Extended Breastfeeding Check-in, 3/23

[vvvvvfee]

For the purposes of this check-in, we will define extended breastfeeding as breastfeeding beyond 1 year. Questions are repeated and suggestions are appreciated!

1. How old is your LO?
2. How many times per day does your LO nurse?
3. What is your LO's name for BFing?
4. Does your LO nurse to sleep? If not, what is their bedtime routine like?

Pregnant & BFing Moms: How are you doing this week? Any issues with supply, pain, aversion? Questions for other moms?

Tandem Nursing Moms: How are you doing this week? Any current challenges? Questions for other moms?

Non-breastfeeding question of the week: How did you pick your LO's middle name? Is it a family name or just something you liked?

[vvvvvfee]

1. How old is your LO? 20 months
2. How many times per day does your LO nurse? 4
3. What is your LO's name for BFing? Boobies/bobbies/babies depending on how well he's enunciating.
4. Does your LO nurse to sleep? If not, what is their bedtime routine like? If he's really tired, he'll nurse until he actually passes out, and then we move him to his crib. Otherwise we just put him in his crib after he's done nursing and he generally goes to sleep right away. He's a pretty excellent sleeper, especially compared to his brother.

Non-breastfeeding question of the week: How did you pick your LO's middle name? Is it a family name or just something you liked? DS1 has DH's uncle's name (DH's father's older brother) as a middle name- he died as a young man. DS2's middle name is DH's father's first name- strangely, none of his previous four grandsons were named after him.

[valie]

1. How old is your LO? 14mos/2.5y
2. How many times per day does your LO nurse? 4x/3x
3. What is your LO's name for BFing? DD signs milk. For DS, the closest would be to "drink breastmilk".
4. Does your LO nurse to sleep? If not, what is their bedtime routine like? No. We do nursing before jammies for DD and after jammies for DS and then we still have a story, prayer, gro-clock, and songs with tuck-ins.

Tandem Nursing Moms: How are you doing this week? Any current challenges? Questions for other moms? We're good! Kiddos are awesome!

Non-breastfeeding question of the week: How did you pick your LO's middle name? Is it a family name or just something you liked? DD's is a family name and my confirmation name. DS's is a family name and the name of a couple of my mentors.

[sammysam]

1. How old is your LO? 3

2. How many times per day does your LO nurse? 2 -4

3. What is your LO's name for BFing? Nush

4. Does your LO nurse to sleep? If not, what is their bedtime routine like? We do milk/snack, brush teeth, story (usually multiple...she nurses while I read normally), then turn on her stars and I sing to her...and then she normally nurses again before falling asleep.

Non-breastfeeding question of the week: How did you pick your LO's middle name? Is it a family name or just something you liked? Her first name is the female version of her grandfather's name (he passed before she was born) and her middle name is my grandmother's first name.

[byjove]

1. 15 months
2. 2-3 during the day, eleventy at night
3. No name. Only "more" or as she says it more like "mo-ar"
4. Rarely nurses to sleep. Usually a book, nursing, paci and put in crib. Sometimes she protests for another round of nursing and repeat. Once she was at night, she will only go back to sleep by nursing. Refuses the paci.


Non-breastfeeding question of the week: I mostly liked the name, it was kind of a mash up of several other family names so it works.

[byjove]

Ok guys, any advice? Sleep has gotten so rotten awful since the time change. She just has flat out refused to acknowledge it. She used to be alseep by 7:15 (which would be 8:15 now, which is a tad late IMO), but she won't go to bed until 9 most nights now and she is up a ton of times. She is working on canines and we've given advil occassionally, but this is going on 2 weeks now. Not in a WW. She just screams and screams at bedtime which is so unlike her and points to the door to let her out (if I hold her). Is this normal? We never had these problems with DD1.

