should I nightwean?
in [Breastfeeding]
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From: linda on 13 Jun 2007 04:50 DD is 17 months old, happy, healthy and still nurses quite often during the day and night. She goes through spurts of wanting to eat solids and will eat lots and at other times just picks. I've never fussed too much as I know she's still growing well and getting a lot from me. Only problem is we want to have another child. For a number of reasons we had wanted to have them close together but at this rate who knows when I'll get my period back. I have severe polycystic ovarian syndrome and was originally told that I would probably never have kids. Well DD was conceived the first time we decided to stop using contraception to see what would happen, which could have just been a wonderful blessing, or could mean that maybe it's not too hard for me to get pregant after all. We co-sleep and I am quite fine with her nursing as much as she wants to in the night, so it's not that I actually want to stop, but I'm wondering if I should to increase my chances of getting a period back. Thing is, I might be one of those women that don't get a period as long as I'm still nursing even infrequently, plus what if I can't have another baby - I would be depriving her for nothing. But on the other hand, if I am going to have troubles having another kid surely I should be trying to get pregnant in case it takes a while - or not?? I just don't know what to do - DH keeps saying I should wean her just because she's too old to be nursing anyway (to which I keep explaining that I want to for as long as she and I still enjoy it) but he doesn't really mind, I think it's just a society thing. So the answer for him is easy, but I'm just not sure. Plus then there would actually be the logistics of night weaning. We plan on cosleeping for a while yet - till she's ready for her own bed, so that would make it difficult to wean her although I did read on the Sears site some ways to go about it. But it involves a couple of weeks of miserable nights, which I really don't want to subject any of us to when it might not even make any difference. Thoughts and advice would be greatly appreciated
From: Irrational Number on 13 Jun 2007 10:13 linda wrote: > Thing is, I might > be one of those women that don't get a period as long as I'm still nursing > even infrequently, plus what if I can't have another baby - I would be > depriving her for nothing. But on the other hand, if I am going to have > troubles having another kid surely I should be trying to get pregnant in > case it takes a while - or not?? Ahh... what a difficult decision. In your position, I would keep nursing day and night for another couple of months and see what happens. I got AF back at 11 months with Pillbug and 16 months with Rocky. Both times, I was still nursing strong. > I just don't know what to do - DH keeps saying I should wean her just > because she's too old to be nursing anyway (to which I keep explaining that > I want to for as long as she and I still enjoy it) but he doesn't really > mind, I think it's just a society thing. Rocky is now 2yo and we are still nursing strong. One thing I have learned, though, is that I need to have ready answers when I nurse in public! It's not every day that people see a 2yo nursing and some people make rude comments. > Plus then there would actually be the logistics of night weaning. We plan > on cosleeping for a while yet - till she's ready for her own bed, so that > would make it difficult to wean her although I did read on the Sears site > some ways to go about it. It was not that miserable for us to night wean and we are still co-sleeping (at 2yo). The first thing I did was stop nursing to sleep. So, I would nurse Rocky a good long nursing session (keep him awake by talking to him or playing, if I had to). Then, I would stop nursing him while he was still awake. I also turned my back on him and pretended to go to sleep. The first couple of times, he was confused. But, then he started playing by himself in the dark for 15 minutes, up to 45 minutes. He would finally lay down and fall asleep by himself. (I would usually be asleep by then.) Once he had figured out that he could fall asleep without being latched on, I then wore my nursing bra with a regular t-shirt to bed, so that it was more difficult for me to just automatically latch him on in my sleep. Then, when Rocky fussed for a nursing, I would get fully awake because I had to do more work to lift my shirt, unbutton my bra, etc. I would deliberately do this very slowly, so that sometimes he fell back asleep before I latched him on. There were also a few times that I got up after he fell asleep and did stuff (clean the house, quilting) and that's when I realized that he was nursing only 2x, maybe, in the night. So, this was a pretty gentle way of night weaning. The final thing was that I always nursed him in the morning when he wanted it, so that he knew he could nurse in the morning. I think that also helped. -- Anita --
