Breastfeeding toddlers and beyond

[Pluckedpencil]

Starting a thread for all those tenacious ladies who are continuing to feed their little massive bundles of joy from a year and beyond.
I am a mum of two and have had my fair share of cracked nipples, weird comments in parks, acrobatic toddlers and breastfeeding multitasking. My nearly two year old is still feeding and my six year old has stopped now, although it was resurrected yesterday when he was crying with tummy pain!
Not an expert or even peer supporter but I'm sure those ladies will come along soon too!!

Does the older baby not take most of the newborn's colostrum? In animals, where in many species colostrum is the sole means of immunity transfer, this would be fatal to the neonate.

@villainousbroodmare no the older nursling doesn’t take the newborns colostrum. You don’t have a finite amount of colostrum that ‘runs out’. Your body knows how to make as much colostrum as needed until a certain amount of time after birth.

Your body also knows which nursling is feeding and makes different milk depending on who is feeding. I’ve see picture of expressed milk after baby and toddler have fed and it looks totally different.

cracklesfire my DS didn’t get milk aversion but some do stop nursing/cut down then start again when baby comes.
I’ve had the biting/teeth marks before when new teeth were coming through but this is different. Hopefully someone might be able to help!

Checking in!

Fed eldest until 2y9m, I was pregnant again when I weaned her and was having a tricky pregnancy with lots of trips to hospital, she still fed to sleep so I needed to stop that which was the only feed of the day.

Currently feeding DS who is 1. He has the added issue of having an allergy to cows milk so I think I'll be feeding him forever!!

Hi :) I am tandem feeding my 3 year old and 10 month old.

Those of you who have 2 or more children : do you think nursing delayed conception of your subsequent children? We're ttc now and have been for a year. Though it took us 2.5yrs to conceive DD I'm finding myself wondering if I should wean her to help me get pregnant.

Hi littletwo it might actually just be time to wean. When children get to a stage where they can't latch properly due to their teeth, I've heard it could be nature's way of weaning them off. I have no idea where I've read that, so can't post a reputable link... sorry. Either way, I hope it's not too sore for you and that you do find a solution that works for you both.

johnlapsley it definitely can. Doesn't always, though... I got pregnant when feeding my baby a lot! She was 11 months. The pregnancy didn't last, but it only took me a couple of months to conceive. I think the general advice is to try to night wean so you have at least 6 hours of no feeding. This can help to bring back ovulation.

Currently feeding my 23 month old, and recently found out I'm pregnant. I don't think tandem feeding is for me, so I'm hoping DS weans naturally as milk changes throughout pregnancy, but I'm well aware this might not happen! Any tips for weaning a demanding co-sleeping toddler who still wakes numerous times in the night to feed?!

Thanks Kala. She's been consistently night weaned for several months now, and I have noticed a change in my cycle alongside that. Cross fingers for me!

With my eldest, I stopped feeding at 15 months and conceived the following month. We hadn't used any contraception as we wanted a second sooner rather than later. I do think breastfeeding was natural contraception for me.

Thanks @KalaLaka. I thought it was when they lose their milk teeth that they lose their ability to latch and get the milk? Even then I thought it was a gradual thing rather than a sudden one? He’s only just turned 4.

I wanted him to wean naturally. I think it would be really cruel to wean him at this age, especially when his younger sibling is nursing. It works really well for us in so many ways and I’m hoping that there is a solution to the problem (as there often is with most breastfeeding issues). It seems such a shame when someone has a b/f problem that the answer is often to wean or give formula rather than trying to fix the actual issue. I don’t mean that against you at all and thank you for answering, I appreciate it.

Hi, can I join in??

My nursling is only 14 months - but I can't see use stopping feeding anytime soon as she's a proper little boob monster and she'll take a feed over a meal given the chance.

I'm keen to learn off others who have carried on feeding past 1 as it's like a whole different ballgame - but not as talked about.

little you're probably right about the gradual thing. I weaned mine at 3... I couldn't see them self weaning any time soon and I couldn't stand it anymore. I had bf aversion though and it was horrible, especially with PMT. I completely see why you'd want to continue for a while and I hope you find someone with the experience to offer help. Sorry I can't be more useful!

