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tandem Breastfeeding question

Discussion in 'Beautiful Breastfeeding' started by Mum of three, Jan 14, 2012.

  1. Mum of three Member

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    Sorry if this is a silly question but I was wondering about something. If you plan to tandem feed and so are still breastfeeding your previous baby when your new baby is born, does your body still produce Colostrum when the new baby is born, and if so is it quite tricky to make sure that the newborn mostly gets this? Or does the body just carry on producing the milk that it has been?
    Mum of three, Jan 14, 2012
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  2. BluePixie Maderator

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    Re: Breastfeeding question

    From my own experience only, I believe that what happens is that the colostrum is in there but with "normal" milk! When my son was born my daughter reported that my milk tasted different. (She drank it none the less.:p) I always made sure I fed him (the baby) before her for the first few days to minimise the chances of her taking all the colostrum (based on nothing more than my feelings - perhaps this was unnecessary, who knows!) but quite honestly I have no idea about the composition of the milk I was producing at that time, only that it seemed to do the trick! ;)

    Looking forward to seeing if anyone has a more scientifically sound answer for you.
    BluePixie, Jan 14, 2012
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  3. chinamonkey Active Member

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    Re: Breastfeeding question

    From what i have heard (never done it myself) but your milk goes back to the way it was when baby was newborn. I read somewhere that older babies liked the richer newborn milk but by this point has you LO started dropping feeds? therefore leaving more for your newborn? hmm interesting....its pure speculation and internet reading on my part so dont rely on it!
    chinamonkey, Jan 14, 2012
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  4. Tesni Moderator

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    Re: Breastfeeding question

    It will make the colostrum in the quantities necessary for a newborn - sometimes the older tandem fed baby will be a bit iffy about bf until it gets used to the change in taste/texture etc but will usually settle back to happily bf, it is a short blip in the milk production really. The breasts always produce colostrum (during the time of bf) but when the 'milk comes in' it just gets mixed in, so to speak. Like a see-saw when a new baby arrives it swings to majority being colostrum and then swings back to colostrum being a minority of milk produced after the few days. Breasts is great :)
    Tesni, Jan 14, 2012
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  5. Mum of three Member

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    Re: Breastfeeding question

    Breasts are very clever aren't they?! Thank you for replies, very interesting
    Mum of three, Jan 14, 2012
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  6. Penguin Moderatorgator

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    Penguin, Jan 15, 2012
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  7. Mush Well-Known Member

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    Re: Breastfeeding question

    I'd never thought about this before. Boobs really are amazing.
    Mush, Jan 15, 2012
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  8. iolaus Education Moderator

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    Re: Breastfeeding question

    That said I looked after a woman the other day who is tandem feeding, she said her milk never went back to colostrum and the older one never seemed to find a change.

    That said the new baby seemed a very contented baby who didn't need to feed for a long time and then was satisfied for a few hours - our idea was that because her milk was used to letting down the amounts for her 15 month old the baby got his fill easily
    iolaus, Jan 15, 2012
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  9. BluePixie Maderator

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    Iolaus, if my daughter hadn't commented on the change to the taste of my milk I would have assumed that's what happened to me - as far as I could see myself there was no visible difference or difference to the way it felt. It certainly didn't revert back to colostrum only, or milk different enough in thickness for me to notice. My son got a flying start with breastfeeding because he had a "full load" from day one - I remember the midwives commenting how he'd "read the book" before they realised I was still BFing my daughter.

    Slightly off topic but what I DID notice was that I seemed to lose my milk for a little while during the course of my pregnancy - but my daughter kept trying anyway and it came back within three or four weeks.
    BluePixie, Jan 15, 2012
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