[aves0708]

1. How old is your LO?
17 months

2. How many times per day does your LO nurse?
4-6

3. What is your LO's name for BFing?
She uses the sign for milk most of the time.

4. Does your LO nurse to sleep? If not, what is their bedtime routine like?
She doesn't nurse to sleep. We start our routine with nursing, then bath, lotion/jammies, brush teeth, wearable blanket, two books, a small snack, about 5-10 minutes of rocking before she goes in crib awake.

Pregnant & BFing Moms: How are you doing this week? Any issues with supply, pain, aversion? Questions for other moms?
Honestly things are back to being frustrating again. My left nipple pain is back. This has been going on since December (before I got pregnant) and it's really starting to wear on me. The only reason I tell her no when she wants to nurse a million times a day is because I'm dealing with that pain. It's frustrating to me and to her. We had such an easy first year of nursing and I'm angry that NOW we are dealing with all this. I started using the APNO again so hopefully that will help. I'm getting worried that I will have to stop nursing completely on that side before the new baby comes to give it time to heal and handle nursing a newborn.


Non-breastfeeding question of the week: How did you pick your LO's middle name? Is it a family name or just something you liked?
It was just a name we both really liked.

[aves0708]

byjove, Sleep issues are so frustrating! Her having a hard time settling, falling asleep so late, and waking up multiple times sounds like overtired issues. How is she napping?

[byjove]

Mar 23, 2017 13:24:30 GMT -5 aves0708 said:

byjove , Sleep issues are so frustrating! Her having a hard time settling, falling asleep so late, and waking up multiple times sounds like overtired issues. How is she napping?

Napping is going pretty well. I know she is really tired. If I try putting her down earlier she goes ape.

[billyhorrible]

Mar 23, 2017 11:49:44 GMT -5 byjove said:

Ok guys, any advice? Sleep has gotten so rotten awful since the time change. She just has flat out refused to acknowledge it. She used to be alseep by 7:15 (which would be 8:15 now, which is a tad late IMO), but she won't go to bed until 9 most nights now and she is up a ton of times. She is working on canines and we've given advil occassionally, but this is going on 2 weeks now. Not in a WW. She just screams and screams at bedtime which is so unlike her and points to the door to let her out (if I hold her). Is this normal? We never had these problems with DD1.

I am probably the worst person to give sleep advice, but just know I'm there with you.
1) did not have these issues with my first
2) refusal to acknowledge the time change (except in the morning... he wakes up before 6)
3) Advil does not seem to help

I will say, the past few days have gotten better with going to bed. He's been asleep by 7:30 again. Yesterday we also started doing Sprouts Good Night Stretches before bed as a way to wind down a little.

I do think his sleep is related to teeth and the cold he can't seem to shake. I'm hopeful it will get better when both of those things aren't issues anymore. For your daughter, canines really are the worst, so maybe it's just poor timing with that AND the time change?

[billyhorrible]

1. How old is your LO? 21 months
2. How many times per day does your LO nurse? 2
3. What is your LO's name for BFing? milk
4. Does your LO nurse to sleep? If not, what is their bedtime routine like? He nurses before bed as part of his routine, but he doesn't fall asleep nursing. He nurses, then asks to "walk" which is me holding him while walking around his room. Once we're walking he asks for the "Horsie Song" (All the pretty little horses) and while I'm singing he'll go to sleep.

Non-breastfeeding question of the week: How did you pick your LO's middle name? Is it a family name or just something you liked? family name. My first son's middle name is my father's name, my younger son's middle name is my FIL's name.

[byjove]

billyhorrible,could be. I feel like these canines have been coming in for months and have been so slow to actually break through. I really need them to pop through soon. I need some sleep.

[iqeb]

Mar 23, 2017 11:49:44 GMT -5 byjove said:

Ok guys, any advice? Sleep has gotten so rotten awful since the time change. She just has flat out refused to acknowledge it. She used to be alseep by 7:15 (which would be 8:15 now, which is a tad late IMO), but she won't go to bed until 9 most nights now and she is up a ton of times. She is working on canines and we've given advil occassionally, but this is going on 2 weeks now. Not in a WW. She just screams and screams at bedtime which is so unlike her and points to the door to let her out (if I hold her). Is this normal? We never had these problems with DD1.

