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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

Did anyone else think that breastfeeding ended at six months?

40 replies

PassionKiss · 16/11/2010 17:53

Before I had DD I was under the impression that I would be winding down or even stopping breastfeeding at 6 months.

This is because all the breastfeeding information says that you should breastfeed for 6 months. I didn't consider what babies drank after 6 months - maybe I thought they moved straight onto gin and tonics

It didn't occur to me that after 6 months the choice would still be bottles of formula or breastfeeding!

So really it's BF for a year unless you switch to formula. I just didn't get this!

DD is seven months this week and I have just realised that I won't be stopping BF for a while to come - OMG I am going to be BF-ing a 4 year old before I know it!!

OP posts:

EauRouge · 16/11/2010 18:06

I think there is a lot of confusion between 'weaning' and 'introducing solids'. My first goal was to BF for 6 months but by the time I got there I'd done a lot of reading and decided to carry on. The current advice from the NHS is to exclusively BF for the first 6 months and then carry on along side solid food but the word 'weaning' has different meanings for different people.

I wouldn't worry about how long you go on BF, I'm BF my 2.1 yo DD and to me she is still a baby (PFB alert), it's just that her legs stick out a lot further when she's laying on my lap . There are so many benefits even for older babies and toddlers.

There are loads of support groups you can go to as well if you feel like you're the only one 'still' breastfeeding and of course all the lovely MNers without whom I probably wouldn't have got this far!

Original poster

PassionKiss · 16/11/2010 18:24

I'm totally the only one still breastfeeding at baby group!

Yes I think I thought "weaning" meant weaning off breastmilk and it happened at 6 months.

She has the occasional formula in a sippy cup now as she gets so distracted when I try and BF when we're out and about. I never got to grips with expressing. So I'm not doing it for the health benefits, I'm doing it because it's much easier than anything else and because she loves it so much!

OP posts:

TruthSweet · 16/11/2010 18:27

PassionKiss - I though weaning meant the stopping of bfing and the starting of solids so when the advice is wean on to solids at 6 months that meant you breastfeed only at 5m, 3w and 6 days and the next day they have solids . Needless to say I found out that's not the case and DD1 self eaned at 3.6y/o and DD2 (2.11y/o) and DD3 (13m) are still nursing

Original poster

PassionKiss · 16/11/2010 19:08

TruthSweet - yes that's exactly what I thought! But now I can't imagine stopping as it's so much part of our relationship iyswim.

OP posts:

EauRouge · 16/11/2010 19:28

Aw, it sounds like you're really enjoying it! If you both are then there's no reason to stop. I love the closeness I get from BF my DD and she's very easily comforted when she falls over or if she's scared. I'll be so sad when she self-weans.

See if there's a LLL group near you if you want to meet some mums that are BF older babies and toddlers.

beachavendrea · 16/11/2010 19:44

sorry to hijack your thread but I am the only person I know still breastfeeding at 6 months and I feel a bit like a leper.

I always thought I would do a year but now I am six months in and i really enjoy it, i just figure I'll go until ds is ready to stop.

maybe it's projection on my part but I'm sure people give me surprising looks when they realise I am still breastfeeding.

MsKalo · 16/11/2010 19:48

I bf'd my ds until he stopped himself at 19 months and my 14 month old dd is still bf and loves it!
to be honest, I have found that friends who stopped bf at 6 or 9 months(ish) found their babies got colds, tummy upsets etc all of a sudden! it was as if their little bodies were saying 'where is my lovely breastmilk!'

if you want to carry on then do what you want to do! i found that letting my ds stop when he wanted to was great and no trauma!

good luck

AnnieLobeseder · 16/11/2010 19:50

Nope, I knew you can carry on afterwards, though the odd gin and tonic is good for them too .

I was aware that it's good to bf to at least 6 months, but longer is better.

PrinceRogersNelson · 16/11/2010 19:53

I was exactly the same. I knew I would BF for 6 months because that is what everyone told me to do (and I always do as I am told ) It just didn't enter my head what they/I would do after 6 months.

When I realised it would be formula or carry on, I carried on.

Habbibu · 16/11/2010 19:54

I thought that, but couldn't work out how to stop, and then found MN. Phew.

Ineedsomesleep · 16/11/2010 19:59

PassionKiss, I thought exactly the same before I had DC1. I don't know what I thought was going to happen, maybe the baby would turn around at 6 months and say "ok, enough of this crap, go and get me some formula now".

DC1 was in love with bfing and the longer you do it for the easier it becomes. After a while he was only having it first thing and before bed, which was lovely.

Enjoy this time with your DD, it will soon be over and you'll be spending a fortune on milk.

Ineedsomesleep · 16/11/2010 20:03

and PassionKiss, you may be the only one still bfing out of your baby group but you're not the only Mum in RL to feed your baby past 6 months. There are a lot of us out there. EauRouge's suggestion of going along to a LLL meeting would be a great way to meet some other Mums.

LeninGrad · 16/11/2010 20:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AnnieLobeseder · 16/11/2010 20:10

Nope, I knew you can carry on afterwards, though the odd gin and tonic is good for them too .

