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Suppose you want to breastfeed for a long time, but you give birth to a sibling shortly after your previous delivery. Can you still continue to feed your oldest child anyway? The answer is yes. It can be done, and it’s called tandem feeding. We tell you all about it.
Some mothers become pregnant again shortly after giving birth to the next one. You may have thought that if you get pregnant again you have to stop breastfeeding, but that’s really not the case.
What is tandem feeding
So tandem feeding is feeding two children (of different ages). Usually this is a baby and the older sibling. During pregnancy, you can continue breastfeeding. The baby in your belly always has “priority” over the older child, so you don’t have to worry about your baby running out of nutrients. Of course, it is important that you eat enough and healthy food yourself.
Sometimes nutrition does decline during pregnancy due to pregnancy hormones. You may also find that your breasts are more sensitive and your baby may not want to drink by itself because the taste of the food changes.
How tandem feeding works
At the end of pregnancy, your body just starts making colostrum for your newborn. This colostrum cannot be “used up” by your older baby, in fact you keep making new ones until your baby is old enough. So your diet is completely adapted to your newborn baby, only the quantity is adapted to two babies. Right after delivery, it can be good to let your baby drink first, then your newborn doesn’t have to make too much effort to get the milk flowing.
Once you start experiencing congestion, on the contrary, you can let your older baby drink first. This is because if your breasts are too hard and full, your baby can sometimes have trouble latching on or with the large amount of milk.
So you can feed your children in turns, but if you find it more practical to feed them at the same time that could be done as well. The choice is yours.
Experience
Editor-in-Chief Lisa, mother of four, did tandem feeding with her oldest two children as well as with her youngest two: “I noticed how little was actually known about tandem feeding. Even among experts. My midwife and maternity nurses were even a little surprised.
The first time, my oldest was two when I got pregnant again. He only drank at night before bedtime and he wanted to keep doing that. It was our little moment together. I myself did notice that the milk declined during pregnancy and that my breasts were more sensitive, but my little son was not affected.
After delivery, it was nice that my production was up and running right away. My daughter didn’t have to make any effort and could drink right away. When I got severe congestion my son was able to help by drinking it away properly. That was very helpful for me.”
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