Tips For Nursing An Older Baby

[takemetoo]

For our trip in April my youngest ds will have just turned 2. He is very active and nosey. We used the baby centers last year, and plan on doing so again, but we also nursed everywhere else. I can see it being troublesome this time due to his need to look around while nursing. Any tips for nursing an active guy in public? Around here we can usually just put it off until we get home (my older boy needed to nurse NOW when he was 2, but was descreet about it, my nurser now likes to have a look around, and doesn't care who he shocks), but I don't want to cross the parks just to nurse at the baby center.

I really don't know if this will be an issue/ if he'll be nursing often enough for it to be problematic, but I want to be prepared.

Tips?

 

[mareed]

First off, I just want to say "Good for you!" for nursing to 2 years. Both of my DS's weaned a couple of months after they turned 2. My guess is that at 2 years old, your DS will not want to nurse much at the parks at WDW. He's going to be so distracted and interested in everything that's going on that he probably won't ask to nurse.

My guess is that if he does want to nurse, it might be when he's otherwise getting a bit tired and cranky. I'd suggest a dark attraction such as Hall of Presidents at MK or American Adventure at Epcot. The movie in France would also be good for this. I was never one to cover up with a blanket when nursing in public, and I'm not sure a 2 year old would tolerate it, but you might try it both to shield yourself and to eliminate the distractions for your DS.

Good luck and have a great trip!

 

[takemetoo]

I din't realize it until I read your reply, but that is exactly what I need, a few quiet, dark attractions I can duck into. I'll have to take note of some good places. It's funny, these will probably be the exact places we left off our plans last year since we thought our then 3 yr old would get restless. No problem this time, I can duck in with the babe while dh and ds get a snack or something.

So the Hall of Preidents and the France movie. Poor dh, he loved these types of attractions when we went pre-children.

Any other suggestions? Tips?

Oh, and thanks and, "Good for you, too!" My older ds was 2yr 3months or so when he weaned because I was pregnant. They are MUCH different, though, and I can't go by my experiance with him this time around.

 

[GEM]

Another "good for you" here!

I agree that it sounds like some nice, dark, attractions are just what you need. I have an 18 month old that still nurses pretty frequently and I'm sure we'll be "nursing around the world" on our trip in December. We went for his first birthday and we honestly never used the baby care centers. We just never wanted to walk all that way and there were plenty of benches, rides, movies, etc. that were great for nursing. I've never covered up with a blanket or anything like that, but I'm lucky in that my little guy is still pretty focused when he's nursing so he doesn't embarass me too much.

Have fun!

 

[laceemouse]

Another vote for dark shows. I nursed each of my 4 for about 18 months. We did many WDW trips and I think I went into the baby centers once. The 3D shows are dark too but can be loud. Mine did not nurse as much when they got older when there was so much else to look at. Have a great trip!

 

[robinb]

Oh joy. The "looky-loo" stage. I remember that .

Do you use a sling with your toddler? I remember putting my DD in the sling and then using the loose end of the sling to cover up a bit. I know I nursed my DD around WDW, but I honestly don't remember. I do remember nursing in all the attractions mentioned, though . I also support your nursing a toddler. My DD self-weaned at about 2 1/2.

 

[robinb]

Originally posted by robinb
Oh joy. The "looky-loo" stage. I remember that .

Do you use a sling with your toddler? I remember putting my DD in the sling and then using the loose end of the sling to cover up a bit. I know I nursed my DD around WDW, but I honestly don't remember. I do remember nursing in all the attractions mentioned, though . I also support your nursing a toddler. My DD self-weaned at about 2 1/2.

ETA: I see your son is just about 20 months old. My DD got over the looky-loo stage when she got a bit older since nursing was for comfort and not because she was hungry.

 

[lindaso]

Here's another vote for the distracting power of WDW. I've never had to nurse a toddler at the world. They never asked until we were back in the room. You could try offering a sippy cup or juice box to distract him if you really don't feel like nursing him.

My older two both self-weaned when I was pregnant with the next, both around age 2. Now my little guy is 2 1/4 and since there's no pregnancy to hinder him, he's never going to stop!! But he's a sleeping nurser and only asks for naps and bedtime.

Good luck!!

 

[justhat]

My daughter is almost 9 months, but has been in that distractable stage since she was 6 months old. We were in Disneyland for her 6 month birthday, right after this phase started, and I found nursing her in the baby care centers was worse than in a restaurant/bench/etc. I loved the baby care centers in WDW because it was great to escape to someplace quiet, cool, not June-in-WDW crowded so we used them a lot, to nurse, change, and just so my daughter could have some free time to move around on their large changing tables (she was 3 and 4 months then). At 6 months, however, she was way more interested in looking at the other nursing babies and moms and 'talking' to them than she was in nursing.

Of course, the ones in DL were like the MK/Epcot baby care centers where all the moms are in one room. A private room like in AK or MGM might have been better. My daughter has never tolerated a blanket or anything like that over her while nursing so what ended up happening is that she'd just get so hungry that she'd nurse wherever we were. I gave up trying to stop and feed her when I thought she'd be hungry (she was still only on breastmilk in DL) and waited till she was ready-much longer intervals than at home. Next week we're headed back down and our problem now is getting her to eat her baby food-she doesn't want anything to do with that stuff most of the time-the nursing should be easy (though she's still super distractable!).

 

[takemetoo]

My nice, long reply just got lost!

Oh well. I wanted to say thank you to everyone for their replies! I haven't used my sling in a long time, but I'll break it out before our trip and see if he'll still snuggle in to nurse. Last trip I carried him all over WDW (we rented a double stroller twice), and it was wonderful for nursing.

These are my fears: He'll either a) not want to nurse at all for six days and will be weaned by the time we get home, or b) have a meltdown from not asking because he was too distracted. So I'd like to have a few not-so-distracting places in mind while touring the parks where I can offer to nurse, and hopefully avoid the melt-down. We like the baby centers, esp. the MK one, for a full family break mid-morning or afternoon. My older ds HATES auto-flush, and MK has the only manual flush toilet we found (We'll be packing the post-it notes to cover the sensor, and yes, I'll be sure to remove it before leaving the bathroom so no one has to do it for us).

 

[takemetoo]

Looky-loo, I love that. Exactly!

justhat, neither of my boys were much interested in babyfood. I hope you don't worry about it .

I'm sure he'd just want to watch the 3-D shows !! So I'll have to break out the guides to find some nice, quiet spots.

Thanks agin, ladies. It's so nice so many of you have responded. Any other suggestions/tips/favorite places are very welcome!

 

[Nette]

Space ship earth was my favorite place to nurse DD... especially around naptime. She'd get a nice fully belly then listen to that droning voice in the dark and fall fast asleep. And I got a nice cool ride next to DH.

Congrats to ALL of you who made it to 18 mo or two years nursing. I only made it to 17 mo cuz DD was a looky-loo biter.

 

[alicenwonder99]

A big CONGRATS for nursing your child for so long. It's good to see other moms on this board into extended bf. If you time your visits to the long dark shows right, you should be able to get your ds to fall asleep for a nap when you nurse him in the show. Maybe you can put him in the sling, nurse him as soon as the lights go out in one of the dark shows, and then just carry him around in the sling for his nap. My ds would allow us to put him back in the stroller after he fell asleep, but some children wake up too easily.

BTW, I just weaned my "baby" at 4 years 1 month of age! I would like to say he self-weaned, but I had ALOT to do with it.

Mary