When did you know it was time to stop?

[HaveTeaWillSurvive]

DS is 10mths and has been breastfeeding well since birth apart from three weeks of top up hell of which we shall never speak of again but I'm now starting to think about stopping.

I've been having problems with blebs and blood blisters which I think is due to his latch while he's teething. However I put a line in the sand of breast feeding for a year and keep beating myself up For thinking about stopping before then.

Anyone want to share some stories about when and why they decided to stop?

[ColeslawGuzzler]

DS1 stopped at 15 months because my DD babybump was too big to manipulate around and (mainly) because I didn't want him feeling bereft/envious when he saw the new baby suckling just a couple of months later. DD stopped at 12.5 months, all on her own, overnight. She just lost interest it seemed. It was a hot summer and I'd introduced a feeder beaker of water, so she maybe preferred the feel of that. DS2 stopped at 13 months, similar story to DD, feeder beaker of water...independence I guess.

So, I think I only actually did the deciding for DS1. How keen is your DS, compared to pre-teething say? Not that this is a hot summer (ha ha), maybe you could try him with a beaker and see how interested he is in a non-teet/non-nipple liquid dispenser. Mine all went straight to cows milk from a feeder beaker, that was for me a massive organisational benefit of carrying on to one year. I never had to buy the kit and faff with bottles.

What are blebs btw?

[mikkii]

I stopped at 8 mths with DS as I was fed up with my boob exposed while the nosy urchin was more interested in what was going on around him.

DD1 was 5 months a milk supply was really going down, and ith DS it had been quite intensive to rebuild supply at the same stage.

[Poppydoodaa]

I feed dd1 until 10 months and was desperate to stop. I had a rubbish pregnancy and birth which made me feel that I wanted control of my body back.

With dd2 I feed her until 13 months and probably would've carried on for longer but I was back at work. It felt strange to be so physically tied to her but be apart all day.

Both times I felt it was the right time to stop but for completely different reasons.

You've done really well so far and you need to do what's right for your family.

It might also be worth considering how long it may take to move to bottles. It also took me about a month each time to stop - getting them used to a bottle, different tasting milk and the comfort as well.

One of the benefits of feeding to a year is you can move straight to cows milk - which is much easier.

Hope this helps a bit - good luck with your decision

[notjustaprettyface]

DS stopped at 9 months, completely his decision. I had been mix feeding since four months so he was already used to a couple of bottles a day which helped. I would have carried on for longer I think but he just suddenly seemed to lose interest over the course of a few weeks and started refusing first the evening feed and then the morning feed. I was sad but also relieved tbh as I started work a month later and it made the transition a lot easier.
I think if you feel ready to stop you should listen to that and not feel guilty or pressured, feeding to 10 months is a brilliant achievement!

[duchesse]

When they'd had a good innings and I'd absolutely had enough. No sense in flogging a dead horse so to speak. And no point in breastfeeding with resentment when there are perfectly decent substitutes out there. (fwiw, they were 14, 18, 24 and 30 months old respectively- lazier about stopping each time, but would have stopped at 18 mo with each out of choice).

[HaveTeaWillSurvive]

Colslaw just another name for a milk blister:

kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mother/nipplebleb/

Weaning has been going really well and he's on three good meal a day so he's gone from being a two-hourly boob monster to only feeding at 6am, 8am, 2pm and before bed.

So over the last week I experimented by giving him a bottle at 2pm instead, he just grabbed it laid back and fed himself the whole thing (has been using sippy cup himself for a little while now). I think that's why I'm suddenly considering stopping, he's so happy with the bottle and I still get a nice cuddle - was expecting it would be a nightmare / would feel detached.

[redwellybluewelly]

I weaned DD (DC1) at 26months after she showed no signs of stopping her last two feeds. I started feeding her in NICU after she was in a coma for her first week of life, we went to hell and back to breastfeed after she was tube fed.

The reasons for weaning her were selfish, I was on a restricted diet because of her and fed up after two years of absolutely no chocolate or cheese (both dairy and soya free). Additionally her continued poor sleep habits were impacting on our life as a family, so bad we saw a sleep psychologist, and I felt her need to nurse to calm down was a part of the sleep issues.

I sobbed so much, and she never once asked after the first day. She had gone through bouts of lower interest, one around a year and another at about 18months but she was also very poorly in hospital a number of times and breastfeeding prevented an IV for fluids so in my mind feeding was vital.

I'm due again in a few weeks. I'm genuinely not sure if I'll make it past a year this time.

[redwellybluewelly]

I should add she never ever took a bottle. Flatly refused. Went straight to a sippy.

[HaveTeaWillSurvive]

Aww RedWelly sorry you've had such a tough time. We had a number of issues at the start which meant I only got breastfeeding established by sheer bloody mindedness but nothing like that.

I'm normally the most rational person but there's something about breastfeeding that can cause women (well quite a few I've known, including myself) to go a bit crazy and lose sense of perspective. I've seen it many times on here 'formulas not poison' but you could not have persuaded me of that at the time. I cried so much about having to top him up and I barely remember it now.

Hope everything goes smoothly this time round.