OT: Baby Bottle Mouth...

[donnapalmer]

I love you people! My husband and I have quiet disagreements about our youngest (last) child...she wasn't anticipated to be here in the first place, and I had suffered an emergency, near-fatal ruptured ectopic (13 week) pregnancy just three months before she was conceived, and I had a dramatic passage of a large (think: a cup) amount of solid, gelatinous, red material (twin? blood clot? no one can say...) that occurred just when I had relaxed, and had stopped worrying about miscarrying her. I was 35 (darn near 36) when she was born, and declined genetic testing (personal beliefs) prenatally...she was a 10 month baby, and the ob/gyn quite cheerfully showed me the progression of deterioration of the placenta after her birth, it appeared to have lost nearly 1/4 of its healthy surface (yeeks!). Then, she was kept in the nursery overnight because of retracting and less-than-expected movement of her left arm, from the shoulder...and she had a temp. I realize that this is all extremely small time on the scale of some folks' tragic birth stories, but it was the most drama I have had with the arrival of a child...our first two were uneventful (in retrospect, of course). My point is, I have become so aware of how lucky we all are to have all of them, that I am in no hurry at all to wean this child! If I had known then, what I know now, no one would have been weaned before the age of two...my olders were 18 months when they were weaned. We have co-slept with all of them, until they were around 4 or so...I find nothing more pleasing, comforting, and life-affirming than awakening to the sweet breath of one of my children playing on my ear.

Hurray to those of you who are able to do this, it is wonderful for us and our kids...those who choose to do otherwise, I'm sure your kids are just as fine as mine, lifestyle choices are SO individual, I would never presume to say how anyone should raise their kids, as long as there is gentleness, acceptance and love wrapped all around the discipline and teaching.

What a gift we have, in just the breath that we draw...

[jemommyRN]

I have a serious question for you nursing moms. When you say that you are still nursing your kids at 2,3,4 years old, do you literally mean they are attached to your nipple? or do you put it in a cup by that time. Please don't think that I'm being silly, I actually think its great that you all are still nursing, but I just can't imagine this "overgrown" baby with teeth still on the tata. Just curious.

[klone, MSN, RN]

Originally posted by jemommy

I have a serious question for you nursing moms. When you say that you are still nursing your kids at 2,3,4 years old, do you literally mean they are attached to your nipple? or do you put it in a cup by that time.

When you're nursing a child that age, there generally isn't enough (or any) milk that would make it possible to express in a cup (unless you're tandem nursing). So when a woman says she's nursing a 3-year-old, she means that the child breastfeeds. At that age, it's more for comfort than nutrition. My 3 year old still nurses 2-3 times a day, and I don't think she's gotten any milk for at least 6 months.

[JudithL_in_NH]

When my girls got much past three, they would nurse at most 3x/day--first thing in the AM, at naptime, and before bed--possibly more if they were sick for added comfort. And it was plain old breastfeeding when nursing the toddlers, just unhook the bra and put the baby to the breast!

Nursing toddlers can learn to be very discreet, even in public. I was attending a board meeting when my youngest was about 2-1/2 and she had to come along when the babysitter fell through. I was the only woman on the board. At one point, one of the men said, completely serious, "What an odd way for Isa to fall asleep, with her head under your shirt." I replied, "You idiot (he was a good friend so I could call him that ;o), she's nursed herself to sleep!" This man and his wife had spent hours in my home for more than a decade, and he later said he had never realized I had nursed any of my kids.

Everybody's different, but when my girls were toddlers they still got plenty of milk; breastfeeding still provided at least half their hydration. I wasn't tandem nursing, either; the girls are 8 years apart. If they feel asleep at the breast, milk would dribble out the sides of their mouths. If I was away from them for an extended period (like an overnight with DH on New Year's Eve), I became engorged and had to express milk for comfort. If I wanted to, I could squirt a jet of milk halfway across the room!

[manna, BSN, RN]

Originally posted by jemommy

I have a serious question for you nursing moms. When you say that you are still nursing your kids at 2,3,4 years old, do you literally mean they are attached to your nipple? or do you put it in a cup by that time. Please don't think that I'm being silly, I actually think its great that you all are still nursing, but I just can't imagine this "overgrown" baby with teeth still on the tata. Just curious.

