Help me keep nursing!

[Stayseeliz]

DD3 is almost 11 months. I'd planned on nursing for two years but I'm t.i.r.e.d. I've been pregnant, nursing or trying to get pregnant with short little breaks for 11 years. I nursed my son for 9 months, dd1 for 17 months and dd2 for 28 months. I really want to make it to at least two years for health reasons for the both of us but I'm just so done. I never EVER lose weight while nursing which effects my blood sugar (pcos and hypoglycemia). I'm always super tired and feel yucky until I wean. I'm just tired. I've flirted with the idea of weaning her at 18 months, 15 months etc but I just need motivation to make it another year. Tell me I can do it. Tell me I won't regret it. I need support. :001_smile:

[Starr]

I didn't loose weight but I did nurse until ds was over two. You can do it. In our case he was sleeping through the night so I was getting enough sleep. Can you schedule her some? :grouphug:

[scholarly]

:grouphug: You can do it! You have done it before and you can do it again!

[Remudamom]

It's lovely to nurse that long but listen, please don't guilt yourself into it. Take if from an old mom, love your babies and enjoy them and don't base your opinion of yourself as a mother on whether or not you have nursed your babies x amount of months.

 

I nursed one for less than a week and got bullied out of it by a doctor when the baby got very jaundiced, nursed the second until she weaned herself at about 9 months, and then pumped for triplets for six weeks until I was exhausted. I love them all. The nursing/not nursing/ bottle fed pumped babies............whatever. I don't regret any of it. Just love them and quit trying to be supermom. Just be a loving mom.

[Pretty in Pink]

Only you know what feels right in your nursing relationship. All I can tell you is that I would give just about anything to be able to nurse my babies. :grouphug:

[HeidiKC]

Do you feel tired because you're nursing during the night, or are you maybe not getting enough calories or something? Or is the blood sugar you mentioned? Is there something you could do as far as diet to remedy that? I don't know - a protein type of drink or something similar???

 

Also, how many times/day are you nursing? A compromise (rather than quitting) might be to only nurse her 2-3 times/day. I was only nursing twice daily for about the last 6 months, and my cycle didn't return until I quit (referring to nursing for health reasons).

 

Keeping my fingers crossed for you! You're a good mom!

[Rivka]

It's lovely to nurse that long but listen, please don't guilt yourself into it. Take if from an old mom, love your babies and enjoy them and don't base your opinion of yourself as a mother on whether or not you have nursed your babies x amount of months.

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

 

Nursing past a year is great when it's by mutual consent, but if one person is ready to stop I think it's totally fine to stop. Your health is being affected.

[ktgrok]

You can do it! Also, maybe you need to look at other changes to help your health? I know that I do better with lower carb, even when nursing. Not zero carb, but grain free anyway. I still have fruits, sweet potatoes, etc. It really helps with the exhaustion.

 

Also, could be be vitamin deficient? Do you have any intestinal problems that might influence how well you absorb vitamins? Are you anemic? Have you had any blood work done?

 

Nursing a toddler shouldn't take THAT much energy out of you...I'd look at other issues.

[ktgrok]

Oh, and you won't regret it. When they are big and don't want you to hug them in public you will not regret a single time you nursed :)

 

that said, it doesn't have to be all or nothing. You can move towards less nursing and still keep bedtime or whatever.

 

I get the tired part....I'm 9 weeks pregnant and nursing my just turned 2 year old. we are cutting back, but haven't weaned yet.

[ThreeBlessings]

Have you tried upping your protein intake and eating less more often? I feel a lot better when I eat like this. I've read this is good for losing weight and maintaining blood sugar levels too, but I'm no dietician. From my experience I have lost weight and felt better as far as energy and blood sugar levels. I tend to not eat often enough and man it can seriously affect me.

 

Some easy good protein foods are chicken breasts(you can buy these frozen and just pop them in the oven to bake at 425 for 35-45 minutes), cottage cheese(good with applesauce or canned fruit in juice), cheddar cheese slices or cubes, peanut butter(spread on apple slices or crackers), yogurt(check labels carefully), tuna(good as tuna salad on a lettuce bed, no bread needed for yum), and a healthier lunchmeat choice like Hormel all natural turkey(you can do an open face oven toasted sandwich or just roll up meat and cheese slices to cut down on carbs).

[Radish4ever]

That's about the time I feel done for a while, too. Usually I change our routines up a bit to give me more ME time and LO doesn't suffer and I feel more refreshed.

