5 Reasons Why You Might Breastfeed a Toddler and an Infantby Valorie Delp | More from this Blogger 25 Sep 2006 06:34 PM I remember when I was still nursing my oldest daughter while I was very pregnant with my son, someone asked me what I was going to do after the baby was born and they both wanted to nurse. This simply was a non-issue for me. I would nurse both. I have now talked to many mothers who do the same thing (although it is not, in my opinion a very common practice). Here is a list of reasons why you might consider nursing through a pregnancy and then tandem nursing both the toddler and the baby. 1. Child led weaning. Many mothers choose to continue nursing through their pregnancies because they believe in child led weaning. Child led weaning, as the phrase implies, means that the child would "choose" to wean himself. It doesn't necessarily mean that a mother wouldn't do some things to help encourage the weaning process, but generally speaking, it would be the child that determines when he's ready to stop. 2. Preventing Jealousy. Several mothers surveyed indicated that tandem nursing prevented jealousy in the older sibling. While I would be hard pressed to say that it completely prevented jealousy, I will say that we observed the same phenomenon in our household with all of are nursing toddlers. It seemed to be much easier on a toddler who was allowed to nurse along side the new baby. 3. Tandem nursing fosters close relationships between siblings. I think this is nearly impossible to say that a close relationship is due to the tandem breastfeeding. However, it certainly makes sense that the bonding would increase if the sibling pair spends significant amounts of time nursing together. 4. Tandem nursing relieves engorgement. Instead of using a pump to relieve engorgement or expressing milk by hand, a nursing toddler will take care of engorgement rather quickly. Tandem nursing also will help prevent plugged ducts by the same principle. 5. Increasing the duration of lactational amenorrhea. That's the really fancy way of saying that while you're nursing, you shouldn't get your period back. Nursing two at a time may increase the duration of time that you don't get your period. (Note: Simultaneous nursing is what really lengthens the duration of time that you experience amenorrhea.) Related Articles: Extended Breastfeeding: Why You Should Breastfeed for a Few Years Learn more about Valorie Delp  Hello everybody! My name is Valorie and I am one busy lady! When I'm not writing or editing for families, I am busy trying to get my brood of 5 in line. Relevantbaby tags User Comments kristie4 (120) 14 Apr 2007 11:09 PMWhen I first brought home my second baby, first child who was still nursing, walked in as I was feeding the baby. At first he looked shocked but then he quickly recovered and said, "Thats okay mom. One for the baby one for me!" There has never been any jealousy between my kids and my eldest is so wonderful and kind. He has many friends and just graduated Harvard University! I have a surprise baby now who is 13 months old. People are already asking when I am going to be done! This is my last baby. I have enjoyed sharing this with her. I will probably need to be weaned. Such a special time...sigh.  Valorie Delp (49340) 15 Apr 2007 04:49 AMLOL! My twins are my last babies and they are still nursing and will be 2 in June! Thanks for sharing!  Kimmama |
Baby categories |
