To ask if you bf past a year?

[Susiethetortoiseshellcat]

I am currently breastfeeding my almost 1 year old. I only feed him 2/3 times a day now but I think he would struggle to be weaned from these as he still very much demands them, particularly the night feed.

I have a group of friends with similar aged babies and all the ones who are breastfeeding are on a deadline to give up at a year. They are surprised, if not a little disgusted, that I don't feel the same urgency to wean by then. I would like another baby and know it will be difficult while I am still feeding but other than this I don't see the great urgency if he's not ready. It's true he is now a good eater so perhaps is only breastfeeding for comfort but there must be some benefits, are there? If you continued past a year can I ask why and if you think there are any benefits or should I try to wean him completely now? He is not a fan of cows milk.

As others have said , continue as long as you're both happy. I am still feeding at 15m (he has cows milks when I'm at work). Not that you need to justify to anyone , but I tend to say 'I'm so lazy I love that I can just stop him crying so easily' tends to make people butt out !

I am still feeding my 23m DS usually 3 times a day.

Some times it annoys me or hurts me, but I love it most when he's ill to keep him hydrated and on planes! I didn't plan to feed this long, but when I think of the first 6 weeks of tongue tie hell, I feel incredibly proud. I also like rubbing in people's misconceptioned-faces occasionally (the Chinese woman who said I don't have any milk now, well DS would disagree)

It didn't stop me getting pregnant the first month of trying, had my periods since I went back to work at 12 months. I'm secretly hoping it'll reduce the.chance of nipple pain 2nd time around if he keeps feeding till no 2 is born in 5 months, but not sure that's actually a thing.

One more thing for us is I'm fairly anti-dairy, and I'd much rather have him on the milk actually designed for him than something not really designed for him or something similar but quite heavily processed. Breastmilk is unprocessed and raw, that's got to be good?

Plus, hopefully he's still taking at least a few cake calories off my hands/hips??

The main thing is it's good for him, he likes it and I like it.

I breastfed past one because, like your baby , DS1 v much demanded it. It caused him real distress not to feed and once I looked into it, I realised it was totally arbitrary to stop at age 1. WHO recommends up to 2 and beyond. DS1 fed until age 3, DS2 to 21 months, DS3 to 3.5. They all fed only twice or even once a day in the last year of feeding although all increased whenever ill. If it wasn't for breastfeeding, DS3 would definitely have been hospitalised with dehydration in three severe bouts of tonsillitis. I was genuinely surprised how attached Ds1 was to the boob as he approached 1 year old because my societally derived expectation was it was time to stop. Now it seems completely weird to me that so few toddlers do - but I am v glad I listened to all my sons with regard to feeding and didn't deprive them of an amazing antibody filled, bonding , totally natural (are 1 year olds really meant to be on 500ml milk from a COW's boob or is it a substitute for the human milk made for them?) foodstuff. It made me feel societal expectations can be pretty daft. As long as you're happy with it too, listen to your baby.

PS also got pregnant first month of trying whilst feeding.

Feeding here sort of on demand (I'm at work 4 days a week) at 20 months. There are proven substantial nutrition and immunity benefits in the second year, and your breast cancer risk decrease significantly year on year

I bf past 24 months with one of my DC, 15 months with another.

I wouldn't give two hoots what other people say. Bf is one of those things that's between you and your baby, that's it. No one gets to decide it for you.

I fed until 13m but he weaned himself. We only fed once every few days at the end, and one day I tried to latch him on to get him to sleep during a difficult day, and it was like he'd forgotten what to do. Bit sad, it was

18 months here. Still fed every few hours at 12 months but by about 15 months was only 2-3 times in 24 hours. By 16 months it was before bed and first thing in the morning and then she self weaned at 18 months, just didn't want her night time feed as she preferred to read a book and have her dummy and then dropped morning feed as she just wanted her porridge :)
Definitely still had health benefits; she barely ever had a cold etc when I was feeding her.

peaceloveandbiscuits
My DD did exactly the same at 18 months, went to feed her and she didn't know what to do! Sucked the very end of my nipple and laughed! Funny enough, I FF my DS and used to hold the bottle and cuddle him until 14 months when he did an identical thing and acted like he didn't know how to suck from a bottle anymore and that was the end of that! Maybe something in their brains change when they are ready to wean? Who knows!

DD3 self weaned at 2 1/2 when I was pregnant. I know quite a few people whose older children self weaned when they were pregnant, probably due to changes in the milk.

Yes I bf my two dc until they wanted to stop.
One stopped at 15 months the other at 13.

I mixed fed DD1 until about 15m, at the end it was only a night feed. DD2 I managed to EBF until 18m when she self weaned (again down to just a feed before bed). I didn't particularly intend to feed for a long time, it was just easy and convenient and we were happy. I stopped feeding in the day at about 1 when I went back to work, which was fine, seemed a natural point.

I fed my daughter until she was about 3 and a half. Just at bedtime/ through the night for a lot of that time, perhaps in the day too occasionally if she was poorly. Nobody else saw us aside from my partner so nobody needed to know- my two best friends with children the same age knew, and probably judged secretly, but it was nobody else's business.

Should add that she also happily drank cows milk in a cup from a year old

I bf both of mine for over a year - dc1 stopped just before 2 years (I was pg again), dc2 at about 2 1/2, both by their own choice. I don't understand why anyone cares how anyone feeds or comforts their child as long as they do!

I bfd just over 2 years. I'd have been happy to carry on but DD losst interest. I only fed morning and evening from about 14 months. I had such a hellish time with bf for the first few months that there was no way I was giving up once it got easy.

Screwing thats so interesting! DS kind of just poked it and laughed!

I'm still going at 14 months. Only morning and night. He'll stop when he's ready. I hope

14 months here. Most of my friends fed between 12-18 months.

Still expressing at 15 months but supply has fallen to only around 18-20oz a day which dd drinks and more.
Suspect supply will continue to fall so can't see us getting to two years. Maybe 18 months.

I bf dd1 til 18 months and she sort of weaned herself when my milk supply fell when I was pregnant. Like others I also got pregnant first month of trying while still bf. Was a bit of a shock actually! But a welcome one and now bf-inh dd2. No idea why ppl think there is some reason not to bf past 1.

Disgusted? Odd. Says more about them than you.

I fed for a year and a half before I felt we were ready to stop. Currently feeding my new little one for as long as she needs.

Trust your gut.

Ds stopped at 13month. I guess it was what they call a nursing strike. All I read indicated you can get through them but tbh I didn't care enough about continuing after a year to work really hard to keep him on the breast. He refused bottles but drank from a cup by then. Went straight to cows milk without using formula so no cost implication either.

Mine were all two years plus.