For the tandem nursers...

Help! I have always tandem nursed my two but my girl has become so wild lately! If she's not pinching, squeezing or scratching me (seriously - I have bruises) she's hitting her brother, poking him in the eye, etc. She still seems to want to nurse, she just doesn't want to stay still to do it. I give her my fingers to hold or a small blanket and that works for a bit but then she'll toss it and go back to beating on us! I'd lile to keep nursing them together if possible. Anybody else been through anything similar?

 

How about a nursing necklace that you only put on when you feed them? I did start feeding them one at a time after a year as they can be tricky together. How long do your kids take to nurse these days? Mine were super short- like 5 minutes- so it wasn't a huge deal.

 

They're pretty quick (5-10 mins max depending on the time of day) but I feel like a referee! Inevitably she hits him and he cries Good call on the necklace though, I'll try that!

 

Older babies and toddlers can (and should) be taught nursing manners, especially if you plan to continue nursing for a while. I find the simplest thing is to stop the nursing session with a simple explanation "I won't let you x, y, z. You can not nurse (or whatever word you use) if you x, y, z." They figure it out pretty quick. If you think they may still genuinely be hungry you can always finish the session after a few minutes break.

 

This what I did and it worked very well. If one of the babies was hurting me or their twin, I told them "no x,y,z while nursing" and took them off the breast. After a few moments I gave them a second chance to see if they were hungry.
I loved nursing and planned to nurse for longer (we managed 18 months) but I wanted it to be pleasant for all of us. And nursing manners are important if you want to continue nursing in public, in my experience discreet nursing of older babies and toddlers only works well if the babies are pretty calm and cooperative.

 

Do the suggestions for distracted nursers apply to smaller babies?  Mine are just old enough to start being distracted but not old enough to understand anything I tell them.  I don't mind getting slapped and grabbed while they're nursing (though it's a little frustrating when C grabs my boob, then yanks and pulls the nipple out of her mouth!), but sometimes they're nursing just fine and the dog walks by and they both unlatch to watch the dog.