CHARLOTTE tandem breastfeeds her five-year-old daughter and two-year-old son. Charlotte told truly: “Tandem breastfeeding is when you breastfeed multiple children - generally two... You can either breastfeed them together at the same time or one at a time.” After initial struggles with breastfeeding her daughter Reyce Anne due to a latching issue, the mother-of-two decided she would stop breastfeeding when her daughter is ready. She breastfed through her pregnancy with her son Malachi and started tandem breastfeeding the day she gave birth to him. Charlotte said: “My dream is to let my children decide when to stop.” The health and wellness coach decided to share her story online to support other people who are breastfeeding but she has also received negativity. Commenters say it’s ‘unhealthy’, question why she’s still breastfeeding her kids at their age and even say she gets ‘sexual pleasure’ from it. But Charlotte is determined to continue sharing her story to help and inspire others. She said: “One day my children will stop breastfeeding… I hope they can look back on what Mom did and be inspired and proud as she shared her journey with integrity and love to support other moms.”
Follow Charlotte here:
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/ yourfriendcharlotte_
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/ mycoachcharlotte
Follow Charlotte here:
/ thetandemtango
/ yourfriendcharlotte_
https://www.tiktok.com/@thetandemtang...
/ mycoachcharlotte
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FunTranscript
00:00 I tandem breastfeed my five and two-year-old.
00:02 My dream is to let my children decide when to stop.
00:05 This is a lot easier than washing dishes and bottles.
00:08 There is a lot of negativity surrounding breastfeeding.
00:11 Hold on.
00:11 Feeding my children is going to turn them into serial killers?
00:15 I can't even... I have nothing to say to that.
00:18 You want to crack the eggs?
00:22 My name is Charlotte and I tandem breastfeed my five and two-year-old.
00:25 Would you like me to help you?
00:27 You want to break it?
00:30 Can I do another one?
00:31 You sure can.
00:32 We can control whether or not we have positive or negative thoughts, right?
00:36 I am a certified health and wellness coach.
00:38 How many times you smile today, you can control that.
00:42 Give it a good whack.
00:43 There you go.
00:44 You want to crack one, buddy?
00:45 I need help.
00:47 Help.
00:48 My oldest is Racian and my youngest is Malachi.
00:51 Let's keep it in there.
00:53 In a cup?
00:57 No, no!
00:59 How old are you?
01:00 I'm five. Malachi is two.
01:03 I love you so much.
01:05 I love you too.
01:06 Who's better at cooking?
01:08 Me.
01:09 Is it mommy or daddy?
01:10 Um...
01:11 You still?
01:13 Yeah.
01:15 Tell me about a typical morning at home.
01:17 Um...
01:19 Well, a typical morning for us is we let our bodies wake us up.
01:22 We're blessed to work from home.
01:24 We don't have alarms, which is a beautiful thing.
01:27 Daddy, vegetables go to numbers.
01:30 We can adjust our times to be able to sleep in,
01:33 so we both sleep with our kids and we wake up around the same time.
01:37 A typical morning starts off nursing together,
01:40 getting breast milk, and then going to the kitchen to cook.
01:44 Slow mornings are our favorite.
01:49 I always knew that I wanted to breastfeed.
01:51 My experience with breastfeeding my daughter was not the easiest.
01:56 She had something called torticollis,
01:58 which is the shortening of the muscle in your neck.
02:00 We struggled a lot, and we overcame that together.
02:04 After the first four months, I was doing really well,
02:09 and then just kept going from there.
02:11 This child does not sleep, therefore mama doesn't sleep.
02:14 How did you decide to do extended breastfeeding?
02:17 I had this dream of doing full-term breastfeeding
02:19 where she would stop when she's ready.
02:21 And I know that if the time comes where I'm ready,
02:25 then we'll of course adjust accordingly.
02:28 I really wanted another child.
02:30 And as soon as I heard that it was possible to breastfeed
02:33 during pregnancy and even tandem breastfeed afterwards,
02:36 it's just like something clicked.
02:38 I loved it during pregnancy
02:40 because I didn't have to chase a toddler around.
02:42 Tandem breastfeeding is when you breastfeed multiple children,
02:45 generally two.
02:46 In my case, my kids are three years apart.
02:48 You can either breastfeed them together at the same time
02:51 or one at a time.
02:52 My decision to tandem breastfeed was totally a God moment
02:55 because it was placed on my mind and my heart
02:57 that that's something that I would be doing.
02:59 I started tandem breastfeeding the day that I gave birth to my son.
03:03 I knew that I wanted to try
03:05 and to achieve a few months of it at least.
03:07 This is like a guaranteed rest every day for a mom.
