thread: How many have or are "Extended/Sustained breastfeeding past 12 months" on BB?

Hybrid View

Previous Post Previous Post   Next Post Next Post
  1. #1
    Registered User

    Jul 2008
    summer street
    2,708

    Oooohh. Can I join? DD is 12 months in about a week.

    My goal is two years, although I do want another bub, so I may have to feed while pregnant to get to that goal!

    We're still feeding about 6 times in 24 hours, with 3 x a day and 3 overnight. DD starts the night in her cot, but I take her to bed with me when I am tired (coz I hate gettin out of bed lol). She has been a cosleeper basically all her little life, except for a patch of about 2.5 months (6-8 months)when I tried to get her to stay in her cot...obviously I am soft, because I couldn't keep it up. lol.

    She still feeds to sleep and I would love her to sleep longer than 3-4 hours in a row overnight, but I cannot consider night weaning until she's a bit older. She seems so small still!

    I am so happy bfeeding worked out so well for us. DD was a champion feeder from birth, and she luuuurves the boobie! I hope to continue for as long as possible.

  2. #2
    Registered User

    Jun 2005
    USA
    3,991

    Before having my son I hoped to breastfeed till 2 and thought I may consider trying to wean him if he was still going at 3.

    At 1 year old he was feeding 6 times a day. Beyond when he was a newborn and really needed milk for food he never really asks for a feed so I created a routine of feeding him in the morning, before both day naps, before bed and twice over night (actually- he was the one asking for the overnight feeds! LOL).

    At about 16 months I tried to get him to stretch out longer at night with cuddles instead of milk and after a few nights he started only asking for it once. At the same time he went to one day sleep so we dropped to 4 feeds a day.

    Over the following months we changed the day sleep feed to cows milk, then stopped feeding overnight and replaced the evening feed with cows milk too so now I only feed him in the morning. Which this morning he didn't want. He's not well though so I'm hoping he'll still have it tomorrow. I'm not ready to wean- we were going to feed till 2!!

  3. #3
    Registered User

    May 2008
    where the V8's roar
    1,855

    DS is 21 mnths and doesn't look like stopping anytime soon

    I'm from a large family and most people in my family start of BF but by about 3 mnths stop. My sister fed her last baby until 12 mnths so I knew it could be done. But mainly it was a cost factor I didn't want to pay for formulae if I could help it. I didn't really think beyond 12 mnths at the time.

    I found BB when DS was about 2 mnths (I lurked for awhile) and started to realise how many benefits there are to bf and about the WHO guidelines. When we reached 12 mnths I think it would have been traumatic if I wanted to wean DS as he is too attached to his 'boo' and I have been happy to follow his lead with everything else so this isn't any different really. I did/do get a few comments but mostly brush them off - to me it is no-one else business and I don't see how it is acceptable to feed my baby another animals milk but mine is somehow not good enough; I just don't buy it.

    DS was a fairly constant feeder up until about 14 mnths - he would feed 2 to 3 hrly. Now he is feeding after his afternoon nap (although he seems to be dropping that) he feeds before bed. He wakes up at night but is happy to be cuddled back to sleep most nights but occasionally wants a feed. He seems to cluster feed from dawn until we get up. We co-sleep from the first wakeup regardless of feeding.

    I do notice if he is a bit unwell or if he is getting sick (on that note he has only been sick with gastro once and a cold twice) or getting teeth he will feed more often.

    In terms of his sleep, we did feed to sleep in the early days but then he had to be rocked, then he learnt to sleep in his cot (at 11 mnths). He was sleeping in his cot all night but when he kept waking up it was easier for me to sleep with him so that is what we do at the moment. He has his day sleeps in the cot and starts off in the cot at night and at that first wakeup I sleep with him.

  4. #4
    Registered User
    Add Sterla on Facebook

    Jun 2008
    Tasmania
    3,011

    Well, we haven't been b/f for 12 months yet - just over 10 so far, but am planning to go well beyond 12 months - and it looks like we will. DS still feeds up to 8 times a day, and I can't see him dropping many feeds any time soon. My aim is two years, anything before that I don't think I would be ready, even if DS was .

  5. #5
    Registered User

    Nov 2009
    Scottish expat living in Geelong
    5,572

    I BF my twins to 21 months, but my Sil gets my extreme admiration as she is BFing her 2.5 year old, her 13 month old, and is pregnant again and not planning on stopping feeding either of the older children. Good on her I say (although as she co sleeps and feeds in the night I have no idea how she manages to get pregnant so easily, lol)

  6. #6
    Registered User

    Apr 2007
    NSW
    775

    I breastfed my DD1 until she self weaned at 2.5 years old In the beginning I never intended to feed that long, only until 12 months old. While pg I was always oh I'll breast feed if I can but if I can't then I'll bottle feed. We had lots of problems establishing supply in the end when she was tiny but by that stage I was determined that I wouldn't give up LOL how things change once you have the baby! Anyway, when she was 12 months old she got really sick with the flu and and bout of croup that landed her in hospital While she was sick all she would eat was breast milk and that was a bit of a wake up call for me. So we continued despite all the comments until she finally weaned herself. It was really gradual, she just asked for "boo" less and less often until one day I realised that she hadn't asked for quite a few days.

    We have had no problems second time around except for attaching in the first few days - I have to say it has been wonderful to have everything go smoothly this time after all the problems with DD1. And of course, I am intending to feed DD2 until she self weans

  7. #7
    Registered User

    Jan 2009
    hiding under my desk!
    1,432

    27 months here although i could say 29months as dd has had the odd feed since being weaned

  8. #8
    Registered User

    Apr 2009
    in the garden
    3,767

    I fed DS2 to 14mths. We co-slept too, it just all worked for us.
    DD2 has been a different kettle of fish altogether!!