Extended Nursing Support Thread part 4

[Gypsymom]

I haven't been on for awhile, but thanks for the calcium tips. So far, we are still doing 4 feeds. He is getting to that tricky stage where they want to feed themselves (and tend to be more picky) but isn't yet good enough to end up full. I'm battling NWs where it's his hungry cry and he really wants to feed, but with work, home, etc, I really want him STTN consistently. We frequently get off track due to teething, illness, or (most common) major reflux flares/gut attacks due to a food intolerance/allergy issue.

I'm amazed at your commitment to nurse during your pregnancies. I was only 7 weeks along when DS declared "all done, cheerios!" instead of his usual morning feed. I'm guessing the taste had changed too not just the quantity. I was pretty happy though as I'm the type to barf a lot when pregnant!

[Manueli]

I'm amazed at your commitment to nurse during your pregnancies.

For us it was easy since Hayden doesn't care what or how much he gets as long as he gets any. Sometimes I do wish a bit he would have self-weaned during this time. Would have saved me the trouble to do it later.

Hope the NWs will quit soon and your LO starts to eat more. We had the same problem and I started to feed him some baby cereal short before bed. It helped a bit but most of the time he wasn't interested in eating it.

[jlisenby19]

Thank you Ali & all who offered advice...we went to see the pediatrician (as Brinn developed bronchitis).  She is getting all 4 molars at once right now.  So the teething, combined w/a possible GS and the stress she must be sensing off of me re: our cross country move...I'd say it might be tricky weaning. 

In the last week, she has actually done fine with just the 3X daily (morning, nap, night).  I got her to nap w/o BF first, thankfully, so we're heading in the right direction.

[Manueli]

Khalam's mom, I got a question for you if you are still around to read it. Did you notice that Khalam is eating less solid food when your milk came in and you were tandem nursing? Hayden still feeds 3 times a day (even though I wish it would only be 2) and now that he gets a ton of my milk again he hasn't been eating much other food. I am a bit worried that he is missing out on important nutrients and am wondering if I should reduce his milk intake. Any ideas?

[Khalam's Mama]

I can't say it is something I noticed about the eating less. K has always been one to eat loads oe day and hardly anything the next but I did'nt see any correlation with the milk intake. It is thought that kids who have more milk don't get enough vits and minerals sometimes. Maybe try to BF after a meal so he is already full? You may get more BTDT advice here too
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=183860.0
It has been quiet lately but I know at least 3 of the posters are still actively tandem feeding/pg and feeding.

[Manueli]

Thanks, I will check out the thread. I didn't realize they had tandem feeding mothers on there. Having milk after a meal is kinda hard cause we are in this routine of having milk right after sleep times (and before bed). I might have to drop at least the midday feed.

[Khalam's Mama]

Maybe just make sure he eats well before nap and then not for a while after the feed?

[*Ali*]

I just wanted to report that Cadan has developed a lovely habit of telling a story about his day inbetween sucks during his BT BF. Yesterday he must have popped off the breast 50 times to say "N bite. Jump. Balls" or combinations there of in a forlon voice while biting his finger. He was telling me how his cousin N had accidentally bitten his own finger while sucking it and jumping into a ball pool that day.
Today his story was about his other cousin K saying there was no room for Cadan on the trampoline they were both jumping on. "No room. K. Oh dear. Jump". Anyway a bit OT but I thought you ladies might appreciate how cute this was. I just wanted to kiss his little head while he supped his boob but had to resist so as not to distract him and make BT any later than it already was. 

[Gypsymom]

sweet! Treasure up those momma moments in your heart!!!

Sterling asks for "song" when I nurse him now. He's just barely talking so it's adorable :-)

[Khalam's Mama]

I love the boobie conversations. I think they must think about their day as they sup because Khalam always used to come off and say something random that had happened hours ago.

[Manueli]

It's great that you can enjoy those conversations. I never could, it drove me nuts when he went on and off the boob. I just hate that feeling. So he knows now to be quite, I really enjoy those quite times though. All throughout the rest of the day I have to answer all his questions, and it's nice to have a break.

So I weaned him from the after nap feed. It wasn't much of a wean cause he didn't used to have it anyways when he was in daycare. But he still cried a couple days and it really broke my heart. Now he still asks, but he doesn't really cry anymore. Still, I am not sure how I am supposed to survive weaning the other feeds in the near future. So sad to take something he appreciates so much, but he is getting pretty old. On the plus side he has been eating at least a bit more, he has always been a bad eater, but it makes me feel better about his nutritional intake.

[*Ali*]

Manueli do you feel you have to wean him just because of his age? I don't think there is anything wrong with feeding an LO over 2yo if you are happy with it. Have you seen the video Rebecca (Tigerlily) posted on the tandem nursing support thread? It made me think I didn't need to worry about weaning Cadan just because he turns 2yo if it is still working for us.
Ignorance Meets Knowledge (extended breastfeeding)

[Manueli]

Actually I didn't get to watch the video, thanks for the reminder. It's a bit of both, me feeling weird cause I know lots of people (including my family) disagree with feeding this long, and me feeling more and more annoyed by Hayden's feeding. I just can't really relax that much anymore when he feeds and I keep rushing him to end it. So I want to stop it before it becomes a bad experience for both of us. But as I said, on the other hand I hate to see him cry over it. Yesterday was really bad, he cried after his nap and then he had a total meltdown when we got home from our afternoon walk cause it was time to feed Lukas but not quite Hayden's bedtime yet so he didn't get anything. It was really horrible and he was so destroyed by this.

[*Ali*]

I think just after the arrival of another baby is probably the hardest time for a LO to be weaned because he may well already feel a little pushed out and jealous of the new arrival. But at the same time I can imagine it is the hardest time to keep feeding the older child when it is all so hard with all the changes fro mama too. I hope you find what works from you Manueli.
BTW Colby Charles arrived on Saturday so I'm now doing extended and tandem nursing. Let's see how long i can keep that up!

[Manueli]

Don't worry, I won't be attempting to wean Hayden anytime soon. When I signed up for the tandem nursing I knew I had to stick to it at least for a little while. And it's not that bad, I am kinda enjoying it. But the morning feed also leads to EW in this house and that's another reason to consider weaning at some point.

Hope your tandem nursing is going well Ali.