Well, it’s happening. I’m nursing both my newborn and my toddler. And it’s actually fine.
For one thing, my milk came in almost immediately after my baby was born. By the time he was 24 hours old, he had a real breastmilk poop in his diaper, which excited the pediatric resident so much she called her supervisor to check it out.
And not only did I have milk sooner, I have so much milk. So much! For the first time, my breasts are leaking and spraying milk. I can hear both kids gulping and swallowing as they nurse, certainly filling their bellies with plentiful milk.
With my oldest child, I had to supplement my milk, and so it’s hard for me to even describe how wonderful it feels to provide this much milk. We took the baby for his one-week weigh-in and he’s been gaining an average of 2 ounces per day. What a tank! I love it. It’s so empowering!
I wish I had known while I was pregnant that these practical benefits of tandem nursing would be so wonderful. I think it would have helped me feel less frustrated throughout the process.
As for nursing my toddler, right now I limit him to once a day. He asks almost all the time, but I’ve been able to bribe him with cookies or distract him with toy cars. He gets pretty territorial and upset when I’m holding the baby all the time, nursing all the day long. I think that’s in equal part due to my not being able to run around and play with him because, well, I’m stuck holding and nursing a baby.
Whenever I can, I try to find time to cuddle and snuggle the older kids individually. It sure is hard having 3 babies and only 2 arms. But we’ll figure it out.
We’re 4 weeks in to the process so far and tandeming is totally manageable. I’m still taking it day by day with no expectations. Hopefully it keeps being a non-issue!
Did you tandem nurse your kids? Leave us a comment to share your experiences.
I totally did! I would get the baby settled in and then invite the toddler. In bed, the baby would be sidelying with me and the toddler would drape over my upside and nurse on the other, completely sprawled on me. When the baby was asleep, I would remove him, turn the toddler over to sleep on the other side of me. When she let go, I got a choice. Turn over to the baby again and get some sleep, or get up and get stuff done and they would keep each other asleep because someone was there.
What was your experience nursing DURING pregnancy? Did you produce milk through out the pregnancy?
Hi Kate: I shared some of my experiences nursing during pregnancy here and here. My toddler definitely said there was nothing coming out at various points in mid-to late pregnancy, but he was getting colostrum at the very end.