Dear Morgan,

I nursed through a pregnancy and tandem nursed afterwards. During pregnancy,
my nipples hurt and this naturally led to a certain amount of "nursing
aversion."  When I was tandem-nursing my newborn and three-year-old I often
felt very "antsy" when the older child latched on and actually got to the
point of not allowing him to nurse at all for a month or two - I just felt
so strongly that I needed to concentrate on the baby and could not when he
was asking to nurse as frequently or even more than she was.  It was a
difficult time. I tried to give him as much of me as possible, except for
nursing. Eventually, I asked him if he wanted to nurse, and of course he
said yes, and we began again, but at that point I was able to negotiate
limits with him as to frequency and length of feeds. It seemed to work quite
well after that and I enjoyed the time that he spent at the breast and he
continued nursing until he was about 5 years old.  I sometimes feel a pang
of guilt about the temporary weaning, but at the time, it was what my mind
and body were telling me to do and although he was not happy about it, he
was not disconsolate and otherwise our relationship seemed to be OK, as was
his relationship with his sister to whom he always behaved in a very loving
manner. In fact, whenever she began to fuss or cry, he would come to me and
tell me to nurse Rachel.

However, I don't think what I experienced was the same as those who have
D-MER.  I did not experience any bad feelings when originally nursing my son
or when I nursed just my daughter or when I was tandem nursing them both
once I was comfortable with it when she got to be several months old. I
think that my feelings were more "biological" in that they were related to
sore nipples and lack of milk during my pregnancy and then a normal desire
to bond with the new baby and nurse her preferentially to her older brother
until her health and breastfeeeding competence were strongly established.
While I don't doubt that there may have been a hormonal component, I think
that it was different from those women who experience uncomfortable emotions
or physical manifestations whenever they let-down their milk.

Hope that helps.

Warmly,
Sharon Knorr, New York, USA

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome