DS was 15.5 months when I 'encouraged' his weaning.
I wasn't really that clued on about the breastfeeding 'benchmarks' so to speak and thought I'd just copy what my Mum did and wean him at 6 months. Well that didn't work so decided to keep on trucking. I was happy and so was he.
Sleeping was pretty bad so I started co-sleeping with him....although did it in another room away from DH. After a good while of doing that, I decided that I needed to be back in my own bed and closer to DH, so thought I would wean his day feeds first....that was easy, then had to cut down his two night feeds....where I was just on tap for him. I did one feed at a time and I had then decided that once the night feeding was over it was time for a big boy bed for him.
I vividly remember our last feed...not realising at the time that it was the last I am totally happy with the outcome. He stopped feeding, then I took the cot rails off his toddler bed and he started sleeping in his own room. He got some space, and so did I!
I loved out BFing journey and I'm looking forward to it with the next one, however long it continues. I never had any pressure from anyone to stop feeding (not to my face anyway!)
I'm still feeding Jack and he is almost 20 months. Yaayyyyyy. My first two I didn't really BF at all, and my third I BF till about 8 months. So I am very proud of myself.
I have been asked many times when I am going to wean him. I just say I'm not and that he will wean when he is ready.
He usually only has or two feeds in 24 hours. He only started sleeping through at about 18 months, and will still occasionally wake for a BF very early morning (4:30am) and then go back to bed.
Sometimes he'll have a sooky day when he will want to be on the boob more often. I let him, but it does get annoying sometimes. My DH thinks it's "weird", but I don't give a damn!!
Last edited by Marlene; December 19th, 2009 at 02:05 PM.
I always intended to BF if I was able to but never had any strict plan about how long I would feed for. DD took to it and LOVED boobies so well that we were still going strong at 12 months. She was still having around 4 feeds a day and really wasn't that interested in solids that much. I then had our GP and MCHN pressure me to reduce her feeds because she would then feel hungrier and would eat more. I started reducing her feeds, eventually down to one a day but it never helped with her eating at all! They made me feel like I had been doing the wrong thing by still feeding so often, but the end result was a child that went from always being on or above the 70th percentile in weight to one that eventually dropped right down to the 2nd! When she was 15 1/2 months old I got pg again and she weaned herself. I really didn't have much milk at that stage due to only giving one feed a day and when I got pg again I think all my milk dried up. I would have loved to have fed her longer and feel a little angry at my health care providers as now I believe their advice was wrong. Next time I am going to feed as long as and as often as I feel like it!
So many questions.
I planned to breastfeed DD definitely to 6 months, hopefully to 12.
I ended up breastfeeding her until she self-weaned at 19 months old (I was 4 months pregnant at the time) and had in the meantime changed my mind to feed until she self-weaned but had hope for 2 years.
DD slept with me full-time til 6 months, part time til about 12 months.
From about 12 months on, she only ever fed to sleep and overnight (So feed first thing when waking up, for her lunch-time nap, then again before bed and a couple of times during the night - mostly 10pmish and 2amish)
She gradually started replacing her feeds by asking for a bottle of milk instead. The last feed we were "stuck" with was the 2am feed. I only say stuck as this was probably the least desirable feed. She dropped that by all of a sudden asking for water instead. After a few days with water, she started sleeping through.
I was kinda sad when she weaned.
Since her brother has been born she has asked for boobie a few times and I have always encouraged her to have something else (ie. juice, cow's milk) but if she persisted I have let her feed. sometimes she only "kissed"my boobie, other times she had a proper feed. but it has never become a regular thing again (she's now 2 1/2).
I plan to exclusively BF DS for another couple of weeks (he's just over 5 months), then slowly start solids, but keep BFing until he self-weans. He sleeps with me full-time but will be moving into his cot (next to my bed) this weekend.
Oh, and Bun, my DD also got quite skinny after she weaned. I'm constantly worrying about her not-eating. It has NOTHING to do with extended BFing. Her eating actually got worse after she weaned. And to this day she would still rather drink 2 litres of cow's milk a day than eat a lot. She does however eat everything, just not a lot of it.
I am still feeding ds at 16mths. I love bfing and so does he!! He is have anywhere from 2-6feeds a day/night, usually 3:- 1 early morning before getting up, 1 in the arvo when I get home from work and 1 before going to sleep. Sometimes he will have one or two through the night, but I am tying to discourage it and he has been sleeping through maybe half the time now. I can sometimes get away with just patting him back to sleep in his cot. But if not, it's booby in my bed.
