A little support needed - want to hear from thoses who have bf after 6 months

[CandyPop]

I have always been very keen to bf my LO and after a painful 8 weeks at the beginning I'd finally got the hang of it.

Now 6 months down the line I do feel ready to stop. Please don't judge, but I wanted to reclaim that part of myself again and wanted to wear normal bras and clothes!!

However, that's irrelevant now! LO decided a month ago (from having no issues on taking random bottles of breast milk) that she didnt like the bottle anymore :( I have literally tried all tricks in the book but nothing is working.

I have now come to terms that this just won't happen so will carry on bf as have no choice.

Just want to hear some experiences and encouragement from those who wanted to stop but couldn't and so had to carry on.

[stargirl1701]

Have you tried a cup?

[BabsAndTheRu]

I BF my 2DS for 10 months and DD I still feed now, she's 9 months. Never used bottles but instead introduced a cup with lid during mealtimes for water, so when the time came to stop feeding they had their formula in a cup. I had to stop feeding the boys as they kept biting. Hopefully dd will be different and I can feed her longer, she drinks out of her cup at meal times and loves it as she likes coping her big brothers. Hope that helps.

[BabsAndTheRu]

X- post with stargirl

[FloJo151]

hi, how old is she? im assuming you've tried her with a few diff types of bottles? and tried other people feeding her (with you not in close proximity)
is she on solids yet? how much? will she take water from a sippy cup? if so have you tried milk in a sippy cup?

I bf til 1 yr but that was through choice so not got same experience but just wanted to give you some encouragement.

iv read on here of others who've had to go back to work at 6/7 months and just bf lo before they go and as soon as they get back and leave either a sippy cup or a bottle which lo might take if they get hungry enough. how long does she normally go between feeds?
you've done brilliantly to get where you are especially if the first 2 months were so hard. don't feel guilty about wanting to give up.

I would suggest to keep on trying with a bottle/sippy cup every now and then as it might be that she's teething or something and doesn't like the feel of the teat.

they quite often get more efficient/quicker at feeding the older they get.

[megandraper]

Maybe try having someone else offer the bottle? She's more likely to take it from someone else if you're not there, and the obvious alternative isn't on hand!

[amazingface]

Of course no-one will judge! :)

I don't know if this helps, but I only started to really enjoy breastfeeding after 6 months. What you said about getting your body/clothes back, well, I found that happened anyway once solids were established. It just became SO easy. Obviously solids are a mess and a bit of a headache but I just found it very liberating to know that I could pack DH off with the baby for a while and that he could feed her a portable little meal (banana, yoghurt, piece of toast and cheese etc.) if necessary.

Mine wasn't a bottle refuser, but she did love her boob. Do try the formula-in-cup thing, just give it to your dd along with her little meals in her highchair so that it becomes a new eating routine (instead of a replacement for boob in her head). She might like it because it makes her feel grown up! (I know that sounds like a silly thing to say about a baby, but...) Just keep trying it and showing her how to pick it up, etc, pretend to drink from it, she might copy you.

Anyway, I fed til 13months and would have gone on for another few months if I hadn't wanted to start taking medication that didn't work with bf. At 6 months in I would never have believed that, though!

[Midori1999]

I didn't want to stop at 6 months, but there have been times when I have hated breastfeeding/had an aversion to it.

Not sure if this will help, but things do get easier after 6 mints and especially after a year. DD is 23 months now and I've been wearing a normal bra for as long as I can remember. She rarely asks when we're out now, so if I do have to feed her I just hoik my boob out of my normal bra. Not very elegant, but no one's looking. There's also a lot more flexibility with older babies as far as leaving them etc is concerned.

[MrsHoarder]

From 6 months ds had ebm in his sippy cup when I wasn't around. He took to that much happier than the bottle.
But bf is much easier now at 11 months, he mostly has solids and I cherish the bfcuddles because he's off and doing all the time.

[Trizelda]

Hi. My daughter that would never take a bottle or a dummy did finally take a bottle at 8 months. It was a while ago now but I think I just kept offering it to her from time to time until eventually she took it. I was able to stop feeding by about 10 months when she was happily drinking from it.

[Forgetfulmog]

Hi!

My LO is 8 mo & still ebf. She's started teething & bites/chews on my nipple quite a bit, but it's a minor irritation!

I too had a lot of issues with bf in the early days - it took 3 months to get the latch right - but it's so easy now!

Re pretty bras - I wear one by panache & they're really nice & give a good shape

www.bravissimo.com/m/#products/lingerie/nursing-bras/sophie-nursing-bra/candypink/pnl7cp/

[Shybairns]

I fed my DD till 10 mths out of choice, but after about 7mths she was having cows milk in a sippy cup through the day and only a bf in the morning (not always) and at bed time.

When the solid foods are properly established you'll see a big difference. I never used bf as a comforting tool. Some mums do. I always felt oral comforting was wrong.
So bf was a last warm drink and cuddle at bed time and that was it for last couple of months.

A lot depends on your DC but also alot is in your control.

