I breastfed my child til she was 6yr old AMA

[needmoresleepnow]

DD was breastfed til she was 6. Ask me anything

Why?

Why did you stop?

Was she your only/youngest?

Isn't doing it at 6 a bit pointless?
They don't need breast milk at 6. They aren't babies

What time of day / where did you do it?
What did Family / friends think
Was your partner / husband ok with it?

you old is she now?

Whose decision was it to stop after so long? Yours or hers?

Just why? As a pp said children don’t need breastmilk at 6 so what was your reason?

How many other children do you have? What did your DP think?

Did she self wean?

Why?

namechangednow she wanted to and I was happy to. Masses of health benefits. Helped get her to sleep for years!

polly not pointless at all children's immune systems are not fully functioning til they are around 6/7yrs. Breast milk changes as they get older to meet changing needs. Just like brocolli doesn't suddenly loose its nutritional value when you hit 25 breast milk continues to be beneficial to older children.

curly til she was around 4 whenever she wanted it and infrint if whoever happened to be there. by the time she was 4 it was just morning and bedtime and more if she was poorly (which was rarely) or had hurt herself. By the time she was 5 just at bedtime

captainkirk it naturally came to an end.

john yes only child. But for much of that time wasn't planned that she would be an only.

Well done OP. Did your milk dry up at that point or did one or both of you decide to stop?

Did it cause issue with things like sleep overs or spending nights away from you?

Sorry, cross posted with OP.

Did you join La Leche League, or have any other sources of breastfeeding support in real life?

How might one 'encourage' an older child to self-wean, without being brutal?

captainkirk she is 10 now

daisy I'm a single mum but ex DP was always supportive. She is an only.

tilly it worked for us. She benefitted health wise and emotionally from it. It has helped create a wonderful bond between us. She wanted to

Rhinestone yes pretty much. Towards the end her jaw was changing with her teeth falling out/new adult teeth coming through and it wasn't as comfortable for me so we had a chat and she understood it was coming to an end.

Much respect OP, it's nice when you can mutually agree to stop

I fed my youngest until her 4th birthday, and I found it really useful throughout toddler tantrum years!

augustrella Thank you. Milk didn't dry up but as above it got less comfortable for me as her jaw changed as she got older.

I didn't join LLL but knew another mum who fed to natural term who I could go to for info! I also trained as a peer supporter and got lots of info online.

As she got older it was easier to discuss with her why I wanted to stop and she was getting to the same point. She would have carried on longer but knew I needed to stop.

captainkirk she started sleeping at her dad's from 3yrs - mainly due to her not feeling ready before then but also him not having a placd for her to stay. As soon as he did she stared going once a week and then full weekends on alternate weekends. Never caused an issue with supply.

rhinestone I honestly don't know how I would have got through the toddler stage without boobie!

Ah, I thought that she would be the last/only child, and that you would be a single parent like me! Pleasantly surprised that your ex was supportive, a lot of husbands don't seem to be.

@CaptainKirk regarding sleepovers, it's been my experience that a breastfed child can go away for a week, and the milk is still there when she gets back. I think DD would have been about 7 at the time, I wouldn't have risked it when she was really small.

How did youdeal with feeling touched out? I'm assuming you did. My boy is 3 and I've been struggling with this again.

captainkirk she is 10 now

Does she remember and what does she think of it now, is she embarrassed about it?

OP I don't have a question I just wanted to tell you that I think you're amazing. My dd is only 10 months but I hope to breastfeed as long as you did.

badumdumdum feeling touched out is horrible isn't it

Once she was old enough I would tell her that it would have to be a quick feed and would countdown 10-1 and then we would stop. She was generally ok with this

Thanks @Needmoresleep, I knew someone involved with LLL back when DS was a baby, so 17 years ago now. She was great but unfortunately moved away shortly after, and I didn't pursue breastfeeding support after that. Luckily I never really needed it!