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

[meow]

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!!

[kelebek]

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.

[Sterla]

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 .

[Traveller]

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)

[nicjay]

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

[Oorki Galoorki]

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

[Fleur]

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

[{sarah}]

I had no defined amount of time to breastfeed, because I couldn't feed Zander I just wanted to be able to. Once we got to six months there was just no question about continuing, it's just what I did. At 12 months I tried to introduce cow's milk as well but she wasn't interested. By about 14 months I was ready to get my body back & stop feeding. It took about a month to gently wean off the one bedtime feed she was having. J had her last feed the night before my sister's wedding, the night of the wedding she was with her grandmother & I just decided there was no point sending a bottle so we stopped there.

J slept in her cot in her room from day one, well other than the times we tried the hammock (which she hated). I never fed in bed, I felt far more comfortable keeping her more settled quietly moving from cot to rocking chair & back rather than going between rooms etc. I don't disagree with cosleeping, but it's just something we don't do.