He’s a story that was sent into me by one of my lovely customers – Shellie. It’s a great story for women who wish to tandem breastfeeding i.e breastfeed while pregnant and then afterwards when the new baby arrives. I’m sure this will help other mums facing the same issues. Now over to Shellie….

“We conceived our second baby when Mitchell was 17 months old and still breastfeeding 6 times a day.  I was quite confident that I  could continue to feed him throughout the pregnancy and even tandem feed when our baby was born. 

By three months however, I was finding breastfeeding to be extremely uncomfortable.  I continued to feed Mitchell, hopeful that the pain would disappear in time.  He  gradually cut his feeds down to 3 per day, but then my milk supply suddenly diminished. 

We went through a couple of really, really hard weeks with Mitchell becoming terribly distraught at not being able to get enough milk and me being upset and in pain.  We would spend an hour at each feed with him swapping sides trying to get milk and me fighting back the tears of pain and frustration.  We began offering him goat milk in a bottle, unsuccessfully. 

One night, I spoke to two  lovely spiritual midwives, they were very understanding and encouraging and recommended a herbal tea for me to drink.  The very next day, things had turned around dramatically and for the first time in many weeks, Mitchell fell asleep contentedly in my arms after a nice feed.  I’m not sure if the tea was “magic” or if it was the  comforting words of the spiritual midwives, but from then, we were back on track. 

Over the following months, Mitchell continued to feed  happily, sometimes less, sometimes more.  At the same time, he began  taking the goat milk.  By the time our baby, Lachlan, was born (at home, in a birth pool, two weeks ago), Mitchell was 2 years, 2 months  and breastfeeding only a small amount.  I had expected that with  Lachlan feeding constantly, Mitchell would want to join in, but in the last 2 weeks, he has only asked for it once, he had a little feed  then said “bottle”. 

The two years I breastfed Mitchell were  beautiful, with only those few weeks of difficulty when my nipples were sensitive and my supply dropped.  If at any point he does ask to breastfeed again, I would be more than happy to feed him, but I am glad that I was able to continue feeding him through the hard times and the he eventually weaned himself easily, in his own time and without any distress. 

Breastfeeding Lachlan has not come as easily  as it did with Mitchell.  He had difficulty latching on to begin with  as he has a short tongue, but he seems to have the hang of it now. Breastfeeding is not always easy, but it is always rewarding!

Thanks Shellie for sharing this story. What have you experienced? Any advice for other mums?