I was aware that it's good to bf to at least 6 months, but longer is better.

crikeybadger · 16/11/2010 20:25

I always think that when you get to six months, you've put in the effort so you might as well just carry on as it can only get easier. Really can't see the point of going on to formula after 6 months unless you have to go back to work and can't juggle bfing with work.

My friend recently did say that she was going to do six months max and that would be it. (she's not one to put herself out)

With the other two DS's I got to a year and then pretty much gave them cow's milk straight away. With DS3 I can't really see the point in doing that so I'm just going to carry on for as long as we are both happy.

Having said that he was blowing raspberries at my nipples tonight, so his days may be numbered.

rubyslippers · 16/11/2010 20:27

I agree crikey

I returned to work when DD was 8 months

Could not be faffed with bottles and sterilising - carried on feeding

Haven't really given DD much cows milk either and she is 14 months

Just easy to breastfeed innit?!

jaggythistle · 16/11/2010 20:28

I got an alternative view from my my SIL. i was breastfeeding newborn DS when she was near the end of her pregnancy and she was pondering whether she wanted to bf or not.

i think DS was 6 or 7 weeks old so i guess i just said it was going pretty well for us. then she said "But you have to do HV for 6 months!"

no idea how she got the 6 month idea so confused? i did try to explain the exclusive bit but think i failed.

she ended up FF from birth because the midwife allegedly said there was no point feeding DN at all if she wasn't sure she wanted to keep doing it!

sorry that was a bit random but i am constantly hearing very confused interpretations of WHO advice!

AnnieLobeseder · 16/11/2010 20:30

I'm confused. Have to do what for 6 months?

jaggythistle · 16/11/2010 20:35

sorry stupid predictive text on phone!
was supposed to say 'it' not health visitor!
she just thought it was compulsory to bf for 6 months if you started ?

AnnieLobeseder · 16/11/2010 20:42

Ah. Well, the 'it' instead of 'HV' makes more sense. But having to BF for 6 months? WTF? Who's gonna make you keep going!?! The bf police?!

jaggythistle · 16/11/2010 20:52

no idea haha! looking back i don't think she wanted to at all, just felt she should maybe.

she really didn't want to be 'tied' to DN, her and bil had a first night out when she was 5 weeks old and left her overnight a few weeks later. just totally different views from me i guess.

that wasn't meant to be criticism there, everyone is different. i wanted to spend as much time as i could with DS before i went back to work though!

think they thought i was a bit nutty expressing when i went back. not sure if they realise i am still feeding a 13 month old.

Original poster

PassionKiss · 16/11/2010 21:39

Thanks EauRouge for link - will have a look, would be good to find some BF-ing chums in RL!

OP posts:

PrairieOyster · 16/11/2010 21:44

I breastfed as long as I could - until I went back to work really - 11 months for no 1 and 14 or 15 months for no 2.

But in the end, I was only doing one feed a day - the morning one, because it was so easy to pick up the baby and take them to bed with me for a feed.

Icoulddoitbetter · 16/11/2010 22:04

Before I got pg I genuinely thought that at 6 mo babies just started eating proper food, no more milk needed!
We had real problems for the first couple of months and TBH it was knowing that 6 months was the recommended time that kept me going. It was only as things improved that I started to think id'd bf for longer.

DS is 13 months and I'm still BF with no intention to stop anytime soon, but he has had formula (bottle at bedtime for ages and when he's babysat) and now he has cows milk. For me having that flexibility meant that I could and still can really enjoy BF and I know he's still getting all the health benefits but I can leave DS with granny and he's happy with a bottle and I don;t need to worry. I'm no saint!

eagerbeagle · 17/11/2010 13:32

When I was pregnant with DS, I thought that you just went for 6 months. Had no idea and gave no thought to after that. Once I got the hang of BFing after a bumpy first 3 months I couldn't really see the point of stopping at 6 - it was so much easier and faster by then anyway.

DS is 18mo now and still bfing. I went back to work full time when he was 11mo but he has BM in the morning, when I get in from work at 4.30/5pm (he takes me by the hand and sits me on the sofa and grabs a cushion for his head - very cute) and then at bedtime, plus in the night if he is unsettled. Milk supply seems to have adapted but since he eats well generally I just see it as a good supplement to his diet. Plus it is a really nice way to reconnect.

I am the only person my age I know who has BF this long, most everyone else I know who did BF, and lots FF instead, managed 6-9 months and then stopped and I do feel a bit defensive about it tbh. I have been asked quite a few times how long I will BF and when I will wean DS and I feel like an oddity. No one has been really negative but they haven't been particularly supportive either. I want to let him self wean but who knows when this will be. I won't let myself be pressurised but I do feel isolated on this point.

I do have one great supporter though - who is my MIL. she BF DH until he was 2 and who has been fab. she said she was given loads of grief for it back in the day and she carried on regardless. She has told me how proud she is of me sticking with it, which is lovely, but she is a lone voice.

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