Have you breastfed two at the same time?

[Blogme]

Asking on the parenting page too, just wanted to widen reach...

Looking for advice on breastfeeding two siblings of different ages (rather than twins, although if you've breastfed twins then I take my hat off to you!).

I'm still breastfeeding 17-month old DS and was recently thinking I may carry on until he's 2 next April (not thought much beyond that, other than getting through winter).

Baby no#2 is due pretty much on his 2nd birthday and I'm in two minds about whether to try and breastfeed both, or wean DS before then (unless he self-weans during this pregnancy).

Have any of you had experience of this? Does feeding two mess up your milk supply? Was it logistically too complicated and exhausting? Did you tell your first child that the new baby needed the milk and they couldn't have any more (read this once on MN) - did this create jealousy issues?

Any thoughts, tips etc greatly appreciated! TIA.

Yes I did, it didn’t cause any jealousy no but Then mine were only born a year apart so wouldn’t really cause jealousy, I feed them usually at the same time anyway, and no didn’t affect my supply.

Hi @allBakingOfTheFoodCats,
Thanks for replying, that's good to hear you had no issues with supply or jealousy. That's impressive you feed them together as well! DS tends to try and wriggle off me and plant his feet on the floor while still attached to me so I can imagine some feeding injuries if I tried to dot hat but you never know! How often were you feeding your oldest when you had your second?

I as still feeding ds when I was pregnant with dd. It was fine until I reached about 26 weeks then I weaned him. Just couldn’t stand feeding him any longer he was 2.9 years. I was so off bf that I thought I wouldn’t want to feed dd when she arrived but I did and it was fine.

DD was almost 3 when DS was born. She carried on feeding once a day for a couple of weeks but was losing interest. One day I had put lanisoh (sp?) cream on and she didn't like it and stopped. I felt a bit guilty but glad, especially as her feed was always first thing in the morning. I never really understood how it worked with colostrum though!

Hi OP, i stopped feeding DS1 at 25 months. At 23 months I dropped the evening feed which left him with just a morning feed. At 24 months I only gave him the morning feed if he asked and he stopped asking at 25 months. At this point I was about 4 months pregnant.

Personally I am glad he didn't want anymore as right now I can't imagine coping with feeding two children! If you choose to continue, at age 2 you might find he only has two feeds a day anyway.

I was still feeding DS when I got pregnant, 23m age gap. I did a lot of research into tandem feeding and decided I was open to the idea. In the end he weaned during my second trimester (between 18-19 months old). I assume my milk dried up which is fairly common at that stage. He just never asked for it again. I ended up feeling quite relieved when DD was born and the cluster feeding began! Good luck whatever you decide.

I tandem fed DS2 and DS3 for a year. I had stopped feeding ds1 when I was pregnant with DS2, and it had been ok, but then when I had the baby he was super jealous and I then I missed feeding him, but didn't want to go back having stopped. So when I was pregnant with DS3(same age gap) I carried on. It was mostly at bedtime or if he was poorly. Once I'd had the baby, he wanted to feed a lot more again for about a fortnight, which could have been tricky, but was ok as if had been a straightforward labor and the newborn was a good feeder. After that, he went back to just a very quick feed at bedtime. Ds2 was never jealous of ds3 so that wasn't a problem, not sure how much was down to personality, the fact he was already used to having a brother, or continuing to feed him though

There's 3y3m between my dc, I feed both until the younger one was about 6 months. The big one had a occasional feed for maybe another year, can't actually remember. The younger one finished just before turned 4. No supply issues, possibly some jealousy but when do talks about it, it's more that do gets more cuddles than her, not because she was ripped from the breast so I could suckle the interloper.

I have tandem fed twice. I truly believe it helps the older child accept their sibling without jealousy, as they were allowed milk as well as the new baby. I did have too much milk though, as my supply was for two and then sometimes the older one didn't want to feed (if we were busy and distracted) and then I found I was at risk of mastitis, which I suffered with a fair few times.

I tandem fed my 2.5yo and my 7 week old until a few days ago when DD1 told me she didn't want to feed any more and would rather have an extra bedtime story. She's been a total boob monster since day 1 so it was a surprise although I had gently been trying to prepare her to eventually stop so perhaps it was more effective than I'd thought. She's totally fine now but I think I'm still coming to terms with it!

It was lovely having that bond with DD1 through the craziness of a newborn coming along even if it was just 5 minutes before bed when we'd have a cuddle and a feed, so I'm glad I carried on for that reason alone. I did have some pretty strong BF aversion during pregnancy and it would have been easy to stop so just bear that in mind if you're planning on continuing.

I did very briefly.
Dd1 fed until she was 3years 1 month. Dd2 was born when dd1 was almost 3yo.

Dd1 had become less keen on it for a bit towards the last couple of months of pregnancy, but I didn't want to refuse her in case she associated it with the new baby and became jealous.
There was a point in pregnancy where she commented there wasn't much milk and she commented the milk tasted funny about a week after dd2 was born, and didn't want it for a few days after that, then had occasional feeds for ta few weeks, then didn't ask again.

I was still BF DS1 when I got pregnant with twins, I was trying to get my head around feeding 3! Somehow DS self weaned at 18 months when I was about 30 weeks pregnant. I think perhaps my milk changed or dried up, or simply he was ready to stop. I was glad he did it of his own accord. And it was just long enough for him to have forgotten about it when the twins arrived, so no issues there.

Hi all,
Thanks so much for these replies, there's a real mix of experiences and it's good to hear the different sides.
Sounds like it may be an idea to slowly cut down next year (or he'll just self-wean naturally - apparently the milk turns into colostrum about half way through pregnancy and can put babies off).

At the moment DS will have a biggish morning feed then loads of annoying little snack feeds throughout the day (also a boob monster like yours @allConstantlyIrksome, your post was very useful).

Lots to think about, thanks for sharing your thoughts! At least I've got a fair few months to mull this over.

I tandem fed DS1 and DS2 for about 3 years. I found it pretty easy.
The only issue I had was in pregnancy really. I had hyperemesis gravidarum and felt awful for a while. If DS1 had weaned then I probably wouldn't have objected too much though I'd have felt guilty I think. Once beyond that stage i had no issues though.
I'd recommend reading Adventures in Tandem Nursing by Hilary Flowers published by LLL. Don't let the stupid title or the Americanisms put you off as there's a lot of useful information about breastfeeding in pregnancy and tandem feeding which is worth knowing, whatever you plan to do.

I have tandem fed twice. Actually I e tandem fed once and triple fed once. No issues either time. It helps avoid jealousy and encourages a closer bond between the children, I think.

It didn't mess up my milk supply at all. There was ways entry for everyone. As for cutting down, I didn't. I breast fed all my kids till the self weaned at any age between 3 and 6. They cut back themselves naturally as they got older until they just stopped when they were ready.