Breastfeeding Triplets: Beyond the First Year

If you missed the first part of my journey of breastfeeding triplets, you can read it here: Breastfeeding Triplets: A Battle of Love. 

There was much rejoicing when the babies turned a year old—but much sadness, too. My babies were getting big (that was really sad). The year had flown by and so much of it was a blur. However, we made it through the first year with three newborns (that was cause for celebration)! And all three babies were still nursing (also cause for celebration)!

I could hardly believe that I had breastfed triplets for a year. When I was pregnant, my loftiest goal was to breastfeed two and hopefully have enough expressed milk to bottle-feed the third (and I used this pump for many months!). So, imagine my surprise and delight to find that the babies were happy to continue! They felt no need to wean…so neither did I.

Are you going to be one of those breastfeeding moms?

Maybe. I guess so? Wait, what do you mean by “one of those?”

As I entered the “extended breastfeeding” stage, I did feel a shift in people’s responses. Whereas there was admiration and awe prior to the one year mark, afterwards I was needing to explain that it is actually still incredibly beneficial. So when people ask why I’m still breastfeeding I usually leave it at something like, “We’ve worked so hard to get to this place; I enjoy it, they enjoy it, and it’s still so good for them.”

Personally, though, I work better with a goal in mind. And while I still take it day by day and never force any of them to nurse (seriously, have you ever tried to force a toddler to do anything?), I began setting up new short-term goals. So my hope was to keep the ratio between breast milk and solids as close as possible to 50/50 from 12-18 months. Breastfeeding actually made up more than 50% of their intake during this season!

My Schedule for Breastfeeding Triplets Toddlers

“Breastfeeding” and “schedule” don’t often find themselves in the same sentence, I know. However, with three preemies in the NICU for a month, we all got on a pretty good schedule. My babies came home mostly content to continue that schedule. I found it incredibly helpful for staying sane because I knew what to expect—which one would wake early and want to eat, which one would rather sleep, which one would rather be held.

When the babies turned one, we had adjusted to the following schedule:

• 7am – wake, tandem breastfeed, breastfeed the third on both sides
• 8:30am – breakfast
• 11:30am – tandem breastfeed, breastfeed the third on both sides
• 1pm – lunch
• 4pm – tandem breastfeed, breastfeed the third on both sides
• 6pm – dinner
• 7pm – tandem breastfeed, breastfeed the third on both sides
• 10:30pm – tandem breastfeed, breastfeed the third on both sides

And, yes, it took a solid hour to breastfeed all three. That was five solid hours of breastfeeding! Being on a schedule at this point also really helped them becausethey now knew what to expect—when it was playtime, when it was meal-time, when it was milk-time. By the time she turned one, Emma had decided she’d rather sleep than nurse. So she was the first to drop the “dream feed.”

Moving Forward

At this point, I don’t see any reason why we can’t reach two years old—we’re less than four months away! Right? And if they want to continue nursing, I am perfectly fine with that.

I do think that I may implement a mother-led weaning and attempt to just nurse in the morning and before bedtime. This will free up about an hour of our day and I can see myself ready for this in a few months. They are currently 20 months old and still nursing three times a day.

Not bad, huh, for such a rough start?

What do you think? Have you attempted mother-led weaning? How did it go?