One nap or two? Amount of daytime sleep and waketimes?

One thing I've seen recommended is some confidence-building roughhousing before bed. Like racing them around the house and letting them win, somersaults on a floor bed, tickles, tossing them in the air. For some kids this might rile them up and make it harder to sleep, for others it helps them feel confident and happy and secure. 

I know some people don't like the idea of a bedtime snack, but we always bring a pouch and cheerios into the nursery and offer them several times. We talk about how we're going to brush her teddy bear's teeth in a few minutes, so she should have a snack now if she's hungry. At the very least it helps me feel confident that we aren't putting her to bed hungry. 

She also reached a point where me going into her room in the motn was just waking her up more and not helping her, and giving her five minutes to settle first was clearly what she needed.

Sleep issues suck, I hope those canines break through and things get better soon!

[jewel441]

1. How old is your LO? 12.5 months
2. How many times per day does your LO nurse? 6-8 times a day... right now a lot I think we are doing the 2-1 nap transition and it's been weird... seems young to me but she seems to be ready.
3. What is your LO's name for BFing? She just grabs by shirt and tries to pull it off and just excitedly hits me on the chest or snaps my strap.
4. Does your LO nurse to sleep? If not, what is their bedtime routine like? Nurse before bed but she never falls asleep nursing. She has always been really easy to put down for bed. I just put her in and she falls right asleep

Non-breastfeeding question of the week: How did you pick your LO's middle name? Is it a family name or just something you liked?

It was my grandmother's name.

[lilyelayne]

1. How old is your LO? - 2 years

2. How many times per day does your LO nurse? - 3+

3. What is your LO's name for BFing? - mik mik. Sometimes he says "I want to nurse" which is new.

4. Does your LO nurse to sleep? If not, what is their bedtime routine like? - rarely, usually only if he didn't nap that day.
DH does bedtime diaper & PJs with just the lamp on. I join them in the nursery. DS says goodnight to the dog. DH & the dog leave. We nurse in the dark. If he's awake, then we turn on the lamp. Read 1-3 books. Say prayers. DS calls for DH, who rocks/bounces/walks per DS's request while singing lullaby. DS goes into his crib, 98% of the time awake.

Non-breastfeeding question of the week: How did you pick your LO's middle name? Is it a family name or just something you liked? - it's a family name. FIL, DH, and DS all have the same first initial and middle name. I wanted my maiden name for DS's middle name but I folded to the family tradition. Wish I hadn't.

[byjove]

iqeb, she takes one nap (very, very rare for 2 these days) and it is usually 2 hours. She wants to wake up at 7:30 (or later), but we have to be out the door before 8, ideally 7:45. She used to wake up 6:30-7. Nap is usually around noon.

She used to go to bed directly after bedtime plus nurse, so snack wasn't too much of an issue. She wants to play before bed (especially with big sis), but she is so tired, rubbing her eyes and pretending to "nigh, nigh." She is usually eating a little snack now. Doesn't make a big difference because she is only sleeping 2 hour chunks right now. She had been doing 5-6 for a while. She shares a room with big sis, so I'll let her fuss for several minutes but once it ramps up I get her (occasionally she'll let out one or two cries and go back to sleep on her own). Once she is really upset though, there is no settling on her own.

[iqeb]

byjove, maybe try pushing nap a little later? I've heard that on one nap most kids do better with the slightly longer waketime in the morning. Otherwise I hope it's a phase that ends soon!

