How many have or are "Extended/Sustained breastfeeding past 12 months" on BB?
I'm not sure what technicaly classifed as 'Extended Breastfeeding' or 'Sustained Breastfeeding'... some things say beyond one year, some things say beyond 2-3 years... but anyway, lets assume its beyond one year.
I thought this thread might be good for others who might be feeling pressure they don't want to wean before 12 months, or who have questions about how extended breastfeeding, or co-sleeping and feeding, or feeding to sleep, might effect their babies as they grow
Just wondering how many are there? I know there are HEAPS of bfing mummas, but not sure exactly how many of us are out there that are (or haved in the past ) breastfed our babies past 12 months.
I'm also really interested to know what you thought when you started breastfeeding about breastfeeding beyond 12 months? And do you have the intention to wean at a certain age/stage, or allow your child to self-wean when they are ready?
Oh, and how much do you stil feed?
How does your child toddler/sleep? Where does your toddler/child sleep?
When I was pregnant and then when Jazz was a newborn I was always a bit hesitant to consider breastfeeding beyond 12 months, not that I had anything against those that did, I just thought it would be a bit weird for me, but we are still going strong now at 16.5 months, with no real view to stop at this stage. Some days she'll have less and I'll wonder if she's going to start self-weaning, but nope she makes up for it later.
It's funny though, the longer we go, the less bfing comments annoy me. When Jazz was 8 weeks, I remember being infuriated that my SIL would suggest we wean. Now she says it every time I see her, and I just laugh at her and tell her Jazz will never wean and I'll be feeding her on her first day of school I've said it that often I'm not sure if she thinks I'm joking or serious
Since I've been working we feed 3, maybe 4 times a day: a morning feed before I leave, an afternoon feed when I get home, a bedtime feed, and sometimes a night feed if she wakes up. When I am at home, it's probably more like 6 times a day, but it could only be 3-4 if I refused her when she asked for it. But I don't cos I'm a big softy
Jazz sleeps in her cot in her own room most nights, and sleeps through probably about 4 nights out of 7. If she wakes I get up to her and feed her, if she goes back to sleep its back in her own cot, if she doesn't (which is about once or twice a fortnight) then she just comes into our bed, where she'll sleep soundly until morning usually.
We do still feed to sleep, BUT she is able to get to sleep without it during the day now (and could probably go to sleep at night without it but I'm way too lazy to try!). We used to exclusively co-sleep, and she was a SHOCKING sleeper up to about 12-13ish months, and she gradually got better, and now she sleeps amazingly. Co-sleeping and feeding constantly all night (or so it felt) was hard but it didn't last forever so in hindsight I really wouldn't change anything except maybe to get mroe rest during the day LOL!
Hi - me .... until last Sunday night - nearly 15 months. I am both happy and sad about it - but it was really his decision - self weaning - he kept refusing and it was a fight so I just let it go and he hasn't asked since. He has a cup with a bit of milk in it (like the big kids ) so he is just trying to grow up! But wow, yes I did it
He just started cutting down himself.
Z has always slept in his own cot apart from unsettled/teething/sickness nights when nothing bub mummy or daddy cuddles comforts him.
I had no intention of feeding past 12 months, just kinda happened. I was going back to work around 11 months 2 days a week and tried to get him to take a bottle from around 9 months and no way! So we just kept feeding - and now I dont regret a single feed, a single look from strangers with either disgust or admiration. My other two kids never thoguht it was strange and I loves showing them how beautiful nature is
My plan was to feed to 12 months simply to avoid formula. As I learnt more, and DS reached 12 months.. just seemed right to continue, so goal was then at least 2 years. So 2 years is my general goal now.
DS co-slept with us from about 7 months until 2 1/2 (ish) at the end of that it was on & off coming into our bed.. and he still occasionally wakes and comes in, but generally sleeps right through these days. He weaned at 26 mths, with a push from me, I had been tandem feeding for 7 months and he seemed to have lost the knack of feeding and it HURT whenever he fed. He didn't bat an eyelid when I said "no more.. mummy is sore". He asked a couple of times before sleeping, but didn't seem to care the answer was no! So I assume he was ready to wean too I was a bit miffed he didn't care LOL.. at least 1 tear would have been nice!