03:12 There's another benefit.
03:14 I would love to make it more well-known
03:16 that the benefits of breastfeeding don't stop
03:19 at six months or at one year or at two years.
03:21 Mom, watch this!
03:24 There's nutritional benefits, there's behavioral benefits,
03:27 emotional, social, and cognitive.
03:30 I don't believe our kids get as sick as other kids do.
03:35 I think they have a closer bond
03:37 because of our decision to tandem breastfeed.
03:40 You know, they sit still for a while
03:42 and stare at each other in the face.
03:44 At the beginning, they would hold hands while they tandem breastfed.
03:47 Man, that's a heartwarming moment for a mother.
03:49 My dream is to let my children decide when to stop.
03:52 At one point, I thought maybe he would wean before she did,
03:55 which would have been kind of wild.
03:57 But I also know that when either party is ready,
04:00 there needs to become a mutual understanding and agreement.
04:03 But it doesn't look like there's any stopping anytime soon.
04:09 The current parenting style that I identify with most
04:14 is secure attachment parenting.
04:16 Can you hold it up? Hold it up.
04:18 There you go.
04:20 Can I hold that?
04:22 Watch this!
04:24 You respond to the needs of the child.
04:26 I see green and green and green and more green.
04:31 But you also give them space to explore.
04:34 Am I the umbrella holder? Yeah.
04:36 Do I look like an umbrella holder? Yeah.
04:38 It aligns with my motherly instincts.
04:42 It's a balance that maybe not everyone understands or agrees with,
04:47 but it works for me.
04:49 How do you feel about Charlotte's breastfeeding?
04:51 I find that it works really, really well, in fact.
04:53 I trust her judgment.
04:55 I think there's hardships with everything,
04:57 but parenting is being there for our kids.
05:00 I started sharing my breastfeeding journey online
05:03 because there was just a lack of support
05:05 and a lack of community out there for breastfeeding moms,
05:07 not that I could find at the time.
05:09 And I also wanted some support
05:11 as my daughter had such struggles latching.
05:14 The majority of my comments and encouragement that I receive
05:18 is positivity, but for every positive person,
05:20 there seems to be a negative person.
05:23 Not quite a ratio of 50/50, but there is a lot of negativity.
05:27 Why do you still let your kids breastfeed at their age?
05:30 It just seems unhealthy. Your kids will be too dependent.
05:34 Oh.
05:35 You look up secure attachment.
05:37 There's a reason why we do what we do.
05:39 If the kids know that their needs are met,
05:42 you get a sexual pleasure from it and justify it with parenting.
05:46 That's...wow. That's so sad.
05:49 Sometimes I think mom gets addicted to having her breasts sucked on.
05:53 That's lovely.
05:54 The typical, "She's doing it for her benefit and not the kids,"
05:58 and that's absurd 'cause they don't have the understanding or knowledge.
06:01 Why should we so feed them until they're ready for marriage?
06:06 I can't even...I have nothing to say to that.
06:08 There's been comments where people say, "Just give her a sippy cup."
06:13 And I would say, "Are you coming over to wash the sippy cup?"
06:18 'Cause this is a lot easier than washing dishes and bottles.
06:21 A gal said, "What's going to happen when these children grow up
06:24 "and they look back and see these images that you've shared on your social media?
06:29 "What are they going to think?"
06:31 And I said, "Well, they're going to be empowered."
06:33 [laughs]
06:35 [baby cooing]
06:37 That's truly how I feel about that.
06:39 I haven't had anybody come up to me and try to scold me,
06:42 but just some looks here and there, more shock than disgust.
06:50 And then I get comments like, "You are an amazing mom.
06:52 "I think it's a wonderful bond you have with your kids.
06:54 "You're doing a great job, Mama."
06:56 Oh, yeah, look at Mama go.
07:01 And if I can help just one person, then that's enough for me.
07:06 I continue to share my journey because it's ever-changing.
07:10 I want to knock it over.
07:12 And I went from feeding just one to two,
07:15 and it's probably the most important and beautiful thing I've done to date.
07:19 I want to continue my journey, so if a mom wants to continue to breastfeed,
07:24 I hope that my journey inspires them to do so.
07:26 Look, a bow dash!
07:30 I've never known a high school kid to still be breastfeeding, or a college kid,
07:35 so one day my children will stop breastfeeding
07:38 and maybe go on to have children in a family of their own.
07:41 I hope that they can look back on what Mom did
07:44 and be inspired and proud as she shared her journey with integrity
07:48 and love to support other moms.
07:50 Two, three, go!
07:53 [cheering]
07:55 [laughing]
07:58 That's a comfy!
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