[CandyPop]

She's 6 1/2 months. Tried different bottles, different teats, different people, different position, when she's hungry when's she's not, me out of the house, different temperature .. So literally everything ! Lol

She's been weaning for just under a month and now on 3 meals a day , just introduced fish last two days and will be doing meat this week. Have been giving her a sippy cup with each meal but she doesn't really like water and only really take very small amounts. I will carry on with that though to teach her how to use it!

How long does it take for them to drink from cup properly ?

She has 5 feeds a day still. Haven't dropped any feeds yet. Waiting for her to have three proper balanced meals first and then will look to drop the lunchtime feed.

One saving grace is that the last two nights she slept through !!! 7.30 till 7.30 :D

[Forgetfulmog]

Shybairns - babies should not drink cows milk as a replacement for bf or formula until they're 1.

[BabsAndTheRu]

Forgetfumog you are really lucky with the biting not being too bad, my first two it was full on biting, blood everywhere. Tried everything to get them to stop, so any helpful tips would be great in case DD starts.

As for the cup drinking just keep going, they get better and better with it. Try and avoid bottles if you can as all it means that further down the line you have the problem of weaning them of the bottle to use a cup.
Meant to say as well, like one of the other posters has mentioned I never used feeding bras either, found they didn't give enough support and just used ordinary bras and popped boob out over the top of the bra.

[FloJo151]

that does sound like you've tried a lot!!!:) yes keep going with sippy cup maybe try ebf in it to see if she'll drink more from it.
once she's fully weaned and your dropping bf im sur you'll find it a lot easier as the feeds wont be so frequent so you'll not need to worry so much about special bf clothes. by 9 months my 2 were on morning feed, evening feed and 1 afternoon feed.(ds2 was also bf in night too but that's a whole other thread!!!)
I just made sure that they had lots of milk in cooking to ensure that they had the recommended amount.

[abigboydidit]

I can join! Had planned to feed DS till 6 months but he turned out to have an allergy to cow's milk protein that was only diagnosed after he was weaned. The CMP-free formula tastes revolting so there was no way he would take it, so I was left with no choice but to continue. He also refused bottles, cups, the works!

Oddly, I think I enjoyed the last 6 months more than the first! My boobs settled down so there was no leaking/engorgement and I was able to feel/dress normally again. He was down to just 2-4 feeds a day (got down to 2 from 9 months as I was back at work) & was an efficient feeder, so I didn't feel tied to him like in the early days and if he skipped a feed he would happily take water till he saw me again. He had started crawling at 6 months and was walking at 10 months so it was a rare opportunity for a cuddle!

[spidersandslugs]

I only started enjoying bfing after 6 months. I have found bfing an older baby/toddler more of a bonding experience than the newborn/cluster feeding stage. Milk is still important after 6 months & still more important than food until after a year.

Bfing is also more than just about feeding. I find myself almost 'mothering at the breast'. That doesn't mean my boys are/were clingy & bf every hour. They are independent, confident, happy children. Bfing into toddlerhood has to have something to do with that.

I initially wanted to bf for 6 months. I did feel pressure from mil, ff friends, etc to wean but ds & I enjoyed bfing so much I decided to carry on after introducing solids, through bitten nipples at 8 months, through the 9 month growth spurt. Now at 12 months I can honestly say I'm glad I persevered & I'm proud to still be bfing. It's much easier now. Ds bf less & is sleeping through.

[CandyPop]

These replies were exactly what I was looking for. Thanks ladies. Feeling much better about the whole thing now.

I never judged other people when it comes to breastfeeding as its a very individual case thing but its odd that I find that in general people judge those who chose not to breastfeed the first 6 months and then after 6 months it switches and people judge those who wish to carry on. Society put so much pressure on women to conform to what is deemed ''socially acceptable" . Why can't people just accept that it is a mothers right to chose what they feel is best for their own child. It's no one else's business!! Rant over :)

[CandyPop]

Choose *

[amazingface]

I think some of my friends (who don't yet have children) were probably a bit surprised that I breastfed for that long, because they didn't know others who had done so. they were kind of like 'oh wow, that's...amazing, well done' with this kind of face - they were probably thinking omg that's a really long time! But they never said anything judgey, even if they thought it - they wouldn't have dared!

Now that I'm a mum I'm far too knackered to judge much at all, everyone has it tough, so it has to be really bad before I pull on my judgy pants!

[Forgetfulmog]

Babs - I meant its a minor irritation when you take into account the easiness of bf! It's bloody painful though! That said, no bleeding nipples yet (ouch for you), but that may well change once dd's teeth actually break through!

[BabsAndTheRu]

Did you manage to get the biting to stop, tried quickly unlatching and putting baby down as a technique but nothing worked. It's probably a whole other thread. Dreading DDs teeth coming in, wincing now just thinking about it. Sorry op high jacking your thread.

[Forgetfulmog]

Tbh no, I just do the same as you babs - funnily enough I was also thinking of starting a support thread! - the trouble is dd is starting to bite & then turn to me & smile the little monkey! It's really hard not to smile back!

[BabsAndTheRu]

Yes yes to the smiling when they do it, wee rascals.

[CandyPop]

Considering I'm going carry on bf , the teeth issue will appear soon so I don't mind the topic change as its definitely of interest!!