DD is still feeding.. altho I'm reaching a point where I'm feeling a bit meh about it. Her feeds can be quite short these days.. like, reeeallly short, before sleeping, so I reckon we could start weaning soon. I'm not really keen on feeding a 3 yr old, so sometime in this year I'm hoping we'll wean DD still spends most of the night in our bed, and I only quite recently cracked down on night feeds.. mainly cos I was worried she'd wean completely if I night weaned.. since we easily go all day without a feed.. and I wanted her to reach 2 years on my milk. So night feeds are gone, but she still wakes and comes in to us through the night.
Woops just re-read all that and it's a bit of a ramble. Hope it makes sense! LOL.
Before I found BB, I always knew that BFing was the "right " thing to do (in my mind, for me, no offense meant!) MY mum had BF my youngest Bro till he was 18 mths but he looked like a 4 year old, we have always given both of them heaps about it over the years. when I was a teenager I was all "6 months, if that, maybe only 6 weeks!"
Then I strated working in a pharmacy and talking to other mums, I realised just how expensive FF is, the amount of work involved etc, I couldnt get my head around why anyone would do it!
Got pregnant, Found BB, made 2 years my goal as per WHO guidelines.
Had DS, he was a champion feeder right from the start, I have been very lucky in that we have never really had a problem with it, apart from a few uncomfortable feeds when he is teething.
DS has mainly co-slept since he was about 4 months old, his cot is next to our bed, so usually when he has his first wakeup he just ends up with us, he will feed copiously between 6am and 8 am, dozing in between (me too!) has another feed around mid/morning or lunch, late afternoon, then bed time, we feed to sleep mostly. for me I just find it easier.
he usually wakes between 10pm and 12am and will have a quick feed to go back to sleep.
My goal is 2 years, but if he self weans before that I will roll with it, if he staill wants it after that, well, we will see how we go.
It is honestly just so easy now, feeds only last 5-10 mins max, he goes straight back to sleep etc. I think that as he gets older it will just get easier. hope all that made sense!
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.
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!!
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.
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 .
I fed DD1 unil 14 months when she weaned herself - she was down to 1 or 2 feeds a day by that stage. I never really felt any pressure to wean and was happy that she did it of her own accord.
DD2 is still BF and I will probably keep going for as long as she wants. Again I haven't really felt any pressure from anyone to stop or wean etc although I am seeing extended family at Christams time so that might change
I was 19 with my first, and just thought that 12 months was the right thing....
So #1, 12 months
#2 12 months
#3, 17 months... slowly learning.....
#4 13 months... self weaned while I was pregnant....
#5 10 months ....on EBM only..... fell pregnant and didn't want to take the meds whilst pregnant... I still feel so SO bad for not getting to 12 months.....
#6... 11 months, still going strong, no sign of stopping......
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 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 Bf all of my kids for varying times.. Ds1 was 3 months Ds2 was expressed fed till 10 months
Ds3 was Bf till 21 months.. Was a dream sleeper. Sleeping through by 7 weeks. Generally a happy easy going child.. Took a little while to like solids but was eating at least 2 meals a day by 9 months
DD was Bf till 21 months and 9 days. She was not the greatest sleeper. A failry easy going child as long as she was held or being boobied She also took a while to take to solids too but was also eating well by 9 months.. She was a slow weigh gainer with no weigh gain from 6 months to 19 months. We are close to hitting the 12kg mark with her, I am sure she is there but have to weigh her lol..
Both DS3 and DD weaned themselves.. Ds1 I made a silly decision regarding Bf and stopped.. Ds2 well my milk dried up due to being pg
Great thread, i think people really feel the presure to wean once they get to 'that certain age' and i have posted myself and replied to others posts on this subject, But il go again
SO, DD is 17 months old and there is no end in sight! She loves the boobie and has told me as much! When i started i just figured id go for as long as i could or as long as DD wanted so i have no problem with still BFing.
And we do all of those things listed...feed to sleep, co-sleep and feed ALL night sometimes. She still has a feed upon waking and before afternoon sleep, on in the arvo, about 3-4ish...and if we forget there is all hell to pay and before bed time. Then i guess between three and eight times a night!!!
She is getting alot better and the last few days i havent been very well so after she wakes and i bring her in with me and feed her to sleep (normally about 1.30ish) i have been putting her back in her room and she sleeps through till 5...and so do i...so i think im going to keep doing that for a while.
Im happy to keep going...and even tandem if we have another soon. My family think its horrible and i get many comments from them! but they are in the UK so its easy to ignore!! I always woder what il do when she stops...how will i get her to sleep HA HA
How many have or are "Extended/Sustained breastfeeding past 12 months" on BB?
) breastfed our babies past 12 months.
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I've said it that often I'm not sure if she thinks I'm joking or serious 
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