Breastfeeding Two-Year-Old and Newborn?

I think you should ask a lactation consultant that will be helping you with your new baby.
Who needs your milk most? Your 2-1/2 year old or your newborn?
I'm no expert, but at this age, it's comfort only for the older child.
It's life's first nutrition for the new baby.
You may be able to produce enough for both, I don't know.
The new baby needs it more.
Just my opinion.

My DD was 22 months when my son was born and she was still going strong nursing! Are you going to be in the hospital? Will your 2.5 year old be at the hospital? My milk came in 8 hours after baby was born and my DD was at home so my newborn got most of the colustrum. Once we got home I just fed each from one breast. That was they each got colostrum, milk and the hind mild. My 22 month old daughter even got really chubby cheeks for a few weeks from all the fatty milk! The thing that worked best for us was to nurse them together. After a few months I started weaning DD from nursing and then by the time my son was 8 months old she was done. Night time was easy because my newborn never nursed to sleep, he would just pass out in my arms. I would put him down then nurse my DD to sleep. Good luck!

Your pregnancy hormones are already changing your milk composition... By the time your newborn is with you, you will be back to colostrum. Many toddlers will understand to some extent the change in taste, but will continue to nurse anyways - which is fine, because it will still help them and be healthy for them too.

I breastfed mine until she decided to wean at 4.5 years old. She's one of the healthiest and smartest in her class and was never sick in daycare like many other children were. Antibodies NEVER go out of 'style' - especially for toddlers. I'm pregnant with #2 now and I wish I had been able to have a tandem nursing experience... www.kellymom.com has a lot of info about tandem nursing too!!

Your body will "reset" for the newborn, I believe, so the colostrum will come in (and you probably don't want to have him get much of that, since it has a laxative effect to help the newborn pass the meconium).

Try googling "tandem nursing" or contacting your local (or state) La Leche League. Most large urban areas have a LLL person who is experienced with tandem nursing and can help you.

I will tell you that a couple of moms I know who had plans to continue nursing the toddler after the baby was born actually had their little ones self wean--the milk changes in taste due to hormonal changes of pregnancy, and the toddlers said the milk "tasted bad" or "tasted funny" to them. The one lady I know was nursing her twin boys, age 2.5 when this happened. She had been telling them for a while that "when you are big boys, you won't need momma's milk any more" and so when the milk tasted funny to them, they decided they were "big boys" and there was no fuss at all. The other mom didn't say whether her little one was upset or not over the change in milk/weaning.

I agree with kellymom.com as a good resource. My nearly 2.5 yr old still nurses a little before bed and if I were expecting I would probably not change anything (though she might, if she doesn't like the shift in milk).

My understanding is that the body takes care of the most vulnerable child first - so your milk will be right for the infant and the toddler will have to make do.

Dear Swamimommy, I would think the milk will be mature milk. Not sure if your body makes new colostrum when you have not stopped breastfeeding. Maybe a lactation specialist from La Leche league will know the answer. Best wishes, Grandma Mary

The milk you are producing now will eventually decrees in amount and then slowly turn back into colostrum. A lot of babies/toddlers self wean during pregnancy due to the changes in your milk. That's what happened with mine. Best wishes and congrats on the new baby.

The La Leche League has a great book called "Adventures in Tandem Nursing" by Hilary Flower. (It's also available on amazon.) The book answers a lot of the practical questions like who to nurse when, for how long, how to make sure your newborn is getting enough, etc. My LLL leader lent a copy to me from the chapters library. Good luck and congrats!!!

P.S. I went to a LLL meeting to get support for this very circumstance--I was really surprised at the number of women who had tandem nursed--they shared their experiences, both positive and negative, so it was great to hear.

I was in the hospital for two days after my younger one was born, and while the baby was sleeping, I let the older one nurse a little while he was there visiting. After we got home, the rule was the baby nursed first, usually emptying one breast and falling asleep--she was a big baby and ate a LOT right from the beginning--and he would take the other breast, usually not emptying it, so that was the one I started the younger one on when she woke and was hungry (and she was hungry all.the.time). I can relate to the chubby rosy cheeks, my older one got those too! And that was the only time my nipples didn't go through a "hurting" phase while nursing a newborn, no problems at all. One time I tried nursing them at the same time and I hated it, so I just alternated them.