Feeding a Dolly

"Aya, your baby is hungry.  Do you want to give her some milk?"  I asked one lazy humid summer afternoon.  My husband and I followed our little girl as she toddled off, dolly in a tight grip,  into the bedroom where she found my boppy and asked for help getting onto our "nursing chair."  We had no idea Aya would respond in this way, but she acted as if it were the most natural and obvious thing to do.  After our difficult breastfeeding start, it was really very special for us to see that our little girl knew exactly how she wanted to feed her baby. 

Nursing While Pregnant

Nursing while pregnant has been a whole new experience.  The first thing that happened was that nursing became very painful.  It didn't seem to matter how wide Aya opened her mouth or how gentle she latched on.  It was a sharp and intense pain, but luckily for me, as soon as she started drinking, the pain lessened.  Slowly, during the end of my second trimester, I knew my milk was transitioning to colostrum, and along with the transition, feeding stopped hurting.  It was such a relief!  From what I have read, many infants stop feeding during pregnancy because the taste of the milk changes.  For my little girl the opposite has happened.  After my milk turned to colostrum, she has asked to nurse more frequently than before. 

I am thankful I have been able to continue breastfeeding Aya during this time.  I feel like it is my way of showing her I'm still HER mama, even when her new sister arrives.  I'm not yet sure how I'll nurse two, or whether Aya will even continue to be interested.  I don't really know what I will do if Aya decides she wants to nurse all of the time or is upset while I feed the new baby. I don't know whether or not I will tandem nurse or nurse them separately.  I really don't know.  But I plan to arm myself with some good advice beforehand and do some extra reading.  And then, I'll just experiment, and make decisions when new circumstances and feelings present themselves.