Tandem Nursing

More About Tandem Nursing

How does tandem nursing happen? It often happens when a mother is nursing her baby during the time that she is pregnant and than when the younger sibling is born both babies nurse, not always simultaneously, or a baby has weaned after the mother became pregnant and then after the mother gave birth and because the new baby was nursing the older baby decided to began nursing again. Generally babies wean themselves when a mother is pregnant and but not always, and some babies do not return to the breast after a new sibling arrives but not all of them. If you have a second child close to the time that you are nursing one you may find that you end up tandem nursing.

The big question when it comes to tandem is how to you position a toddler and an infant so you can breastfeed them simultaneously. Well of course there is no rule that you have to nurse your toddler and your infant at the same time, but it can save time and if they want to nurse along side one another it can be a way of bonding for three of you. There are two common position that work well for tandem nursing.

In one arm hold your newborn, and bring to the breast of the same side. Then line your toddler up with your other breast, sitting on your lap and have their body beneath your arm that is holding the infant. See a picture here. The other common position for tandem nursing is to have each baby at a breast pulling each boob slightly in the direction of the baby. See a picture here. With a bit experimenting you will find the perfect position that allows you to feed two of your children at the same time.

It will be unlikely that your older baby will want to nurse as much as your younger baby, for this reason you will find that many times that your young baby is nursing your older baby is not interested. There also may be times when your younger baby is napping and your older baby wants to nurse.