Breastfeeding past a year?

Question

I asked this in the newborn and baby section, but thought I'd try here also and see if anyone could help. Once your child could speak, did your child have a 'code word' for when the wanted to nurse? My grandmother was telling me about a lady who's 5 year old would say 'num num' when he wanted to nurse and another lady was telling me her 2 year old used to say 'nice' when he wanted to nurse. Ian is almost a year and has started yanking down my shirt (even in public) when he wants to nurse and screaming 'mil mama mil.' I guess I should have been teaching 'nursing manners' 12 months ago!! What does your child say/do when they want to nurse? Also, any tips on teaching 'nursing manners'?

Answer 1

lol...my mom nursed me and my sister until we were two and she said we would yank on her shirt and yell "ninnies, ninnies!" Im not sure if you can teach a 12 month old a code word but as he gets a little older perhaps you can try and teach him how to ask "politely" lol

Answer 2

My 17 month old uses the sign for "milk" and then the sign for "please" when he asks to nurse.  I'm working on "thank you" when he's done.

It's a great time to work on nursing manners.  And the manners make it so much more pleasant to nurse- yet another benefit of nursing an older baby!

Answer 3

Are you serious - really?

No child should be nursed at that age.

Forget code words and "nursing manners"  - get him off you !!!

Answer 4

Well, if he is almost 1, are you planning on weening him soon? I hope you are not planning to nurse him until he is 2, or even worse, 5 like this other lady you mentioned. I don't know what your preference is, it's certainly your choice, but the recommended time frame for nursing is to 1 year (American Academy of Pediatrics). You may want to focus on getting him on whole mike with sippy cups (skip the bottle), and less on breastfeeding manners considering his age.

Good luck.

Like I said, they recommend breast feeding until at least 1, I never said to stop before that. If you want a toddler hanging off your breast, be my guest. The whole "nursing manners" thing is ridiculous anyway! They are sucking on your boob for crying out loud, and at age 1 I think they have have more important things to be doing (like learning to walk) than worrying about how to politely ask for your breast. Honestly, does anyone have any common sense these days?

Answer 5

To me, mannera are manners, no matter the situation. Correct him in the same way you would anything else.

"No, it is not nice for you to do that. You shouldn't do that in public. If you want milk, say: Mommy, milk, please."

After they hear it enough, they start doing it.

Also, using manners and saying please and thank you in front of them to your spouse and others (being an example) is helpful.

Answer 6

I jsut wanted to comment that i would be embarassed to speak that way as an RN "replace"

if you were an RN the surely you would know the reccomendations

MY doctor  is very please that im still nursing my son at 17 months old

Answer 7

I nursed my son until he was 26 months. Starting around a year, when he would yank at my shirt I would ask him if he wanted to nurse and then I would let him nurse. If he grabbed at my shirt, I would gently tell him not to pull on mommy's shirt and divert his hands to something else (such as a toy or his blanket or some other comfort type item).  I also told him he could pat mommy if he wanted to nurse but he could not yank on mommy's shirt. He eventually understood not to yank or pull up my shirt. I want to say closer to a year and a half he came up with his own code word to nurse. He called it "nah".  Without realizing it at the time, I suppose I helped him learn the word for nurse by asking him if he wanted to nurse.

As far as the screaming to want to nurse, my son did not scream but he would cry big alligator tears if he was not able to nurse the minute he expressed interest in doing so. In those instances, I would tell him, "Mommy has to use the bathroom (or whatever reason), we can not nurse right now. We will nurse later."  It took awhile for him to understand, but eventually he was OK with the delay as long as I kept my promise to follow through with nursing later.

Good luck to you and your son! I'm sure with time you will find a method that works for you and him.