I'm feeding my almost 2 year old and pregnant with #2! Hoping to tandem

Also for those asking about conceiving, my 2 year old feeds very often in the day (maybe every hour) and 1-2 times during the night, my periods returned at 14 months and I didn't have to cut down feeds to conceive.

Thanks Kala yes, he’s showing no signs whatsoever of self weaning!ha.
Aversion is awful, I didn’t know PMT made it worse. I’ve not got my period back from DC3 yet and only had one period when feeding DC2 and getting pregnant. I thought this was nursing aversion until I saw the teeth marks! It’s more like an aversion uncomfortable feeling than a painful biting feeling if that makes sense. It’s like he’s leaning his top teeth on me rather than biting.

We had trouble conceiving DS and he fed a ridiculous amount but I got pregnant as soon as he started solids even before my periods came back. It ended in mc but I was shocked as I really thought with the 10-12 feeds a day & the 2 years it took us to get pregnant the first time that it would take much longer.

I had acupuncture years ago after another mc to regulate my cycles and it really helped.

My just turned 3yo has more or less just weaned and I'm 24 weeks pregnant. I think I've been dried up completely for several weeks now though and I admit I didn't really fancy tandeming, or dealing with the known effects of colostrum on toddler bowels...
We were down to just morning and evening anyway so I gently restricted/redirected in morning and he quickly stopped asking, then more slowly cut down evening.

No issues conceiving - conceived twice straight away while bf and as far as I can tell as soon as my periods returned, so did normal fertility. Some people do seem to struggle unless they wean though - think it's massively individual.

I'm just popping on to say hello and hopefully keep following this thread. My DD is 1 next week so still young (although she's the size of a 2 year old!) but I'm planning to keep going as long as she needs to. She's sensitive to dairy too so I see no reason not to keep it up. I'm half expecting some comments about weaning when we meet up with family we haven't seen for a while next week.

Hi everyone, still feeding my (just turned) two year old Dd. I really really want to stop as it’s starting to give me big anxiety, she nurses to sleep unless in pushchair or car seat. Currently trying to wean her at nights but every time we get to two nights of what I call “suckle n roll over” something happens where she wants to nurse even more. Like going on holiday or being poorly. I really don’t want to do it anymore but feel terrible as she loves the cuddle time but the twiddle is driving me to insanity and it’s so sore now I could cry.

First time admitting this. Ever.

Hello everyone. I was a reluctant bfeeder to begin with but I have fed my eldest (4) since birth; fed all through my second pregnancy and even on the day my youngest was born! Youngest is now 20 months and the two of them tandem feed quite happily.
Will stop when they're ready.

Hi, glad to see I'm not alone! I bf DC1 till 7 mths,DC2 till 2y, DC 3 till 2 and a bit and currently still having night time feeds with a very determined little DC4 at 3.5y. Don't offer-don't refuse hasn't been very effective with us. She was having a waking up feed in the morning which I had almost convinced her to drop but she was very ill with a respiratory infection recently and wanted extra feeds again when she wasn't eating/drinking much else. I don't know anyone else in RL still breastfeeding at this age, but it feels very natural.

@johnlapsley it took us a year to TTC DS3 while I was still feeding DS2 a lot. I noticed my luteal phase was off (apparently can be caused by breastfeeding) and took a b6 supplement.

Just popping in to support. BF DD1 for 17 months and DC2 is due this week so hope we can last at least as long again!

@MrsA2015 have you tried holding their hands in yours, or failing that keeping your own hand firmly clamped down on your other nipple? I would always do this in response to attempts at twiddling, and say "Mummy doesn't like that" pleasantly but firmly. Any luck with a strategy like that?

@QueenAravisOfArchenland yes tried those also tried wearing those fiddle necklaces and normal jewellery to distract her. She gets super annoyed as she always has done since it started at about 6mths. Very strong willed. She’s never used a dummy or had a bottle even though we’ve tried because I just can’t take it anymore I feel like a puppet