Originally I had the goal of 12mths, now I have no real goal. I'm just feeding til it doesn't feel right anymore. We tend not to feed in public anymore though and I don't talk about it much to friends or family either. I don't need the negativity I get from people who have their own opinions to thrust on me!
Still BF at 17 months and about to have number 2 so chances are will be tandam feeding as I cant see DS giving up anytime soon!!! Not that he feeds for long at a time but 1 - 5 feeds in a day.
I BF DS until he was 18 months, then I forced him to stop. I had always planned to BF until he self-weaned, but I was 4 months pregnant and he was waking about 6 times every night for a comfort feed. And I didn't even have any milk - he was asking for 'more empties' lol
He was a co-sleeper because there is not really any other way to survive a baby that wakes every 1-2 hours for over a year!
DD will most likely BF until she self weans. I don't think she will want to do it for an extended time though because she just isn't that into it iykwim. She is a cot sleeper, but when she wakes in the night I bring her into bed. Works for us.
I fed Liebling for about 16 months. By the end, he was just playing about so we were both glad to give up. He just didn't want to sit/lie still for a feed. I was aiming to feed until about 2-3, just because the idea of me feeding a walking, talking baby was freaking my family out. But feeding a child I was sending to a nursery school wasn't going down too well with me (school starts just after age 3 in the UK).
As for sleep - we had another issue here; DS was intolerant of dairy. He wasn't feeding overnight from ~10m (his choice: he'd just have a very quick sip then want to play, so I stopped offering and he wasn't fussed). When we switched from cow to goat for his dairy, he slept through.
We co-slept initially: DS had his moses basket then cot to start the night, then into bed when he woke. We still co-sleep now if DS wants to come into our bed.
i fed DD1 til 18 months when i weaned her as i didnt want to feed when pregnant, i had bad m/s when pregnant with her so i felt i wanted to wean her rather than be forced to because i felt sick etc..hope that made sense was hard though she wasnt ready but i was.
DD2 is 10 months and will feed til she self weans, happy to go as long as possible!
I fed DS until 14.5 months when he self weaned - I think because I was pregnant (about 3 months at that stage). I'm sooooo glad I got that far as in the early days, it was a real struggle and we had to comp feed for a little bit. I was grasping at anything and everything to keep the BF'ing relationship going as long as possible. We did it too and I'm glad I perservered with it. I had no intention of stopping any time soon and was looking forward to tandem feeding, but he chose to stop himself. He now just points to my boobies and says "Milk" and then "baby" lol
BellyBelly Life Member - Love all your MCN friends
Jun 2004
The Festival State
3,008
the length of our bf-ing journey so far is 36 months.
we have had many ups and downs along the way, never dreamt we would make it to three weeks, let alone three years.
so many things went wrong for us during labour and delivery (things outside my control), breastfeeding was one thing i was prepared to give up on without a fight. I felt and still do feel, it is my gift to my child.
i remember joining a natural parenting group in my city, when pregnant, and meeting a few mums who were bf-ing their 3yo's. It was the first time i had been exposed to that and i thought "ok for them, but i doubt i could do that". At the time, i was really more concerned with "what if my body doesn't produce milk when i have my baby?" - so i was greatly relieved when i DID produce milk, and my nb DID manage to suck. such a relief.
four months to establish bf-ing, many times when i would tell myself, "i'm feeding her for the next 24 hours, beyond that, i have no clue". So we have come a long way.
At 19 months old, we went into a PND clinic for a fortnight. I was bullied by a variety of health professionals (paed dietician, 3 midwives, psychologist etc) to take her feeds from 10 to 2 a day. She cried for booby and i was beside myself. THey enforced controlled crying and put her in a "nursery" far away from my room. Supposedly monitored in the nurses office, but i found out the volume was turned down, so actually, NOT monitored.
The supposed outcome of the withheld breastfeeds never happened, she still wasn't interested in solids. After two days of her crying and starving herself, i made up an excuse to leave the PND clinic and never went back.
we went back to booby on request, which turned out to be about six feeds a day (until the clinic, i hadn't really ever kept count before, but they looked at me like i had 3 heads, when i said we fed on request and i didn't know the number). Their protocol only covered bf-ing up to six months, so they didn't know what to do with us at all.
