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What you eat goes into the breast milk. So, if someone eats a lot of garlic or onions for instance that can flavor the milk to an extent. Maybe this is why you didn't want to nurse?
I was very lucky in that my had MIL nursed even though my own mother was wary of it. The LaLeche League was also very active and I was able to call up at almost any hour especially the first month when I was painfully engourged and with very sore nipples. The kids went straight from the breast to drinking from cups, no bottles inbetween. It did seem like almost every hour nevertheless.
I nursed my first child for 15 mos with the help of LaLeche League. When it was excruciatingly painful in the beginning, they advised me on how to toughen up the skin (sort of like 'sanding' with a towel). When my son's weight kept declining and we figured out that my supply truly was dwindling, they helped me find a supplementer system, which was a bit of a pain, but ultimately a godsend.
Mine also went straight from the breast to the cup, with no bottles in between.
With my daughter 6 years later, I was advised that I could not nurse because of the meds I was then taking for a new but chronic condition. They allowed me to nurse her right after she was born, one time only, since it was only a minute amount of colostrum that she would receive.
I hated bottle feeding--the mess, the expense, the hassle. I also noticed that my daughter kept getting ear infections and colds where her brother had had none, and she had terrible problems with reflux and colic while her brother was symptom free.
Even now at ages 22 and 16, there is a marked difference in their digestive systems: my son has no issues, my daughter has IBS and reflux.
About 15 months with dd #1. Of course, once she started eating solids, she breast fed less and by 15 months she only wanted to nurse at night or when she needed to be comforted.
DD #2 lost interest at about 10 months.
I'm expecting #3 and really worried about how I'm going to breastfeed. With a 10 and 8 year old both with busy schedules, it's going to be harder to take the time to relax, sit and nurse the baby. I'm going to give it a try and try to do it as long as possible.
Still? That is awesome! How has that worked for the both of you? Your family?
How often do you do so? Is it scheduled or as requested?
My goal was 2 years but I'm not sure my daughter would want to stop by then.
I've talked to some LLL whom I know and asked how much is supposed to come out. The answers have all been a bit different.
I nurse twice a day (morning and night) and each time less than a couple oz comes out. I don't get a let down anymore, do you?
It's not often I get to ask questions directly to someone who has nursed that long. It's usually hearsay.
Thanks
For the first year and a half we nursed on demand. After that I limited it to only when we were at home. Eventually I added in more limits, like if I didn't want her to nurse I said no or if other people were at our house I told her she couldn't nurse. Eventually we got down to just morning, bedtime and before and after her nap and I've been gradually cutting down the length of time for those nursing sessions. She used to have no limits, three months ago it was 5 minutes, today it's just 20 seconds. She recently gave up her mid-day nursing in exchange for a toy that she's been wanting. Next we'll give up the morning one and then the night one. We'll have a party to celebrate. I think that my milk is drying up so that is helping to make weaning a lot easier.
When my daughter was born I planned to nurse her for 6 months. That goal increased to a year and then 2 years. After that I just figured we'd keep going until one of us was done. If I hadn't set limits she'd probably still want to nurse all of the time. Setting limits has been the thing that's helped me make it this long. Very few people outside of my family know that she is still nursing. I have a few friends who have nursed even longer so their support has been vital to making it this long. I never imagined I'd be nursing a 3 year old but I'm happy with the way things have turned out.
ETA: I stopped feeling my milk let down a long time ago, maybe around the time dd was a year old but I was definitely still producing milk. It's all supply and demand. The more you nurse, the more milk your body will make.
Last edited by Dorthy; 08-20-2009 at 12:54 PM..
Reason: ETA:
I stopped nursing in public for the most part when she turned 2; before that it was on demand. If she fell and hit her head at the playground or whatever after her 2nd birthday, I nursed her... I just didn't make a habit of it. She usually nursed when waking up in the morning, mid morning, before her nap, and at bedtime, but it wasn't really a schedule... just the way it worked out. After she was 2 1/2, I'd usually only let her nurse for 10-20 seconds at a time, and would say "Okay, one, two, three, other one!" switch sides, let her nurse for 10 seconds and say "One, two, three, all done!"
After she turned 3, I wanted to wean. I made sure that we were out and about and active throughout the day, and since we had stopped nursing in public, that meant that she did not ask to nurse during that time. She gradually gave up the evening nursing, and only had her nonnies first thing in the morning for maybe six months or so. Finally, she only asked sporadically, and the rest of the time, she'd come in and say in her little pipsqueak voice, "I need to have ceweal, and miwk, and a bowl and a spoon." And little by little, that was the end of nursing! It was bittersweet, to be sure, but I was SO HAPPY to be all done nursing.
I did not feel a let down after the first year or so, and I never was able to get anything out with a pump. After she weaned totally, though, I could express a few drops of milk for literally two years! This has been the experience of a lot of other long term nursers as well, so don't freak out if you still have a little bit of milk a year or two after weaning.
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