I have DH put the kid to bed for a while instead of me (since it's nursing to sleep that annoys me first) and go out on girls' nights and such. ;-P I also put the little one off a little bit - when asking to nurse, I say, "Not right now," and then get the little one to do something else via distractions. After a few weeks, I start missing it again and get back into a new groove with it and feel better about it. Also, since I never QUIT, it's easy to continue on whenever since my supply is still there.

[MrsH]

 

Also, could be be vitamin deficient? Do you have any intestinal problems that might influence how well you absorb vitamins? Are you anemic? Have you had any blood work done?

 

:iagree: For me it was actually right around the one-year mark that I went to get my vitamin levels checked and was low in iron and horribly low in vitamin d. Once I started supplementing, I started to feel a LOT better and our nursing relationship ended up lasting until she was 2.9, in a feeling good kind of way.

 

Perhaps you can also think about night-weaning at some point. We tried it at 12 months and it was a disaster, but at 14 months it went smoothly, and it really helped my energy because even when she did wake up, DH could sometimes take her.

 

I do really hear you on the weight thing... it's hard to bear, isn't it?

[2squared]

DD3 is almost 11 months. I'd planned on nursing for two years but I'm t.i.r.e.d. I've been pregnant, nursing or trying to get pregnant with short little breaks for 11 years. I nursed my son for 9 months, dd1 for 17 months and dd2 for 28 months. I really want to make it to at least two years for health reasons for the both of us but I'm just so done. I never EVER lose weight while nursing which effects my blood sugar (pcos and hypoglycemia). I'm always super tired and feel yucky until I wean. I'm just tired. I've flirted with the idea of weaning her at 18 months, 15 months etc but I just need motivation to make it another year. Tell me I can do it. Tell me I won't regret it. I need support. :001_smile:

1

 

:grouphug: I am right here with ya! My youngest is 15 months, and I have now been nursing and/or pregnant for over 10 years. That's a decade. I am tired. Somehow I just muddle on sad about it come to an end yet looking forward to the next phase.

[MrsH]

That's about the time I feel done for a while, too. Usually I change our routines up a bit to give me more ME time and LO doesn't suffer and I feel more refreshed.

I have DH put the kid to bed for a while instead of me (since it's nursing to sleep that annoys me first) and go out on girls' nights and such. ;-P I also put the little one off a little bit - when asking to nurse, I say, "Not right now," and then get the little one to do something else via distractions. After a few weeks, I start missing it again and get back into a new groove with it and feel better about it. Also, since I never QUIT, it's easy to continue on whenever since my supply is still there.

:iagree: Used similar solutions but forgot I did! But yes, there were a LOT more limits on her nursing the older she got!

[justasque]

Mothering Your Nursing Toddler seems to help a lot of folks who are at that point. It's good at helping people sort out when/how to wean, and/or how to continue, how to set limits, etc. etc.

 

I would also look seriously at your diet, and also consider testing for things like low thyroid. Protein can help with both the fatigue and the low blood sugar. I also find that a diet very low in added sweeteners helps considerably with low blood sugar - the crashes aren't as low, and are fewer in number.

[Annie Laurie]

I hear ya, my baby is 14 months and wants to nurse like a newborn and I am so tired of it. But it's important to me to nurse until age 2 also, so I'm going to continue but am working on limits with him, and on night weaning.

 

I remember reading something about the myelin sheaths being done forming around age 2 and that breastmilk does a lot toward their proper formation so I keep that in mind when I feel just done with bfing. Plus, I know with my particular child, bfing goes a long way toward helping him calm down and it helps so much when he's sick, which is a lot. I would get a break in some ways with weaning, but in other ways things would be more work.

 

:grouphug:

 

I would look into why you feel so tired and see if you could find a way to make that better. (I know, easier said than done with a little one around).

[Stayseeliz]

Thanks for the advice! We *just* started working on night weaning. I didn't mind nursing at night SOME but she wanted to nurse ALL night long so I knew we had to move on from that. She's slept through the night the last two nights. So hopefully my mind and body can relax now and I can get some good sleep.

 

I do need to be better about eating more protein. I had to cut out dairy when she was younger but I'm going to try cottage cheese, etc again to see how it goes. I need to drink more water too. I drink a good bit but I really need to drink more.

 

How do I know how much vit D to take? I was thinking about supplementing with that!

[Stayseeliz]

Only you know what feels right in your nursing relationship. All I can tell you is that I would give just about anything to be able to nurse my babies. :grouphug:

 

Thanks. I needed to hear that. I fought so hard to nurse with her being in the NICU. I needed a reminder that it's a blessing. Thanks. :)

[Forget-Me-Not]

Good luck! I nursed mine for 18 mos, 23 mos and 23 mos. Night weaning made a huge difference for me in my ability to handle the nursing relationship just a little big longer.