As a certified breastfeeding counselor, you will support clients in all stages of breastfeeding. Some clients will reach out in the early weeks, while weary and trying to establish supply. Others will reach out with questions about toddlers and breastfeeding boundaries.
The AAP has updated its guidelines to support families beyond the first year of breastfeeding. However, many breastfeeding parents find themselves feeling alone when it comes to questions about breastfeeding toddlers.
As a CBC, it is important you have the skills and knowledge to help address their concerns and provide some guidance.
What Are Breastfeeding Boundaries?
While it is vital to breastfeed on demand with newborns and young infants, when it comes to toddlers, parents have more wiggle room. Gone are the days of supply concerns. Now are the days of navigating a toddler with needs and wants and how to decipher between the two.
It is important to note that it is never inherently wrong to feed on demand whether a baby is two days or two years. However, breastfeeding boundaries with toddlers often make it manageable for parents to continue.
Feeding every two to three hours for two or more years is not sustainable for most families. If it is, and it works for a parent, they do not need to change. However, many parents hope to implement breastfeeding boundaries.
Some breastfeeding boundaries for older infants and toddlers might look like:
- Only breastfeeding at certain times such as nap, bedtime, morning, etc.
- No twiddling, pulling, etc., parts of your body
- Breastfeeding only at home, in a certain room, in bed, etc. (you CAN nurse anywhere, but it is also okay if you choose only specific locations too)
- No breastfeeding during the night hours, or only breastfeeding during the night hours
- Not allowing grabbing or pulling at your clothes
- Offering other liquids before offering the breast
- Time limits for each feeding session
These are just some examples. Truly any boundary a client wants to put in place related to feeding is a breastfeeding boundary.
Are Breastfeeding Boundaries Healthy or Safe?
It can be difficult to go from feeding on demand to implementing boundaries. In fact, much of the transition from infant to toddler is challenging. A baby’s wants are almost always needs. While many of a toddler’s wants are also needs, many are simply wants.
When parents go through this transition, it can be difficult to implement boundaries around something that represents much of the early infant parent relationship. However, breastfeeding an older infant or toddler without boundaries is often taxing.
By implementing boundaries, breastfeeding can continue to be mutually desired by both the toddler and the parents. A two-year old can get their hydration from other sources, even if they have a preference for breastfeeding.
Not having to be a toddler’s sole source of hydration can make it sustainable to continue breastfeeding. Breastfeeding after 12 months, 24 months, etc., continues to have significant benefits. By helping clients implement boundaries you are helping them continue their breastfeeding goals.
All healthy relationships have some level of boundaries, even if they do not refer to everything as a boundary. Parents do not allow their toddler to just continue to hit them. In the same way, it is also okay to not allow a child to pull at your clothes, twiddle a nipple, or anything else which bothers them.
As a CBC, you can help reassure parents that breastfeeding relationship is just like any other aspect of parenting. It is safe, healthy, and okay to implement boundaries.
Get started with your certified breastfeeding counselor training today and be prepared to help families navigate breastfeeding boundaries!