So, although both traumatised, we gradually got over the PND clinic experience and got back to normal booby feeding. (my DD still looked healthy).
Around 2.5yrs i went thru a crisis of confidence, due to the comments and looks i was getting at my DD's childcare, when i picked her up in the afternoon. My child requested a feed immediately she saw me, and would become distressed if asked to wait for a feed at home. So i fed her at the ccc. I copped value judgements esp from workers about that.
My child is three now (Nov b'day). SHe no longer wants a bf when i collect her from CC, we're at a new centre, and i haven't copped any comments there, even at the start, when i did feed on their couch, when collecting my child.
Strangely enough, the days she is in CC, my milk is not drying up. SHe feeds before and after CC. the other days, she feeds during the day. I'm a bit surprised the CC hasn't interfered with the milk supply, but am not complaining.
THe longer i have bf her, the better we have both become at this skill (each of us have learnt so much), it's gotten easier. I still feed her in public but have a better bf-ing wardrobe now, than i did in the beginning, which makes me feel more confident. buying bf-ing clothing was quite a mindfield, took me ages to get what i was after.
If i had another child, i would love to experiemnt with slings/carriers more than i did, to work out how to bf in a sling. Will never get that chance, but i think about it.
Belly belly has been great to me, all the way thru this unfinished as yet journey.
i would especially like to thank Barb Glare for monitoring all the bf-ing threads and adding so much bf-ing knowledge and wisdom to everyone who posts.
It's so helpful to hear what other women do and have done - when you're going thru an issue yourself, to all the wonderful women who have responded to my posts, too many to mention but all your words have helped me so much.
I fed DD1 for 2yrs6months and weaned her due to family pressure. With DD2 I weaned her at 2yrs due to not been able to concieve again and have regretted it so so much. Stupid Drs said they wouldn't consider me even ttc whilst she was BF except I knew I was definately ovulating and having regular cycles. Almost 12months on I am still no closer to having another baby so I feel I weaned my gorgeous DD for no reason at all except for the sake of my medical notes. Part of me feels sad that I did wean both my DD's.
Despite a tough start, DD fed until 17 months. Initially I was just aiming for another day at a time, but then 12 months.
I remember her last date and time of feed and didn't realise it would be the last.
Like so many others I had much external feedback about what I should be doing, and I have a feeling it impacted, but ultimatley DD weaned herself.
The Little Guy is still going strong with what feels like a million feeds a day, so I doubt he'll give up anytime soon, but seeing as he's my last....I'm not fussed.
We just hit 12 months BF a couple of days ago - I am so proud and I recently posted a big proud congratulations thread to myself and DD and a big thank you to all the ladies in the BF threads that have helped us through our 12 months! We've had our share of challenges, including pretty full-on oversupply at the start and the way in which that affected DD (wind/colic/lactose overload) contributed quite a lot to my PND, but...
I have no plan to stop at all - I want DD to wean when she is ready.
However, I was really worried about having to wean her a couple of months back, as DH and I are starting to get into gear to TTC #2 - and this is most likely going to involve more AC/IVF. I was under the impression that I wouldn't be allowed to go through more AC/IVF if DD was still breastfeeding and it made me feel really torn. But... I contacted my FS back in Australia and she told me that for I wouldn't need to wean at all which I was sooooo happy about! We have 3 little embryos waiting for us, and as I got AF back regularly exactly 28 days after my lochia stopped, I don't need to wean to encourage AF back (the only happy reason for having got it back so soon after birth!), and as we will be doing natural cycles with our embryos, I don't have to worry about breastfeeding and HRT! I was so very happy to hear this.
DD is feeding about 4-5 times a day (if she's well and not waking up at night), including one feed at night (a dreamfeed before I go to bed, which we have done for so long I can't remember when I started it - probably around 4 months old) She feeds first thing in the morning, recently stopped having a mid-morning feed, though if I offer she will still have some. Another feed in the afternoon, and a very short, very bouncy/burning-off-energy feed before bath and bed. All of her feeds are very short now and she doesn't have much, and I've had to start feeding her in her dark room in her sleeping bag in the morning when she wakes up otherwise she won't take more than a couple of swallows. I need to encourage her to keep having enough as she won't drink much water and you can tell she needs more fluid as her nappies suffer and she gets a little bit dehydrated - this is also why I'm still offering her a dreamfeed and always offering a feed if she wakes up at night.