Not childish of you to ask, I doubt any of us "milky" moms mind if you ask at all, as long as you're not being critical (I get enough of that from my own family already! Yeesh! LOL) :)

Sure, my 2yo still nurses just like you would imagine. Of course he doesn't nurse nearly as often as a newborn/smaller baby would, and like someone else mentioned although he IS getting milk, it's mainly a comforting rather than nutritional thing to him now.

LOL! They're very good at keeping the teeth out of the way by this age, at least in my experience! :)

[donnapalmer]

Jenna (dob 10/11/01) only "bites" when she's falling asleep...I've actually been bitten once, by my son, when he was teething. It all started because I was too lazy to get out of bed, and too cheap to buy formula, and evolved into probably the most spiritual experience, collectively, of my life. I have dear friends who weren't interested in even attempting it, and my aunt is practically a La Leche activist...to each his own...

[Soon2BNurse]

My soon to be 20 month old girl is still breastfeeding. Hasn't shown any signs of wanting to wean and she is great with the cup too, especially when I'm gone at school. It is nice to see other mommy/nurses nursing for longer than they did years ago!

And I think I've only actually been bitten once or twice :)

[marilynmom, LPN, NP]

My 2 year old nurses about 2-3 times a day (mainly before falling asleep at nap or bedtime). Somedays more if she is having a bad day or something.

Yep she still nurses at my breast, I dont put milk in a cup for her, and there is still plently of milk in "me" for her.

And I totally understand why that would seem weird to someone who has not nursed a baby/toddler that long. Its not something you see everyday that is for sure....LOL! I've never been bitten by her at this age either.

Here is a good link about the benifits of toddlers nursing for those who may be curious because it certainly is becoming more and more common because of the proven benifits:

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/bfextended/ebf-benefits.html

A 1 or a 2 year old is still, after all, just a baby

Marilyn

[Soon2BNurse]

Mine refuses to drink milk from a cup. Anything else she'll drink quicker than some adults I know, but milk she refuses. I know I still am lactating because my breast hurts at school from not being able to breastfeed :chuckle

[mitchsmom]

Another nursing mama here... we're at 21 mos. I am also a bf counselor & hope to sit the IBCLC board exam this summer or next, so I could go on forever here.

The teething thing during breastfeeding sounds like a scary proposition to people, but as other posters already indicated, it's not what it seems. Teething is usually the first opportunity for us to teach a baby discipline, and for the vast majority of nursing moms, biting is not a problem. The baby learns quickly. Not to mention: Did you know that babies cannot physically nurse if they are biting - their mouth must be in a different position to actively nurse. If they bit in the nursing position they'd be biting their own tongue!

If anyone is interested in more on bf and dental caries, here's great info:

Avoiding Dental Caries - a great, referenced article from LLLI:

http://www.lalecheleague.org/NB/NBSepOct02p164.html

Dr. B. Palmer's website with dental caries presentation:

http://www.brianpalmerdds.com/

Short version on another page:

http://www.bflrc.com/ljs/myths/dentalca.htm

...and links to anything you ever wanted to know about breastfeeding & lactation:

http://www.geocities.com/breastfeedinglinks/

PS... we definitely still have milk, I get full during school also. And all three of my sons took a cup probably around 6 mos., no need for bottles. My current nursling doesn't like cow's milk, so all the better to still be nursing. Plus the breast cancer risk reduction is highly linked to duration of nursing, and all the other reasons. I also have an estrogen-linked growth on my liver and I have my own little theory that staying in a low estrogen (lactation) state coudn't hurt on that score. I don't know if there's any merit to it or not, but hey I woudn't be weaning quite yet anyhow.

[Soon2BNurse]

Thank you for that info mitchsmom :)

[Yellow Rose RN]

Klone,

Since you are having a hard time finding a dentist that will accept medicaid and your young son, call the medicaid hotline (should be on the back of your card) and they will give you numbers to the dentists that will accept him. Also, if it is a fair distance from where you live, some states will give you travel assistance to take your children to dr/dentist appointments. I live in Tx and my son recently had open heart surgery two hours from where I live. Medicaid pays for the gas mileage, hotel and meals when we have to go back for appointments. Just a thought... they (medicaid) usually has a list of dr's and dentists that will see ya....

good luck