How Long to Tandem Nurse?

By Denise Punger, MD, FAAFP, IBCLC dedicated to Jodi Smart (the author's IBCLC)

I am approaching almost three years of tandem nursing. It is really not unreasonable for someone to ask me, "How long will you nurse them?" My two boys love mama and her delicious milk and they are very persistent. I have tried to offer alternatives to breastfeeding...

"Do you want to breastfeed or go to the park?"

"We want to be two boys." (They call tandem nursing "being two boys")

"Let's go swimming."

"Can we have milkie in the bath?"

"Do you want candy?"

"No, we want to nurse."

"How about playing a video game?"

"Ok mom, but we want to nurse first."

"Do you want to watch a movie and cuddle?"

"We want night-nights and a movie, now."

"What is your dad doing?"

"Mom, we want night-nights right now!" (They start crying)

"Perhaps dad will let you drive the car."

(Instantly they stop crying and light up) "Let's go!" (They love to pretend they are like dad and sit in his seat and 'drive')

(Sigh) How long will I be tandem nursing? I've come to the conclusion I will be tandem nursing for 12 more years, since 'driving' is the only consistent distraction that works!