From: Engram on 13 Jun 2007 21:08 Irrational Number wrote: > linda wrote: > >> Thing is, I might >> be one of those women that don't get a period as long as I'm still >> nursing even infrequently, plus what if I can't have another baby - >> I would be depriving her for nothing. But on the other hand, if I >> am going to have troubles having another kid surely I should be >> trying to get pregnant in case it takes a while - or not?? > > Ahh... what a difficult decision. In your > position, I would keep nursing day and night > for another couple of months and see what > happens. I got AF back at 11 months with > Pillbug and 16 months with Rocky. Both times, > I was still nursing strong. As Anita said, keep going if you want to and see what happens. I got pregnant with DD when DS was 6 months old and still nursing strong. I didn't even have my period back. I went off the minipill and two weeks later - BAM! Up the duff. LOL So even though you're not menstruating you may actually be ovulating. Some women do. Aren't there ovulation test kits? Grab one and see what's going on with your body. Engram
From: tcmtracey on 14 Jun 2007 16:59 On Jun 13, 6:08 pm, "Engram" <engram...(a)yahoo.com.au> wrote: > Irrational Number wrote: > > linda wrote: > > >> Thing is, I might > >> be one of those women that don't get a period as long as I'm still > >> nursing even infrequently, plus what if I can't have another baby - > >> I would be depriving her for nothing. But on the other hand, if I > >> am going to have troubles having another kid surely I should be > >> trying to get pregnant in case it takes a while - or not?? > > > Ahh... what a difficult decision. In your > > position, I would keep nursing day and night > > for another couple of months and see what > > happens. I got AF back at 11 months with > > Pillbug and 16 months with Rocky. Both times, > > I was still nursing strong. > > As Anita said, keep going if you want to and see what happens. I got > pregnant with DD when DS was 6 months old and still nursing strong. I didn't > even have my period back. I went off the minipill and two weeks later - BAM! > Up the duff. LOL So even though you're not menstruating you may actually be > ovulating. Some women do. > > Aren't there ovulation test kits? Grab one and see what's going on with your > body. > > Engram- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - I also got my period back after a little over a year of nursing my little man, who is now 19 months and going strong. I agree that she could do ovulation tests and she could also start taking her basal temperature every morning. There is a website that helps you track your temperatures for free. www.fertilityfriend.com Another suggestion would be to go for acupuncture and Chinese herbs (but make sure you tell the practioner that you are nursing) to treat the polycystic ovary syndrome. Avoidance of dampening foods such as dairy, soy, greasy foods, and sugar will also help the condition. Tracey (acupuncturist/mom) ;-)
From: linda on 16 Jun 2007 03:09
> >> Plus then there would actually be the logistics of night weaning. We >> plan on cosleeping for a while yet - till she's ready for her own bed, so >> that would make it difficult to wean her although I did read on the Sears >> site some ways to go about it. > > It was not that miserable for us to night wean > and we are still co-sleeping (at 2yo). The first > thing I did was stop nursing to sleep. So, I > would nurse Rocky a good long nursing session > (keep him awake by talking to him or playing, if > I had to). Then, I would stop nursing him while > he was still awake. I also turned my back on him > and pretended to go to sleep. The first couple > of times, he was confused. But, then he started > playing by himself in the dark for 15 minutes, > up to 45 minutes. He would finally lay down and > fall asleep by himself. (I would usually be > asleep by then.) > > Once he had figured out that he could fall > asleep without being latched on, I then wore > my nursing bra with a regular t-shirt to bed, > so that it was more difficult for me to just > automatically latch him on in my sleep. Then, > when Rocky fussed for a nursing, I would get > fully awake because I had to do more work to > lift my shirt, unbutton my bra, etc. I would > deliberately do this very slowly, so that > sometimes he fell back asleep before I latched > him on. > > There were also a few times that I got up > after he fell asleep and did stuff (clean the > house, quilting) and that's when I realized > that he was nursing only 2x, maybe, in the > night. > > So, this was a pretty gentle way of night > weaning. The final thing was that I always > nursed him in the morning when he wanted it, > so that he knew he could nurse in the morning. > I think that also helped. > > -- Anita -- Thanks for all your comments Anita, and that does sound like a not so hard method of night weaning, if it works for us like it did for you!! I think I'll hold off for a couple of months though and see how things go. |