Breastfeeding after 12 months

[mumofbundlezofjoy]

Fee honey, take a deep breath, not too hard basket, just stress!!!

Lets see, I weaned Rianna off her lunchtime feed as I was doing orientation at a new job for 2 weeks during the day, she just had a cup instead. she was 12 month and 7 days!!!!

I fell pg the next cycle ( NOT PLANNED was on the mini pill!!)

Fed morning, night and arvo snack until 18 months ( Gave up as I was physically uncomfortable with her lying on bubs)

Bubs was born and she seemed to have no idea what the bb was for ?????

If she wriggles juts pop her down, and dont let her back on til she knows she has to sit still, Dion can fiddle around like this too ( he been doing it since 6 months) and I just take him off when he's really hungry, and ready to feed he sits still and does it properly IYKWIM>

You'll be fine, do wht YOU think is best not MHN or anyone else!!!!

[MiyaMommy]

I still bf Miya 18 months and my gosh she is a pain at times I often end up with her feet in my hair pulling out between her toes as she stretches owch

I think the worst is when I feed her on the recliner and she decides to jump of while attached to the breast. I think that's what makes it a little dawnting when I feed her, she cant keep still.

I cant stop though I love "our time" I will probably bf till she weans herself :-k :-k

[BellyBelly]

Fi, have you read the BellyBelly article, 'Your Period and Ovulation After Baby?'

You breastfeeding wouldn't have contributed to your miscarriage, but I would say the gastro did. When we start to become fertile again after a baby and through breastfeeding, our body takes time to build up our good old hormones; first we have enough hormone to be able to ovulate. Then we have enough hormone to ovulate and conceive; then we have enough hormone to ovulate, conceive and sustain the pregnancy. The thresholds for each woman are unique so the time it takes to do this is unique.

Enjoy breastfeeding your gorgeous girl and don't let it stress you - she obviosly sees her boobies as being important to her right now so it's okay to give this to her. You're doing a great job!!!

[Fi]

Thanks for the tips.
Kelly - what I meant was that the reason the gastro hit me so hard was because I was breastfeeding. I ended up dehydrated in hospital with an IV in cuase I had to feed Jenna (specially as she had gastro too) and I couldn't get any fresh liquid in. So yes it was the gastro, not the breastfeeding, but silly old me sometimes just overloads herself. It was very, very draining feeding and being pregnant. I was totally exhausted all the time, very ill, and had to keep eating and drinking despite the sickness. I know I can't change it now, so I can't beat myself up, but its tough.
I am ovulating, and I understand all the prolactin stuff. My period returned about 8 weeks after Jenna was born, but it still took us about 4 months to get pregnant (about the time we introduced solids!!), so I'm hoping that nothing will stop us this time TTC.

As for feeding? I'm thinking (especially with this thumping hangover) that its too easy. She had a EBM bottle last night, and I had to pump and dump, but thats about the most I ever touch bottles and things. I just couldn't go through all that cleaning and stuff when I make it, and distribute it quite efficientyl

[Coolabahdee]

Hi I fully B/F 1st DD for only 6 weeks, comp to 3 months, tried everything to stimulate milk production but all too no avail, I just had no milk, once I started the bottle feeds she settled immediately and no longer screamed in hunger. She didn't want my milk anymore, I felt like such a failure.
My 2nd DD i fully B/F for 5 months and comped for a further two, again my milk just seemed to dry up over night, again I tried everything but again nothing worked. And again she chose the bottle.
3rd DD I successfully fully B/F for 15 months and she finally gave it away by 18 months.
4th DD I fully feed her for 9 months then she started biting me, drawing blood on many occassions with those sharp little toothy pegs, I couldn't take it anymore, so at 10 1/2 months she was on the cup. And I fell pregnant with #5. lol.
#5 DS hopefully will be breastfed up and over 12 months. I look forward to breastfeeding, I enjoy that time with my babies.

Edited my post erased an opinion and just left the facts.

Dee

[Colleen]

Im editing my post to say that I cant get Jaykob of bf lol

Sometimes I guess its more in the child hands :/

Hes almost 17 months old & i can remember saying i was only going to bf for 6 weeks, then it was 6 months then i said til 12 months lol

here i am, still going..

[Deejoy17]

Hi Girls, it looks like I`m joining you all, Matthew is now just over 12 months and still breastfeeding quite happily.

When he was 11 months he became quite fussy and only wanted a bf once maybe twice a day, I thought he was weaning himself but at the same time he was also teething, all his molars came through plus another 2 teeth so no wonder he was out of sorts, then suddenly he got back into the swing of things and wanted a bf 2 - 3 times a day, he has had a viral infection in the last week and has been feeding about 4 times a day, poor Mummy is full of milk again.

Take Care

Dee

[sunnymel]

im still going - i thought eliana would have self weaned by now as she cut right back to one feed a day at 12 months - she is now 18months & usually just has a feed in the morning though the last few weeks she has been asking for boobie around lunchtime & sometimes again at bedtime!

