Feeding a 2+ year old and a newborn

[Cantstop]

Has anyone got any experience of this?

I'm still feeding my little girl who is 18.5 months. I didn't really have any set finish date in mind when we started, I planned to go as long as she wanted, within reason. Now I'm pregnant with number 2 (we finally have the scan tomorrow so will have a proper due date soon) and I think I'll be due a week or so my daughter turns 2. I vaguely imagined her stopping feeding from me when she was around 2, but I don't want to stop her early on "my" timetable and don't want her to feel pushed out when new baby comes along. My family* (MIL mainly) seem to think I'll be weaning my daughter off before new baby comes along but I don't really feel happy with that.

At the moment she has a feed first thing in the morning, this is her main feed of the day I'd say. Then she has a feed after bath before bed. Some weekends she'll have a feed sometime in the day too, and she doesn't sleep through the night most nights and has a feed sometime between 2am-5am. I can imagine she'll drop the middle of the night one when she starts sleeping through more, but can't see when she'll drop the morning and bed time one any time soon.

I have mild worries just as to how easy it's going to be to manage two at once. I'm sure it's doable, but my main worries are if I co-sleep with number 2, and my little girl still wakes for a feed in the night, the hubby is going to have to be relegated to spare room I think. And also since I'll be off on maternity leave with new baby feeding all the time, will my daughter want to feed more than she currently does do you think?

I'm wondering if anyone has been in this situation and can share their experience for me?

 

[l_maclean]

I've not done this. But from reading other ladies info in my fb groups, a lot of children self wean during a pregnancy, as milk taste can change or supply can drop a bit. Xxx


On my iPhone - so cant see tickers

 

[Cantstop]

I had heard that too, it happened with my friend during her first trimester but I reckon I'm about 13-14 weeks now so based on her only, it doesn't look like that's going to happen - obviously there's plenty of time left and it could still happen but she doesn't seem bothered so far but we'll see what happens in the next 6 months!

 

[l_maclean]

If heard for most it happens nearer the end when
You get colostrum, but may be wrong. X


On my iPhone - so cant see tickers

 

[Karate Kid]

Yes I have heard they self wean at around 24 weeks plus. C is my first though so I have no experience of this.

If you don't mind me asking how often do you have to feed your LO? xx

 

[catty1]

There's a great book called 'adventures in tandem nursing' that's supposed to be great if that helps x

 

[babymother]

Lol. I've done it.

You just don't know how your milk supply will react to being pregnant. I just carried on as nursing was very important to my son.
My LO was born, and I just went straight to tandem nursing but I did try and persuade the older one to wait until I'd fed the newborn.
If I'm onset, I found it difficult. It wasn't any more tiring, but for me the physical feelings of having two babies one older and newborn on me at the same time was more than I could cope with.
As a result of how I felt I opted for 'don't offer, don't refuse' for a bit with older. Then started gentle weaning/distraction as soon as I could.

I also had lots of friends from my La leche league group that loved tandem nursing and really enjoyed it.

It's a very individual thing. I'd say keep an open mind and your feelings are important too

 

[Cantstop]

Yes I have heard they self wean at around 24 weeks plus. C is my first though so I have no experience of this.

If you don't mind me asking how often do you have to feed your LO? xx

Lol I don't mind you asking hun but I say in my opening post, she feeds every morning for a good feed, every night before bed for a varying length feed (depends how tired she is) and when she wakes in the night if she is proper awake and upset she feeds and also sometimes on a weekend of if I'm off work she might have a feed in the day sometime if she asks for it (quite rare) xx

 

[Cantstop]

Lol. I've done it.

You just don't know how your milk supply will react to being pregnant. I just carried on as nursing was very important to my son.
My LO was born, and I just went straight to tandem nursing but I did try and persuade the older one to wait until I'd fed the newborn.
If I'm onset, I found it difficult. It wasn't any more tiring, but for me the physical feelings of having two babies one older and newborn on me at the same time was more than I could cope with.
As a result of how I felt I opted for 'don't offer, don't refuse' for a bit with older. Then started gentle weaning/distraction as soon as I could.

I also had lots of friends from my La leche league group that loved tandem nursing and really enjoyed it.

It's a very individual thing. I'd say keep an open mind and your feelings are important too

Thank you for sharing your experience I don't think I could feed both at the same time like one on each boob, I hadn't even considered that!

 

[Cantstop]

There's a great book called 'adventures in tandem nursing' that's supposed to be great if that helps x

Thanks, I'll see if I can pick it up from Ebay x

 

[Cantstop]

There's a great book called 'adventures in tandem nursing' that's supposed to be great if that helps x

Thanks, I'll see if I can pick it up from Ebay x

Fuck me, the only one on there is £25!

 

[Karate Kid]

Yes I have heard they self wean at around 24 weeks plus. C is my first though so I have no experience of this.

If you don't mind me asking how often do you have to feed your LO? xx

Lol I don't mind you asking hun but I say in my opening post, she feeds every morning for a good feed, every night before bed for a varying length feed (depends how tired she is) and when she wakes in the night if she is proper awake and upset she feeds and also sometimes on a weekend of if I'm off work she might have a feed in the day sometime if she asks for it (quite rare) xx

Thanks Hun sorry i am blind!!

The FB support groups are brilliant there is one called 'dispelling BFing myths' I quite often see q&a's about random nursing and they are a friendly bunch of ladies x

 

[knopk@]

I just finished BFing recently. My supply dropped and he didnt want to nurse.much so we stopped. Took a week or two for him to.stop going for.the breast but he wasnt distressed, distraction worked well.
I was told by a mw its better to stop.about 10 weeks before the new baby arrives.
I wasnt very keen on tandem nursing if i am honest, i think.it will be too difficult.
Does she take any milk from a beaker/cup?

Tapatalking so cant see signatures

 

[Cantstop]

I just finished BFing recently. My supply dropped and he didnt want to nurse.much so we stopped. Took a week or two for him to.stop going for.the breast but he wasnt distressed, distraction worked well.
I was told by a mw its better to stop.about 10 weeks before the new baby arrives.
I wasnt very keen on tandem nursing if i am honest, i think.it will be too difficult.
Does she take any milk from a beaker/cup?

Tapatalking so cant see signatures

She does but not very much, I worry she wouldn't get enough from just beakers. How much milk does your LO drink a day? I think he's slightly younger than mine, but only slightly.

I can see you're 20 weeks so about 7 weeks ahead of me; at what point would you say your supply started dropping?

 

[Rowesb]

threre are plenty of other sources of calcium, cheese and yoghurt are the main ones, so I wouldn't worry about the 'quantity' of milk, it is more the quality of your relationship that is more important, we were discussing older nursing at my peer support meeting, IMO I would carry on for as long as it feels right for you, the level if understanding and negotiation is huge between 18 and 24 months, so tandem nursing may be easier to comprehend then anyway