Communities

Breastfeeding Moms

All Communities > Breastfeeding Moms > infant to toddler breastfeeding

infant to toddler breastfeeding

Amber - posted on 03/10/2010 ( 3 moms have responded )

20

16

My son is about to be one and he has been breastfeed exculsivly for most of it, with the exception of solid foods that he has done very well with. I work full time so I pump and nurse. I am confused about the transition from infant to toddler. My milk supply seems lower than it used to, but he has just started sleeping through the night and my milk has ajusted. I am not sure if I should still pump at work or just nurse him when I am there and hope that I keep my milk supply? I am not pumping enough to keep him satisfied, so he is drinking cows milk too. Just not sure what to do and how to make the transistion he still wants to nurse and so do I. So just could use a little help. Thanks

Join Circle of Moms

Sign up for Circle of Moms and be a part of this community! Membership is just one click away.

Join Circle of Moms

3 Comments

View replies by

Marcy - posted on 03/10/2010

1,042

1

Amber when my son hit the one year mark I packed up my pump and my daycare provider started giving him organic milk. I work full time and I didn't exactly love pumping (understatement of the year). It took him a few days to get used to the milk...he was exclusively on breastmilk up until that point! It also took my body awhile to adjust to the change. I still nurse on request (he is 3 1/2 years old) but its pretty much dwindled down to right when he wakes up and right before bed. If you are willing and able to continue nursing him I would go for it when you are both together. Even though he is gettting plenty with regular milk and food your time together is so much more than just the nutrition end of it. For us, it was always how we reconnected after I picked him up at daycare. Now (at the age of 3 1/2) I don't offer and he never really asks during the day unless he is sick. I read somewhere that this is the "lazy" approach to weaning and I got a good laugh at that comment. We have always practiced child led parenting and it works for us....much to the dismay of others (including my mom).

Good luck and congrats....

Amber - posted on 03/10/2010

20

16

Thank u so much for the advice. I think that I just get worried that one day I will wake up and have no milk for him, which I know wont happen. I think I will probably keep pumping while at work to keep my milk supply up and just nurse of demand on the weekends. Sometimes I feel like this is harder transition for me than it is for him.

Elizabeth - posted on 03/10/2010

3

1

You go, girl!! Always nurse on demand. That will be your best bet on keeping your supply up. As a full-time worker myself, I understand the frustration of not being able to keep up the pumped supply with the demands. My son and I started having that problem when he was 9 months old, and I had to supplement with the dreaded formula, LOL. While I'm sure there will be other wonderful suggestions, this is what I did: Once he reached a year, I let him drink whole cow's milk when I didn't have enough for him while I was gone. On my days off, he nursed exclusively to encourage my supply to stay up. After he was almost 2, while he probably received most of his liquids from water, milk, and juices, I still nursed on demand, say 3-5 times a day. By this time, I had stopped pumping at work. Even up until he was almost 3, I nursed on demand, although a lot of his nursing was directed towards comforting himself during the trials and errors of toddlerhood.



Remember this, as long as you BOTH still want to nurse, then go for it. Even if he is not getting most of his nutrition from your breastmilk now, in some ways it is even better than it was before. You are producing less foremilk, so what he IS getting is superconcentrated with antibodies and other goodness. You are still giving him the absolute BEST! :) Good luck!

Want to find out the opinions of this community?

Add Poll