[Fi]

Yep - I'm still going - not sure how I feel about it. Its just easier I guess. But I have packed away almost all the bottles and feedings stuff. Just left out one bottle and my breastpump, so its going to be lots harder to express and feed if that needs to happen. Hopefully if I have to be away from her for a night she will take a sippy cup of cows milk. Its still all in the too hard basket for me. I know I will get terrible, terrible sore boobies when I finally drop one of these feeds. I can't be bothered!!

[hindonly]

I too am bf my dd and she is also a real booby girl! But have always thought that I'd like to have her weaned off it around 2ish.
We plan on having another baby so it would be nice if she were completely weaned off by then. Might make it easier on me by the time the next one comes along.
Although not sure of how to go about it without causing too much upset on her behalf!
Any ideas would be appreciated heaps.
She hasn't had booby exclusively as I wasn't able to 'supply' enough for her and she was dropping weight. So we do bottlefeed as well.
But she always finishes on the bb and seems to settle off to sleep there too. So I'm really afraid of disturbing this routine and am afraid too that it will take a lot longer to get her off to sleep.
Will I need to replace bb with something else? I dont want to start her on the dummy since she has never had it and I dont want her to start this habit just to have to break that one later on!

Ideas please?

[Astrid]

Woo Hoo - I get to join this club

If anyone had said to me in the first few weeks of Maggie's life that I would still be breastfeeding at 12 months, I would not have beleived them, she was so close to having to be formula fed. Looking at her now, I doubt I will ever be able to get her off.

[Adnil]

I'll be in here soon girls!! Emma's just over 11 months old now & we are still b/f. I am very happy with our journey, and feel very good about making it this far. I have just cut out the middle of the day feed, only because we would like to TTC #2 7 I still don't have AF. Hopefully that will be enough.

I remember reading this thread when Emma was a newborn & 12 months sounded SO old! LOL. But she is still my baby & doesn't seem old at all. I think we'll probably keep going until around 18 months? But I guess I won't know until we get there. Ideally I'd love to fall p/g & then see what happens...

[angelfish]

I breastfed #1 until he self weaned at between 14 and 15 months. At the time felt devastated and rejected as I'd hoped to do 2 years, but now I'm satisfied that he went as long as he needed to. #2 will be 15 months this month and shows no signs of wanting to wean, so I'm not sure how long I'll breastfeed her for.

Hindonly, how often does your little girl feed? And how old old is she now?

[~Jo~]

Whoohoooo time to join this club!!! Sammy and I have a fantastic b/feeding relationship. He is starting to squirm and move around alot though. It so sweet when hes getting snuggly and I ask him if he wants booboo and he giggles and cuddles in like its the best treat ever!!!

Hiddonly I only ever replaced bb with a big girl cup and drink of water at bedtime after the girls had weaned. No fuss or drama at all.

Jo

[Tracey]

I'm gonna be in here soon too... OMG, after my first experience of feeding maddy for 7 days I never imagined I'd be able to breastfeed, but to feed Indah as well as being back at work since mid Jan, I am SO proud of my achievements...
Indah is now only wnating booby when she wakes in the morning & after her bath at night, but will have a quick thirst quenching drink during the day on weekends if she wants it & if she falls over or hurts herself she tries to dig boobies out!!!
She has cows milk in a sippy cup during the day & is happy & healthy!!!

Only 15 days to go til I have made it to 1 year!!!!!

man I am stoked!!!!

[cazoraz]

Ooh I just found this thread too!

Coleman is now 14months and still breastfed - whether I like it or not! He is such a boob man, and a mummy's boy, loves his cuddles and has refused to drink EBM from a bottle since he was abot 4months old so we just muddled our way through (even though I was at uni full time and on teaching rounds - sometimes had to dash home early with dripping boobs!)

I cant see him weaning any time soon and dont really see a need to be honest - he is fed twice a day, first thing in the morning and before bed at night, and if he wakes during the night he sometimes wants a quick suck to calm him down to go back to sleep. He is asthmatic too and I find when he is having an attack breastfeeding calms him and his breathing down enough to use his ventolin spacer, otherwise it scares him too much.

Anywway, thats us!

[Angel]

I'm stoked to have been able to get so far too. Kynan is now just over 15 months and still has 2-3 feeds each day even though I am PG again. Any changes haven't bothered him at all. He is such a booby boy! He has started signing 'milk' recently too and he just gets SO excited about booby time.

[Jane-Midwife]

I had 5 children and breastfed most of them until they were 3 years old. The oldest pretty much refused anything but the breast until he was 12 months old. He was the chubbiest of all my babies. I used to get a few unfavourable comments but I assured people that I'm sure he would be over it before he was a teenager! He stopped at aged 3 when I was pregnant with my next child. He's now 21 years old and very healthy. I understand it can be difficult for women who have to work in jobs that don't support breastfeeding and expressing is not as effective as a baby's suck. If you do need to express it is important to express as frequently as you would feed or your milk supply will decrease and there is an increased chance of engorgement and developing mastitis