I don't know how much longer DD will continue to feed for - I hope for a long time! But as I'm in new territory, I'm not sure if she's showing signs of getting a little bit sick of BB - but she might turn around and surprise me and be really into it again. For now, she does like to have her BBs, but not for very long, and sometimes she will basically refuse unless we are in a dark quiet environment
Happy that we are still going, and will fell blessed for as long as she continues to want to BF
I'm really enjoying reading about everyone's BF journeys and I look forward to reading more.
We have just reached 12 months. DS still feeds 3 times per day and usually once at night, sometimes twice if i'm lazy and cant be bothered to pat him and such to get back to sleep - my milk seems like it has tranquilizers in it, i love that it ssends him straight back to la la land!
We co slept for 6 months then he went into a cot in his own room. DH and i needed 'our' bed back.
When i first had ds i honestly didnt have any goal in mind. I knew i wanted to try to breastfeed and i read lots about it and spoke to my friends about their experiences and i asked like a million questions. I have only 1 friend IRL who has feed beyond 12 months and she has been wonderful support and everytime i see her now she still pats me on the back for going so well
Once i got to 6 weeks i was stoked. Then by 12 weeks it has stopped being super painful and was getting to be quite a nice experience, then from there its just been the norm.
I'm hoping to make it to 2 years. But its really up to DS now as to what he wants to do as if he decided to finish then i really cant force it on him (or can i lol??)
I'd also love to tandem feed if it was possible. I still havent had AF return yet but hey - anything is possible!
Before I started BFing I had this notion embedded in my brain that I would be pregnant for 9 months and then I would BF for 9 months and that was a perfectly reasonable timetable.
WELL...I think it took exactly 1 and a half coffee mornings at ABA (used to be called Nursing Mothers back then) - which I joined more for support since we had just moved to a new area - to throw that notion out. I read a lot, talked to other mums alot, and became very passionate about breastfeeding. Which is good because establishing BFing with DD1 was very very hard - the hospy that I was at gave all sorts of terrible, conflicting, bad advice - but the support and info I had through ABA meant I knew what I needed to do - even if it was a bit unconventional (i used to use a dummy to get DD sucking before whipping it out and popping my BB in LOL) to get going properly.
I adored BFing. I had a very traumatic birth and was frequently quite dissociated from my body for months afterwards - but BFing was the one constant that anchored me to my baby and allowed me to pour my love out physically. I was able to continue to BF until DD was nearly 18 months, when she self-weaned with minimal encouragement from me.
With DD2, I was determined to BF as long as possible, even well past the 18 mth mark, but it wasn't to be. I didn't enjoy the physical sensation of feeding as much this time round - in hindsight most of the pain and problems were probably due to a large breast tumour which wasn't diagnosed until DD weaned at 16 mths and the extent of the lump became apparent. This time I actively encouraged the weaning because I was having surgery - I was sad at the time but later very relieved because it would've been heartbreaking to have to wean because of the cancer treatment. We have continued to have special cuddles in the armchair where I always fed her, but it makes me a bit sad that she doesn't seem to remember BFing like DD1 did.
I stopped breastfeeding 2.5 weeks ago. DS was 15 days off of his second birthday.
He was definitely ready to stop, I just gave him a gentle push, and he hasn't looked back.
I miss it so much!
My first bf goal was 4 months, I was going to wean due to returning to work, but luckily for me DS wouldn't have a bar of the bottle. We worked around my returning to work and my next goal was 12 months - that came and went with no sign of DS wanting to stop, so we kept going and made to a smidge off of him turning 2.
DS was always a feed to sleep baby, right up til the end and I have ha absolutely no trouble what so ever in getting him to sleep. We just have a drink of milk and quiet time on the couch, then we take him to bed, read a story or two, DS gives us a kiss, gives his teddies a kiss and off to sleep he goes, not even a whimper. I really am lucky, I thought we'd have a terrible time.
So all positives here!!
I am totally happy with the outcome. He stopped feeding, then I took the cot rails off his toddler bed and he started sleeping in his own room. He got some space, and so did I!
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was hard though she wasnt ready but i was.
We've had our share of challenges, including pretty full-on oversupply at the start and the way in which that affected DD (wind/colic/lactose overload) contributed quite a lot to my PND, but...
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