Saturday, July 9, 2011

Nursing Two

Wow, two years ago I wouldn't have even imagined nursing Luke until two.  But after reading a lot about breastfeeding and seeing that the World Health Organization recommends two years or beyond I decided that I would nurse Luke until he naturally weaned or at least two.  Then I got pregnant when Luke was 15 months old.  I knew my milk would probably go down during pregnancy and that there was a chance he would wean (though I always kinda thought he wouldn't, and he didn't).  When Taryn was born, while sometimes it'd be nice to only have one nursling, I decided to continue nursing Luke to make the transition easier.  And boy has it ever!  I always envisioned jealousy, crying, and really  bad days.  I've only witnessed Luke hugging, kissing and cuddling with his sister.  Never once has he said I don't want a sister, or that he wanted her to go back, like I've heard from other families.
It's not all roses like I made it sound, though.  Luke has gone back to nursing more. Taryn wasn't back to her birth weight as fast as they expected. My midwife told me that to support both, I need to be consuming 1000 extra calories per day, instead of 500.   Once I started eating more, way more, I knew it wasn't a problem anymore.  But boy is it hard to eat that much extra sometimes.
Now I'm starting to not enjoy nursing Luke when he just is goofing around at the breast, sort of like when I was pregnant.  Sometimes he nurses because he's bored and that is hard because I hurts to have him just barely  nurse. 
And some nights, there are just too many wake ups.  And I'm starting not to like nursing them both at the same time, though it's awful cute when they hold hands while nursing.  And it's really nice to just nurse both of them to sleep and get a nap during the day.  And I love at night when I get to cuddle next to Luke and nurse him to sleep, it's really good close time together.
There's really so much that I love about it, but so much that I am starting to dislike.  I'm hoping that I can keep it up as long as I can because I enjoy the 'goods' more than that bads.  Plus, it's been really nice having a toddler who is not jealous and who is so healthy from having mamas milk :)

3 comments:

Zoie @ TouchstoneZ said...

Thank you for this post. I have also had a wonderful experience overall in nursing more than one child. The bonding and lack of jealousy has been a incredible to observe

Lisa C said...

That's awesome that he's not jealous! Michael was so jealous with Maple. He would want to nurse at the worst possible times. And Maple would get upset if I tried to hold her and nurse him at the same time, I guess because she wasn't used to it. Maybe Luke associates Taryn with increased milk supply, lol. :)

Cassie said...

Zoie, cool to hear that your experience is the same!! It really makes for a good transition.

Lisa, yeah Luke hasn't been jealous. He always hugs and kisses Taryn saying I love you Taryn. But the does nurse more frequently now, like a lot more frequently.