Some of you may or may not know that I am currently “tandem nursing” my 2 year old and my newborn! It was something I absolutely never considered I would be doing but, truthfully, I think it has helped my daughter with the transition to adding a sibling to the family!

There’s not a ton of research on the topic, only one real book that I know of Adventures in Tandem Nursing Book that was very comprehensive. Additionally, I turned to social media (of course) for some extra knowledge and support going into this. I loved the La Leche League tandem nursing Facebook group!

Would weaning my oldest have been easier? Maybe. I didn’t feel emotionally ready to wean her yet since I really wanted to make it to age 2 (but if she self-weaned, I understood). That being said, I also didn’t offer consistently. By about 17-18 months of age, she was mostly only nursing during the day and to sleep. She cut out falling asleep while nursing around 19-20 months (which actually made getting her to sleep a little more difficult in my opinion!).

At the beginning of finding out I was pregnant, my nipples were a little sore. This may have partially been due to my daughter trying REAL hard to get anything out (lol) but I also read it could be due to low magnesium. I did try to take this Magnesium Supplement for awhile and it might have helped, but ultimately, I stopped drinking it due to nausea.

I think around 4-5 months of pregnancy, my supply mostly dried up – as evidenced by Kinley only nursing once a day for sometimes less than a minute. There were even a few days where she wouldn’t nurse at all! It made me a little sad thinking she may self-wean, but once 32 weeks rolled around, my colostrum came in and she started nursing more again (about 3x/day).

Throughout pregnancy, I didn’t have any aversions – which I know can be common for so many! My daughter also kind of naturally night-weaned herself (I’m assuming because of the supply drop). I have also heard of many folks whose child keeps the same 6-8x/day nursing, which didn’t happen with me either.

Now that we’ve introduced our newest little human to our family, Kinley still nurses 1-3x/day with me setting some limits around this. I always make sure the newborn has fed first before her, and she is actually very patient with this! Towards the end of my pregnancy, she had started bringing her stuffed animals with her to also “get the boob” as we call it. She naturally would let them go first and then we would both yell in excitement when it was her “turn.” I usually de-latch her after a minute or so, because truthfully, she would likely keep nursing all day if she could, now that my milk is back.

So far, I have not latched both of them at the same time – and I’m not sure that I will. Only time will tell! I do think it has been helpful in transitioning to having a sibling – it gives her something consistent and something that we get to do together each day.

Overall, I’m really happy I made the choice to continue breastfeeding my oldest with my youngest! It has been a positive experience (so far) for all of us! If you have any questions about it – feel free to email me at thesleepdpt@gmail.com or reach out on Instagram!

If you have any other questions or concerns that I may be able to help with when it comes to transitioning from 1 to 2 kids – let’s set up a discovery call and figure out if a consult would be right for you! If you are looking for a time that isn’t listed – please email me so I can help 🙂

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Until next time,

Jen

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