1. How old is your LO? - 2.5 years

2. How many times per day does your LO nurse? - 2-3x

3. What would you title this chapter in your breastfeeding journey? - slowly but surely (self weaning)

4. What is your LO's name for nursing? - nurse or milk. He often pops up in his crib when I walk in and asks "do you have milk in you?"

DS has been either skipping the bedtime session or hardly nursing at all 😱

Non-BFing question of the week: What are you reading right now? - I'm in between books and it's bumming me out, but I can't seem to decide on what to read next.
I read to DH at night, and we're on the last chapter of The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander.

[Deleted]

- 20 months
- it's usually 3-5 times a day and some overnight but she's nursed a lot lately. Today it felt like all day long. She has molars coming in. Not sure if that would cause her to nurse more.
- keepin on keeping on
- I just started magic bites but haven't got very far.... Iast finished the book club book - the seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I bought this Time special magazine at the store about mindfulness and I'm reading that. Super annoying though because i didn't look at price and it was $14 wth
- dd used to sign milk some but she pretty much just makes a grab at my shirt.

Lately she pulls my shirt down when she's done. Cracks me up.

valiente I love that banter!

[aves0708]

1. 23 months

2. I've been trying to keep her to 3-4

3. I Am My Boobs

4. She just entering language explosion territory and she's trying to say nurse. She usually gets the nu part out while signing for milk. And she points to a spot where we normally sit and nurse.

Tandem Nursing Moms: I am doing ok. Before the baby DD1 was happy with me asking her if she wanted to nurse 2 times a day. Now she's doing all the asking multiple times a day. It usually happens when she sees the baby nursing. I think my biggest challenge is I'm still really sore and when DD1 nurses she's constantly shoving a knee, hand, elbow... some body part into my sore stomach. I really think it's slowing the healing process a little, and it's making it hard for me to enjoy nursing her.

Non-BFing question: There was a point in my life when I read books for enjoyment.... The last book I actually got out was The Birth Partner, to help me prep for labor.

[tomato]

1. How old is your LO? 13 months

2. How many times per day does your LO nurse? 6+

3. What would you title this chapter in your breastfeeding journey? Smooth sailing

4. What is your LO's name for nursing? Nothing yet, occasionally she will sign "milk" or pull on my shirt. Usually she just gets clingy and sucks her thumb.

Non-BFing question of the week: What are you reading right now? 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson

Question: Is it possible to skip or replace a couple nursing sessions on occasion without dropping them altogether? I don't want to wean yet, but I'd like to be able to leave her sometimes. We want to leave DD for the day in a couple weeks for our anniversary and I can't pump anything any more. I've delayed sessions before if we are out because she won't NIP any more and it went fine. She doesn't get WCM because when I tried to introduce some she pretty much didn't sleep for 2 days.

[vvvvvfee]

aves0708, set some limits with DD1-- DS1 was like that right after DS2 was born- he was obsessed with the large quantities of milk, and jealous of DS2 nursing all the time. i would pick a set number of times she can nurse per day and stick to it. either that or limit the length of each session- count up to a certain number or sing a song and then she's done. a nice way to keep the older nursling distracted is to read to them while you nurse the baby. it takes a little finagling with a nursing pillow, but it's doable. if she's physically hurting you by squirming, figure out which position is best and only let her nurse that way. if you're trying to nurse both kids at once, i would recommend against it. i always physically hated the feeling, but beyond that it's hard to coordinate when the baby is still so little. anyway, go easy on yourself, get someone to distract DD1 or offer her other activities, and i would only let her nurse after you're done nursing DD2 and then only for a limited amount of time. i bet she will be less rabid about nursing in a couple of weeks, though.

tomato, absolutely you can skip sessions! the only thing i would worry about is your own comfort. since your LO is still nursing a lot of times per day, i would either bring a hand pump or hand express maybe 2x during the day just so you don't get engorged and risk getting clogged ducts. your LO will be fine with just water and table food. she really doesn't need to have WCM when she's still nursing.

[PinkFreud]

1. How old is your LO? 2 (OMG)
2. How many times per day does your LO nurse? usually just 1 time in the morning. sometimes she will ask after daycare.
3. What would you title this chapter in your breastfeeding journey? We don't have to but we do.
4. What is your LO's name for nursing? Booboo, boobahs



Non-BFing question of the week: What are you reading right now? I'm reading a book about Buddhism

[tomato]

vvvvvfee She usually nurses at wake up, bedtime, before and after afternoon nap, and twice at night. So I would be missing 2, maybe 3 times, but I would probably give her milk from the small amount I have frozen if we missed bedtime.

[aves0708]

vvvvvfee Thank you for the suggestions! I think I am doing pretty much everything you suggested, minus being strict with the number of times per day she nurses. I've been pretty good with keeping her between 3 and 4 though. If I would let her I think she'd nurse on and on and on, so every session has a time limit and a consist routine to end the session. She actually does really good with this. My husband does a great job distracting her while the baby nurses ( that does not deter her from at least asking though lol). I've nursed them both at the same time once and that's it. Like you said I found it too hard with the baby this small. It's really the physical pain right now that's hard. I had a normal, no complications, vaginal delivery but I'm still sore and it hurts when she's squirming into my stomach. When I try switching positions with her she ends up digging her top teeth into my nipple so I get pain either way...

[enchanted]

1) 23 months

2) Twice a day: at nap time and bed time

3) The closing chapter. I'm going to start weaning her when she turns two. She nurses for maybe sixty seconds a side at this point and I'm fairly certain she's not getting any milk. It's getting pretty uncomfortable for me, too.

4) Me-Mes. Little Miss speak for milkies. When she was an infant, I would be a smart ass and ask if she needed the boob. Then my son started telling/yelling "Sister needs to boob!" so we found a new name.

I'm reading HRC's What Happened along with another book about boys growing up in Nazi Germany and being groomed for the Hitler Youth and military service.

[vvvvvfee]

aves0708, ouch! have you tried nursing DD1 side-lying? then at least she's off your stomach. i personally find i get less nippy teeth indentations when nursing a toddler side-lying. it is just kind of overwhelming tandem nursing those first few weeks, though. hugs!

[aves0708]

Sept 22, 2017 15:30:36 GMT -6 vvvvvfee said:

aves0708, ouch! have you tried nursing DD1 side-lying? then at least she's off your stomach. i personally find i get less nippy teeth indentations when nursing a toddler side-lying. it is just kind of overwhelming tandem nursing those first few weeks, though. hugs!

Yep we did side lying but it got me a couple good knees to the stomach. She really isn't that bad. If i tell her that mommy's stomach is sore she tries to not touch it, she just can't help her need to move sometimes. I know it'll get better as I feel better though.

[catspajamas]

1. How old is your LO? Almost 22 months
2. How many times per day does your LO nurse? 2-3
3. What would you title this chapter in your breastfeeding journey? Hanging In There
4. What is your LO's name for nursing? He doesn't really have a word for it - he'll either point at my chest or point at the chair we usually sit in to nurse. But we only really nurse upon wake-up, right before nap, and before bed so he's not usually asking for it, it happens at those times as part of the routine.

Non-BFing question of the week: What are you reading right now? Nothing, ugh need to change that. I have a copy of the Oh Crap potty training book on my nightstand and also want to read What Happened. Just need to find some time.