A midwife in my area has started speaking out against tandem nursing. She is
concerned that the toddler will take "all the colostrum" before baby, and
she also claims to have seen multiple situations where baby did not get
enough because of the toddler.

First, I'm not sure about the "limited amount of colostrum" stuff. To the
best of my knowledge, this first milk is produced and then gradually diluted
in the next couple of days after birth as copious milk production begins. I
do know that some women produce more colostrum than others......

Second: with the concern about the toddler "stealing" the best of the milk
supply, would not the same rules of milk production kick in as if mom had
twins-- more demand, more milk?  What would make this situation different
from a twin situation? As I think about it, unless mother were to truly
neglect her infant in favor of the nursing toddler, even nursing after the
toddler should not be bad as the baby would be accessing more "hind" milk.
Traditional advice suggests letting baby nurse first before toddler, but as
I thought about it, the thoughts above gave me pause to re-think this issue.

I am concerned about our midwife becoming militant about this.

Lisa Marasco

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