Extended Nursing Support Thread Part 5

[weaver]

At that age we generally had three feeds.  You can always offer if you're concerned about supply but bear in mind your breasts have really got the hang of it by now so you may not 'feel full' ever!

[*Ali*]

Ds1 was on 2 feeds around 13mo. DS2 and DD were/are on more but I expect to reduce soonish. 2 feeds is really beneficial. I expect your LO is on a good amount of solids and getting nutrition from them.

[trimbler]

Hiya, just saw this and thought I'd tag along

Do any of you bother pumping for when you won't be there at the usual feed time(s)? Until about a month ago, I was pumping for a mid-morning feed at the CM for the three days a week when I work. Then it just got to the point where I wasn't able to keep up any more, I guess I just stopped letting down for the pump. So I tried DD on cow's milk, having suspected she might have issues with it, and indeed she did, but now it seems that a2 milk is ok so she just has that at the CM now.

That mid-morning bf is going with the morning nap now anyway, so pretty much just down to the two feeds. But I still miss at least one BT per week and pump for that, getting 1oz per pumping session unless it's after the late day at work, in which case I might get 2oz. I think DH gives her 4-5oz, which she seems to be happy with. I guess I feel that on the one hand, she's still getting used to the a2 milk so I don't want to introduce it at BT just yet, and on the other, I think it was when I stopped pumping for missed BT feeds with DS, that my supply dropped so low that he no longer saw the point in feeding, which I felt a bit sad about, but we still achieved my 'goal'/hope of 2 years Anyway, to get to the point - am I being really silly doing all this pumping, should I just stop all that and give her a2 when I'm not there and not worry about missed feeds and my supply? I am beginning to feel a bit silly now 

Oh and does anyone else offer cow's milk as well as the bfs, or is that overkill?? Never an issue with DS as he never liked the stuff anyway

[*Ali*]

I had been pumping when I missed a feed and gave a bottle but the last 3 times over the last month I haven't bothered.  I've just been depleting my freezer stash which currently stands at about 20ozs I think. When that's gone I've decided I will just offer cows milk. The main reason is normally she has a bottle if I go out for the evening and the last thing I feel like doing after arriving home late from a night out is pumping before I go to sleep. She has never had a bottle of cows milk but will drink it from a sippy or straw if she gets hold of the boys' cups at all so I know she likes the taste. She has cows milk on cereal too. I'm not going to deliberately offer cows milk in addition to breast milk on a regular basis as I think she gets better nutrition from breast milk and solids. Sometimes if I leave her in the day while she is awake I just get my mum to offer a yogurt. I often only suggest a bottle if I need her to go down for a nap for my mum as she will usually fall asleep on the   bottle which makes life easier for everyone.

[cath~]

does anyone else offer cow's milk as well as the bfs, or is that overkill??

DD2 is offered cows milk in a cup to drink with her breakfast and occasionally her dinner/supper.

She never really has much at breakfast though TBH.  I want to remember to start offering her more often in the evening though, in case this helps her to take less BF at BT.  (As she's approaching 2 now, I'm thinking of weaning).

Having said that, I've just changed our weekday BT routine a bit, now DH is back at work.

I used to BF DD2 on her own and then do her stories (2) and pop her down for the night.  But recently she's been enjoying much more interesting/longer/wordy picture books, which DD1 still enjoys too, so I've been reading them a book together while I BF DD2 (a bit of a struggle at times as legs/arms get in the way, but overall, it's going well).  This has 2 advantages: DD2 stops BFing as soon as she's had enough, so she can see the book properly! (before, she was not so happy when I ended the feed, even when I could tell she now no longer really feeding) and secondly, DD1 has less time on the iPad

I'm thinking though that maybe in a couple of weeks I might ask DD2 if she'd prefer a cup of milk rather than a BF at BT, as she'll be able to see the book better!   So if I'm going to do that, then I might not start offering milk at dinner just yet.  (Although in the long term this is what I'd aim for, I just think that switching BF to cup of milk at BT might be a good intermediary step, rather than just going to no milk at BT at all...)

[cath~]

We have "milkies" about twice a day - first thing in the morning and usually late afternoon (DS2 will only let my husband put him to bed...). Is that about right? I'm worried that maybe he isn't getting enough? I think my production has dropped a bit...

my DDs both had two milk feeds/day at that age

with DD1 it was a morning BF at WU, and cows milk at BT (or just before), so only one BF.  This arrangement lasted about 7 mos and although I def felt far less full, I think I was still making plenty of milk. 
with DD2 it was a morning BF at WU, and a BT BF

I wouldn't have thought you'd have supply problems.  Does your LO show any signs that there's not enough? I.e. frustration/wanting more?