[iqeb]

1. How old is your LO? 19 months (and 37+5)
2. How many times per day does your LO nurse? between 4 and 4 million
3. What is your LO's name for BFing? she just signs milk for now
4. Does your LO nurse to sleep? If not, what is their bedtime routine like? After her bath we put on pjs and have some reading, wrestling, nursing, and snacking time in her room. We give her a lot of warnings that tooth brushing time is coming, and then we do vit D, floss, brush, sleepsack, white noise. Dad holds her while I read her bedtime book, and then I tell her goodnight and leave the room. Dad stays with her while she rolls around on her floor bed and sings to herself until she falls asleep. And then I walk the dog in peace and quiet and take a hot shower :-) We started this routine back in December because I didn't want to have to nurse two kids to sleep every night, and it's been so great for me to have a break I can count on and to see how much she loves her routine with her dad.

Pregnant & BFing Moms: How are you doing this week? Any issues with supply, pain, aversion? Questions for other moms? Nothing is super comfortable this late in pregnancy but we're doing ok.

Non-breastfeeding question of the week: How did you pick your LO's middle name? Is it a family name or just something you liked? H and I legally changed our middle names to my former last name when we got married and used it for toddler (and will for fetus) as well.

[flippinchica]

For the purposes of this check-in, we will define extended breastfeeding as breastfeeding beyond 1 year. Questions are repeated and suggestions are appreciated!

1. How old is your LO? 19 months
2. How many times per day does your LO nurse? 3x on weekdays more on weekends
3. What is your LO's name for BFing? He says 'boob'
4. Does your LO nurse to sleep? If not, what is their bedtime routine like? No. We stopped that at 7.5 months. Now we do bath, boob, teeth, book, song, bed

Non-breastfeeding question of the week: How did you pick your LO's middle name? Is it a family name or just something you liked? It is a family name. My dad's middle name

[flippinchica]

I got advice to separate nursing from bedtime by 20-30 minutes and do it at the beginning of the routine and it really helped with wanting to nurse all night by breaking the nurse to sleep association at bedtime. It really helped for us.

[byjove]

Mar 24, 2017 14:54:02 GMT -5 iqeb said:

byjove , maybe try pushing nap a little later? I've heard that on one nap most kids do better with the slightly longer waketime in the morning. Otherwise I hope it's a phase that ends soon!

She's rubbing her eyes be 10 am but we couldn't get her down until 1:30 yesterday. She refused sleep before 9 pm. OVER IT

[geners]

1. How old is your LO? Almost 16 mo

2. How many times per day does your LO nurse? 2x on work days, otherwise 3-4x. One of those is MOTN or very early morning, another is at bedtime

3. What is your LO's name for BFing? No name for it yet. He basically just shoves his hands down my shirt and if I ask 'milk?' he nods excitedly. At bedtime I sit in the rocking chair and he'll start trying to climb onto my lap or MH will hand him to me and he'll have his arms outstretched trying to dive towards me, lol.

4. Does your LO nurse to sleep? Yes most nights. We do bath 3x week. Then (this is the same for all nights) - brush teeth, nighttime diaper, lotion, PJs, and then he plays in his crib with a book or toys for a few minutes while we get the room ready, MH reads him a book and puts him in a sleepsack, lights off, white noise on, then I nurse. I have tried getting him down drowsy but awake, but he usually falls asleep before I catch it. I am interested in trying to move nursing earlier like flippinchica said, but our evenings are so compressed on workdays as is I'm afraid to mess with the routine since it works for us currently. But if it could cut down on night wakings where we have to help him back to sleep... idk.

Non-breastfeeding question of the week: How did you pick your LO's middle name? It's Revere - my late grandpa's middle name. He was the best, and also I just really love the name and always wanted to use it.

[sunfrogger88]

Hai! Sorry I disappeared. I'm still here!

1. 16mo
2. 3-5
3. "Dulk" for milk
4. Yes, we put on pj's, say goodnight to the sun (a painting in our hallway) and sing twinkle twinkle, then nurse. If I'm not home, mh rocks her to sleep.

My LOs MN is her great, great grandmother's name.