Breastfeeding 2Nd Baby

I've heard from many moms that they seemed to have more milk the 2nd time! It was true for me! My milk dried up at 6 months with our first. I was able to nurse till 18 months with our second!

The biggest thing you can do is to nurse on demand! It builds your supply up from the beginning. Let your baby use YOU for a nuk at first. The suckling tells your body to produce milk! And it comforts the baby.

As for pumping. IF you are going to be home with your baby there is really no need to build up a huge excess suply of milk. So, in that case, I would just use what you have for a pump. Our second nursed exclusively for 9 months and NEVER ended up taking a bottle so I had a whole freezer full of milk (probably a 6 month supply) that I ended up throwing away.... When our next is born in September I"m not even going to worry about trying to store up a bunch of milk. I'll just nurse on demand and pump when I'm uncomfortable.

Good luck. Expect the best and just go with the flow!

I went through the same thing with my now 2.5 year old girl as you did with your son....in addition, she had a horrible latch that even after a few consultants, we couldn't fix. I pumped till I dried up, then switched to formula around 3 months. My son (now 16 months) nursed like a champ :) No problems. I had a surprise C-section with #2 as well so I was lucky to have my MIL stay with us and help me out for a few weeks since my daughter was only 15.5 mos at the time my son was born. I nursed my son successfully for a year! I went back to work full time when he was 3 mos. I own a Medela Pump in Style Advanced that I bought with my daughter. I used that for the first 4 months I was back at work (so till little guy was about 7 months) and then rented a commercial grade Medela Symphony pump from a pharmacy for the remaining 4-5 months. IT WAS SO MUCH SOFTER ON THE NIPPLES! I had heard that from a friend, but until I tried it....I didn't believe it.

If you do decide to nurse your 2nd (I did mostly because my 1st has 4 food allergies and they say bfeeding can help decrease allergies -- so far, no allergies with my son -- by this age daughter had 6), I suggest a double pump if you work and also try renting a pump to see if you get a higher yield or it is more comfy. A lot of places rent by the day, week and month, so if you hate it, you can always take it back.

Best wishes!

A. F.
Local Childcare Coordinator- Cultural Care Au Pair
(and FTWM to 2 kiddos under 3)
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http://aferrini.aupairnews.com

With my first baby, my milk did not come in until day 6 and then it wouldn't come out! I tried pumping, tried drinking a beer (LOL!), nothing would come out. My son also had an awful time latching. Because of these and other issues, we went to formula. With my second, I wanted to try again, but was so much more relaxed and went into it with no expectations. My milk came in before I left the hospital on day 2 and it was like a guyser! We nursed for 12 1/2 months. It also helps that my 2nd has this fantastic, huge Julia Roberts mouth, like he was made for breastfeeding. :-)

In my opinion, you don't need the double unless you have a strict schedule with next to NO time to pump. I pumped when I needed to, which was actually every other day or so to keep my backup supply filled up.

One of the women who donated milk to my son when my supply was low was nursing her second (at two) and had a huge oversupply. She said that with her first she lost her supply within the first few months. Give it a shot and see if it works.

Plan for the best. I had a similar situation and through a combination of factors, could only nurse for 4 months with my first. I nursed my second and found everything about it much easier and nursed for 7 months and really only quit because of the hassle of pumping at work. At one point, the head of HR (who really should've known better) barreled in to the conf room they'd dedicated for me. Awkward.