[*Ali*]

I honestly wouldn't worry about supply at this age. Research has shown (check out Kellymom if you are interested in reading about it) that the longer a woman has been feeding the fattier her milk is. So your toddler is getting more calories per ounce than s/he used to. Plus milk is made on demand as LO drinks rather than in advance and stored until feed time like it was in the early weeks and months.

[cath~]

Plus milk is made on demand as LO drinks rather than in advance and stored until feed time like it was in the early weeks and months.

I never knew that!  Really interesting

[trimbler]

Sounds like a great plan, Cath I never had to worry about weaning DS as he just got less interested until one BT he just said "no mummy milk", and continued to refuse for about a week so I just stopped offering, he asked for "daddy milk" - ie cow's milk in a cup, but when he had it he didn't really want that either, so that was the end of his milk intake!

Thanks for your input, both of you - I guess I'll just keep doing what I'm doing for the time being, I'm still able to pump enough for the odd BT feed so will continue for nutritional value until I either get completely fed up with it or become unable to pump enough, as happened for the mid-morning one. I think I'll just keep the mid-morning cow's milk since presumably that will continue through her childhood, unlike the bf She loves her solids and eats more than DS so I don't think there's a danger of her having too much milk, is there??

[*Ali*]

Nope, no danger of too much milk if she is eating a decent amount of solids.

[trimbler]

Hey there, how are you all doing? Ok so I see most of you on the starting school thread anyway

Perhaps this should be on health/medical instead, but since I wondered if it might be an extended bf thing, I thought I'd ask here first - sorry if it's TMI, but there you go, I've warned you now

So, I've been on Cerazette since our postnatal check, having used micronor before - the combined pill gives me horrendous migraines! Started menstruating again when dd was around 11mo, and still not settled back into a regular pattern - could this be partly due to still bf-ing (just twice a day now, although she sometimes refuses when teething or has a daytime feed when sick)? I'm pretty sure my cycle settled down quite quickly when on micronor in between pg, and I bf'd DS until 2yo so no difference there really. It's just pretty annoying as (sorry if tmi) I bleed a little most days, sometimes every day of the month, nothing really heavy like proper AF, though tbh I'd prefer that if it then went away again leaving the rest of the month free! The advantage is that I haven't had a migraine in ages - when gradually reducing bf whilst on micronor, I got fairly nasty ones.

So I'm not asking for medical advice here, I've already seen the GP and got myself thoroughly checked out and all appears fine Just wondered if anyone else has experienced this? Did it all sort itself out in the end, perhaps on weaning bf? The GP seemed a bit puzzled but was quite young and perhaps hadn't come across many extended bf-ers? Thanks - and Ali please just move this if in the wrong place

[weaver]

That is a pain, trimbler.  I can't say I had that, and I haven't gone back on the pill post LO2 (snip snip), but definitely had wonky hormones during the latter part of BF her (to 3.5) and afterwards took a good while to settle down.  I started to take Evening Primrose Oil and that helped.  Maybe something like that would be worth trying? Gentle enough anyway.

[trimbler]

Thanks Anne, that's interesting - so you definitely think your 'wonky hormones' were related to bf? I have to say I'm completely ignorant about evening primrose or anything like that - what's it supposed to do?

[*Ali*]

I took EPO when younger to help period pains. Can't remember if it worked or not now!

I don't get regular periods at all on micronor. In fact, I only get a little spotting if I miss a pill. Otherwise I don't bleed for months. It was the same when feeding my other two. I got regular periods back immediately I stopped taking the POP to TTC though. Is there an alternative you could try if this symptom is too inconvenient? I used to get a really bad headache and nausea on CD1 when not on the POP or pg or BF but that doesn't happen when I don't get AF. It's lovely!

We're still feeding 4 times a day. She stopped having a NF for about 3wks just because she stopped waking but the last week she has been teething and has started waking for a BF again. I'm just going with it for now. She's 14.5mo.

[trimbler]

Thanks Ali, that's interesting. Perhaps I need something stronger! I just had regular periods on micronor, not quite as heavy as when not on a pill but heavy enough Much less on the Cerazette but daily instead I just feel sure that if I ask to switch back to micronor then I'll trade in the daily light bleeding for those nasty migraines which would you choose? Oh well, I ran out yesterday anyway, couldn't make an appointment until then and then had to cancel as LOs unwell and DS couldn't even get out of the house. Blah!

DD makes me smile by announcing 'all gone' whenever she finishes a breast nowadays Especially cute since she's a late talker so still doesn't say very much clearly. She doesn't usually spend very long feeding at all now, but there will be the odd morning, and sometimes evening, when she'll linger for aaaages - Mother's Day for example, when I'd kind of hoped DH would let me go back to sleep for an hour or so, but DD spent almost an hour on there, snuggling and refusing to unlatch - I enjoyed those cuddles but it did get rather uncomfortable as I hadn't bothered to get into a good position first still, can't really complain about Mother's Day cuddles