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In Tandem
The How-to of Nursing Two By Gwen Morrison
Many mothers begin to think about becoming pregnant again during the first year of their infant's life. The mother who is breastfeeding one child and decides to have another may be faced with nursing more than two children at a time: tandem nursing.
Tandem nursing is the art of breastfeeding two children of different ages during the same time period. This doesn't always mean that you are physically nursing both children at the same time, although some women do.
"When a mother becomes pregnant while still nursing, she may feel that the first baby should be allowed to nurse as long as he still has the need," says Ann Calandro, RNC, IBCLC, a certified lactation consultant and former tandem-nursing mother from Waxhaw, N.C. "Nursing allows her the feeling of closure and completion of this relationship. She has to decide if she is going to nurse through the pregnancy. It is a very individual decision, which involves a lot of soul searching. The older child will still benefit nutritionally from the milk, although the amount will be decreased during the pregnancy."
Joan Kratz of Noblesville, Ind., made that "very personal decision" with passion. "Tandem nursing rated highly with me," she says. "It takes some practice, and the babies need to be fairly good at latching on, but the effort was definitely worth it for us."
It was more than just timesaving to feed both at the same time. "I liked the positive interacting the babies had with each other during those happy, peaceful moments," Kratz says.
As the mother of four children and a former member of La Leche League, Wanda LaGrave of Hobbs, N.M., considers herself an "old pro" at breastfeeding. Since the birth of her second child, tandem nursing has been a mainstay in her household. "The current nursling was not ready to wean when I became pregnant with the next, so [we] just nursed right through my pregnancy," she says. "I stopped producing milk at 12 weeks gestation, but it did not seem to bother any of the children. I began to produce colostrum at about 38 weeks gestation, and milk came in about three days after birth with almost all of the experiences."
