Hi Jessica and welcome! I have written a few blogs on this that I'll link below so that you and anyone else who is interested can read. By way of introduction. . .
I am Valorie and have 5 children: ages 8, 6, 4, and almost 2 yo twins. I too, believe in child led weaning and I have nursed all of mine for at least two years with one exception. (Will get into that in a minute.)
Nursed dd#1 through pg w/ #2 and nursed them together until they weaned together at 3y9m and 1y9m respectively. When they weaned I was about 7 mos pg w/ #3.
When #3 was born, ds who had not been nursing decided he wanted to nurse again so I was nursing #2 and #3 until half way through pg w/ #4 except. . .
At about 24 weeks what I suspected had been confirmed and #4 was not only #4 but #5 as well. At this point I forced both to stop nursing bc twin pg are complicated as are their deliveries. (Or at least they can be.) I was also concerned about the increased risk of pre-term labor. For ds it was fine. He was older and I just explained to him that bc there were two babies, they needed the mommy milk and that it would be a great 'gift' for him to give them. For dd (#3) it was very hard for her and she acted out for quite awhile in response to the pg, stopping nursing and the new baby. There wasn't anything else that could've been done--but it is IMO very hard on a toddler/baby to wean before they are emotionally ready.
My personal experience is that nursing a toddler and a newborn is soooo much easier. It helps, IMO, with the family bonding process. My two older children were greatly comforted by nursing amidst all the changes with the new baby. The other thing too is that toddlers are old enough to accept nursing boundaries. For us, it was that the newborn got to nurse first. When I switched sides with the newborn or when the newborn was done then the toddler could nurse (at least until breastfeeding with the newborn was well established.) The other firm boundary was that we don't nurse in public past a certain point. (So there was no tandem nursing in public
)!
I am happy to answer any other questions that you have. Here are a few blogs I've written on the subject: (You may also want to look at some of the
weaning blogs I've done most recently if you decide to go that route.)
Why You Might Want to Breastfeed a Toddler and an Infant
Strategies for Tandem Nursing
Breastfeeding While Pregnant
Hope this is helpful!
Tandem nursing
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