Wise mumsnetters - Am still bfing 12 month, how often should it be now? Also doing blw

[MamaMaiasaura]

Have bascailly tried to follow ds2's cues and he has 3 main meals a day of varying amount depending on what he wants. He is also having min of 4-5 feeds and at times 7. Some of them last over an hour when sleeping.

6-7 - morning breastfeed
8 - breakfast
10 - breastfeed and nap
12 - lunch
2 - breastfeed and nap
4 - quick breastfeed sometimes/sometimes snack/sometimes nothing
5 - dinner
7 - breastfeed - bed
12 - sometimes breastfeed to sleep
3 - sometimes breastfeed to sleep
5 - sometimes breastfeed to sleep

Am knackered but really want to follow him. Also am partly co-sleeping. In cot in our room (next to bed) but often comes to our bed in night.. He is a generally happy baby and at the moment i think back teeth are coming and we all have colds. HE also also just started walking 2 weeks back (clever boy) and had alot going on lately which prob unsettled him..

Do they cut down milk feeds themselves? Not too worried about night ones as think a phase, is the daytime ones.

[kathryn2804]

Hi, you should do whatever you want to. If you want to cut down, a one year old has ample milk nutritionally from 1-2 feeds a day. But a lot of people feed more often than this.

I wouldn't try changing anything until he has finished teething. I would stop 'offering' it to him during the day and only give it to him when he asks. Teach him the baby sign for breastfeeding (two hands doing a milking cow action) then he can ask when he wants it.

If you're wanting to cut out the night feeds, probably the qhickest way would be to move him out of your room. He would probably go back to sleep with a bit of encouragement from Daddy if you weren't nearby with some lovely comforting milk!!

At the end of the day, do what is best for you!

[WalkingInAWonderStuffingLand]

Sounds exactly like our routine with my 13mo.
When I work she copes fine without bm all day, but on my days she loves boobie. When we are out I try to distract her, which works well, but it is just too easy to bf go get her down for a nap.

[alittleteapot]

My dd cut right down around then - one in the morning, one at tea time, one at bedtime. Oh and a few at night! (we co-sleep) - since then she's increased again and I think she treats the boob like a quick fag break sometimes, so yes, do what you want to do, but imo worth keeping an eye of habitual comfort sucking which you may not alway swant to do.

i'm like WalkingInAWonderStuffingLand though, just end up doing what's easy, which usually involves bf!

[Grendle]

All sounds very similar to my dd at that age . Just go with the flow and they cut down when they're ready. It ebbs and flows a bit -it's quite common for babies between 12-18 months to go through a phase at some point where they want to bf like newborns . It does pass though, just a clingy age.

Btw, I'm not sure that 1-2 breastfeeds a day is ample nutritionally. It might be sufficient to meet their calcium needs, but on what basis ample nutritionally? Research references please . WHO recommends continued breastfeeding until at least 2 years, and babies aged 18 months can still get significant quantities of carbs, protein etc from breastmilk -the perfect food for mini humans .

Does he have snacks as well? Young toddlers need to eat little and often, so you could think about introducing a mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack if you haven't already.

Over the next 6-12 months you can also start to negotiate more over feeds. As toddlers grow they are able to wait sometimes (for all things, not just milk) and they start to assert themselves more, so most mums don't always feed the second their LO asks, any more than they do anything else quite so instantly for a toddler as they would for a baby IYSWIM?

Useful links here

[claireybrations]

Sounds exactly like DS although have recently started giving him cows milk for his early afternoon feed and sometimes the morning one and he has mostly cut out the late afternoon one as a result.

Hope you and your boys are well, the PN thread is still going and it would be great to see you there

[MamaMaiasaura]

I am such a useless mnetter and i keep buggering off for stretches at a time as rl gets so busy.

Found out partly why i was knackered - spent 30th evening with temp of 106.2 - 106.8 felt really fluey and horrid. Next day my right breast very very painful so on antibiotics. Seem to be working already tho.

LOl at post about feeding like newborn. I so know that feeling. It is like he is completely besotted with breastfeeding and just wants it abailable all the time. We bathe together.. and trying to wash him is quite hilarious.

He had nap at 2 as usual today and then i gave him a snack at 4 and he went without milk till bathtime and then finished off in bed.

Glad that he is 'normal' as the doc made me feel like shite. Basically told me that my milk was no good for him now he was a year old I was feeling too damn ill to quote WHO to her and she was such a cow. Was going on to me about having smear test which i am due but have been scared of booking since my episiotomony. THe idea of being cranked open frightened the heck out of me. Also might be 'with baby' again.. or might just be wishful thinking

[claireybrations]

Ooh jealous! Insy is pg again too

Am also putting off smear as several people have told me it really hurts when you are bf (something to do with the cervix being high I think...don't actually know though!)

Hope you are feeling better now

[MamaMaiasaura]

Insy preg fantastic - when she due?.I dont think i am.. i am just being hopeful. Am off to fertilty clinic 22nd of this month tho. I am hoping they dont tell me to stop bfing as i really dont want to.
Are you ttc at the moment? I never heard about the cervix been high.. another reason to put it off . Been doing the whole upside bit after rumpy pumpy to aid the little swimmers.. lol

Have read the link earlier for extending breastfeeding and is really interesting and has encouraged me to keep going as long as ds2 wants. I love it anyway.

[claireybrations]

Nope not ttc, dh not keen on another so have a lot of persuading to do first...

[MamaMaiasaura]

Well finally pregnant again 39 weeks now and ds2 still not given up breeding. Tho only a very quick snaffle before bed.

[KD0706]

I think it sounds fairly normal for a BLW bf baby (if there is such a thing as normal when it comes to breastfeeds!)

At 12mo, my BLW dd generally fed at 7am, 10am, 2pm, 5pm, 7pm plus one or two during the night.
At 13mo she suddenly night weaned herself and started sleeping through the night. I have no idea how or why that happened.

Then she dropped a feed roughly monthly. First the 5pm then 10am.

She's 17mo now and just feeds at bedtime. But that's been accelerated by the fact that I'm pregnant and my supply has dropped. She drinks about 600-700ml cows milk per day so I think if I had milk there for her she would probably still be on three feeds a day.