Is she weaning or is my milk going?

DD has barely nursed the last week or so. She had only been nursing 1 or 2
times a day prior to that, and now she might have a brief nurse but only if
I remind her. I have been trying to remind her to nurse quite often in the
hope that my supply might be OK, but she's not really that interested

I've also noted that I can't express much milk anymore and what is coming
out looks suspiciously like colostrum (ie thicker and more yellow). I'm only
15 weeks pregnant this week and had expected that my supply would be OK for
at least the next month or so. I guess she's not really missing it (she has
never been shy of asking), but I was hoping the end wasn't so close. I'm
sort of hoping that when she sees the new bub having a feed that she'll want
to nurse again.

So I don't know if she is seriously self-weaning now, or whether my milk has
changed so much that she's not so interested anymore...

Anyone want to give me their 2c on what is going on?

Amanda

--
DD 15th August 2002
1 tiny angel Nov 2003
EDD 19th August 2004

That's about the time when Zach became less interested....I know they say
that colostrum comes later, but I had it by about 15 weeks, too. Just keep
nursing as long as she wants to. Zach nursed for a while, just sucking, and
not getting much other than colostrum. He only wanted it once daily, though
when it got to that point.

Annie
mom to Zach born 6.19.02
and baby Grace due 6.20.04

"A&G&K" wrote in message
...
DD has barely nursed the last week or so. She had only been nursing 1 or
2
times a day prior to that, and now she might have a brief nurse but only
if
I remind her. I have been trying to remind her to nurse quite often in
the
hope that my supply might be OK, but she's not really that interested

I've also noted that I can't express much milk anymore and what is coming
out looks suspiciously like colostrum (ie thicker and more yellow). I'm
only
15 weeks pregnant this week and had expected that my supply would be OK
for
at least the next month or so. I guess she's not really missing it (she
has
never been shy of asking), but I was hoping the end wasn't so close. I'm
sort of hoping that when she sees the new bub having a feed that she'll
want
to nurse again.

So I don't know if she is seriously self-weaning now, or whether my milk
has
changed so much that she's not so interested anymore...

Anyone want to give me their 2c on what is going on?

Amanda

--
DD 15th August 2002
1 tiny angel Nov 2003
EDD 19th August 2004

So I don't know if she is seriously self-weaning now, or whether my milk has
changed so much that she's not so interested anymore...

Well, what's the effective difference? If she doesn't seem to miss nursing,
she's ready enough to wean even if she wouldn't necessarily have done so
without the added incentive provided by pregnancy-induced changes to the milk.

Yes, she may show renewed interest after her sibling is born. In fact, that
seems relatively likely to me since she is still pretty young, though as far as
I know nobody's ever come up with any statistics on the matter. (For my DS,
who just turned 3, I give it about even chances -- he only nurses a couple of
times a week now, but he was down to just bedtime before I got pregnant. I
have no idea what's going on with my milk, as I haven't tried to express any in
two years, but I'm 24 weeks pg and so assume my supply is low to nearly
nonexistent.)

But if she's still not interested after the baby's born, well, look on the
bright side -- everyone I know who's tandem nursed said it wasn't exactly a
pleasure, although of course it had its benefits!

Holly
Mom to Camden, 3yo
EDD #6/8/04

"Spanannie" wrote in message
...
That's about the time when Zach became less interested....I know they say
that colostrum comes later, but I had it by about 15 weeks, too. Just
keep
nursing as long as she wants to. Zach nursed for a while, just sucking,
and
not getting much other than colostrum. He only wanted it once daily,
though
when it got to that point.

Annie
mom to Zach born 6.19.02
and baby Grace due 6.20.04

Thanks Annie ... I was thinking it was too early for colostrum, but it sure
looks like that's what it is.
I'm only worried that she's stopped nursing so much because my milk has
changed rather than if she really has decided she doesn't want it anymore.
Nothing I can do about it, but I did have visions of nursing her right
through the pg and tandem nursing when the new bub arrives. Hopefully I'll
still get to do the latter

Amanda

--
DD 15th August 2002
1 tiny angel Nov 2003
EDD 19th August 2004

"A&G&K" wrote in message ...
DD has barely nursed the last week or so. She had only been nursing 1 or 2
times a day prior to that, and now she might have a brief nurse but only if
I remind her. I have been trying to remind her to nurse quite often in the
hope that my supply might be OK, but she's not really that interested
(snip)
Anyone want to give me their 2c on what is going on?

Well, I can give my perspective on my own experience. DS was 2 when I
got pg, but he was still nursing 4-8x a day. So, I probably started
with a little more supply than you did. I didn't notice a major drop
until maybe 20 weeks, but rather than encouraging him to nurse, I had
sometimes been discouraging him due to discomfort. However, he also
stopped asking nearly as often as he had been, too. Then, he started
complaining that there wasn't any milk, which seemed to be true, since
I couldn't really express any, either. I mainly explained that since
he wasn't nursing as much, my body wasn't making as much milk anymore.
(No mention of the pregnancy effects, since I didn't want him to feel
that the baby was taking away the mommy milk.) Lately, he's barely
asked. He went 2 weeks, then a week. He did ask Sunday (I think
prompted by a visit from his same-age cousin who is still nursing),
but was easily put off by a cuddle, instead. I'm not sure what will
happen when the baby gets here - it seems to be a toss-up as to
whether or not he'll want to try. I've also heard stories of recently
weaned toddlers who try when the new baby is born, and declare it
"yucky!"

HTH,

Irene
mom to Thomas 7/01
& Marcus or Gwendolyn EDD 4/10/04

"A&G&K" wrote in message
...
DD has barely nursed the last week or so. She had only been nursing 1 or
2
times a day prior to that, and now she might have a brief nurse but only
if
I remind her. I have been trying to remind her to nurse quite often in
the
hope that my supply might be OK, but she's not really that interested

I've also noted that I can't express much milk anymore and what is coming
out looks suspiciously like colostrum (ie thicker and more yellow). I'm
only
15 weeks pregnant this week and had expected that my supply would be OK
for
at least the next month or so. I guess she's not really missing it (she
has
never been shy of asking), but I was hoping the end wasn't so close. I'm
sort of hoping that when she sees the new bub having a feed that she'll
want
to nurse again.

So I don't know if she is seriously self-weaning now, or whether my milk
has
changed so much that she's not so interested anymore...

Anyone want to give me their 2c on what is going on?

My DD did the same thing in January of 2003, so I was...somewhere between 16
and 20 weeks. I actually commented on a group that I'm on that I thought
she was weaning and I was sad for it. Another friend on that group's
daughter did the same thing at the same time (our babes were due two or
three days apart). My DD did not wean and is still nursing. Her DD did
wean. I think its the beginning of the change over and its just different
for them. Given another three to four weeks my DD picked up wanting to
nurse more again.


--
Rhiannon
Mom to M. Girl (29 months) and O. Boy (8 months)

Just went through this last summer. The milk seemed to vanish at 5
months pg but DD (then 22 mos) stayed with her twice-a-day nursing
'til the new baby came, and continues to this day (more than twice a
day, though!) Don't remember any colostrum.

I thought surely DD would give up at some point, but I don't mind
tandeming.

Rakko

"A&G&K" wrote in message
... and I snipped:

Nothing I can do about it, but I did have visions of nursing her right
through the pg and tandem nursing when the new bub arrives. Hopefully
I'll
still get to do the latter

My suggestion, if you want to tandem nurse, is to continue nursing your DD
at least once a day or so, if you can get her to do it. My experience with
DD, who weaned when she was 22 months old and I was 5 months pregnant
(encouraged by me), was that she had forgotten how to suckle by the time DS
was born. She asked to try almost the moment we came home from the
hospital, but she couldn't remember how to get the milk out.

Good luck,
-Patty, mom to Corinne (almost 6y) and Nathan (3.5y)
and stepmom to Victoria (13.5y)

"A&G&K" wrote in message
...
DD has barely nursed the last week or so. She had only been nursing 1 or
2
times a day prior to that, and now she might have a brief nurse but only
if
I remind her. I have been trying to remind her to nurse quite often in
the
hope that my supply might be OK, but she's not really that interested

I've also noted that I can't express much milk anymore and what is coming
out looks suspiciously like colostrum (ie thicker and more yellow). I'm
only
15 weeks pregnant this week and had expected that my supply would be OK
for
at least the next month or so. I guess she's not really missing it (she
has
never been shy of asking), but I was hoping the end wasn't so close. I'm
sort of hoping that when she sees the new bub having a feed that she'll
want
to nurse again.

So I don't know if she is seriously self-weaning now, or whether my milk
has
changed so much that she's not so interested anymore...

Anyone want to give me their 2c on what is going on?

Amanda

--
DD 15th August 2002
1 tiny angel Nov 2003
EDD 19th August 2004


Thanks everyone for your replies ... had a slight problem with DD turning
off the computer at the wall and then the dang thing wouldn't work (still is
a bit dodgy ... loose video card is all) ...
I met with a midwife on Wednesday at a booking in clinic at the hospital and
she agreed that it is in fact colostrum. I think this is why DD is less
interested. I shall continue to remind her to have a nurse every day (she's
wanted to for the past few days) and see what she decides to do when the new
bub arrives.
So thanks for your responses and anecdotes .. they have all helped me to
understand what is happening and how to handle the coming months...
Amanda

--
DD 15th August 2002
1 tiny angel Nov 2003
EDD 19th August 2004