Did anyone else think that breastfeeding ended at six months?

[PassionKiss]

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!!

That's great that your MIL supports you eagerbeagle - mine has been the opposite...

She believes that BF is just for developing countries I think and demand feeding is rtidiculous. Meh.

I thought you "had to" stop at 6months. Luckily I found MN.

I think the fact that so many people are under this misconception is partly due to the advertising of follow on milk where they mention "moving on from breastfeeding" as if there's no alternative.

The BBC website is bad for churning out that it is recommended that mothers breastfeed for six months. They never go on to say that it is recommended that mothers breastfeed exclusively breastfeed for six months and then ideally for two years alongside other foods.

And Passionkiss. Nothing wrong with BF a 4yo.

I knew you could carry on to a year, but didn't know that two years was advised to reap the full health benefits. I am still BFing an 18 month old.

I know exactly what you mean op. I seem to have had a kind of negative capability where on one hand I knew I wanted to bf as long as possible and on the other hand when things were difficult I kept thinking 'halfway to 6 months...' like you say - not sure what I was expecting her to do ('Mother this martini is a little dry'?)

Not sure there's really a conclusion - other than that maybe there's too much talk about 'to 6 months'. Why would anyone having got to 6 months want to start paying for something which by now is so established and easy?

I'm yet another person who wanted to breastfeed if possible and thought 6 months was the goal to aim for. It's only now, four months in, that I've started to realise that it doesn't magically stop at 6 months and the introduction of food at that point doesn't stop my son needing milk. We have allergies in the family so ideally I will keep breastfeeding after that but I'm also returning to work when he's nine months old and I don't get on with expressing really, so I'm currently weighing up whether to let him have formula in the day then. I think I will continue breastfeeding at night/morning for some time yet.

I thought the same too. But TBH DD (#1 hence naivety!) is nearly 4 months now and a happy, chubby, easy feeder so we'll just carry on for as long as it takes/she needs/wants. I must try to introduce a bottle/start expressing soon though or I'll never be able to leave her and fancy starting an evening course in the new year.

Yes, definitely, lol at gin and tonics :)
MIL told me she bfed to 7/8 months and I remember thinking that made her a "bf weirdy" (in a nice way :))
DS will be 4 in April, and is showing no signs of stopping. I got very excited when he asked "I not have mi-mi (his name for it) any more?" in the car the other day but it turns out it was a mix up :o

He he I was aiming for 6mths too, DD is now 2.11

Did as others have and carried on bf-ing round my return to work when she was 9mths - it's amazing how quickly she adapted.

I liked what someone said above about it being like a supplement to their diet - now that DD is a fussy toddler eater I see our BFs as vitamin supplements!

PG with no.2 now and she seems to be gradually going off it - not sure if I am sad or relieved!

But back to the OP , sorry, yes I thought that too, and agree with those who say the info available most places is rubbish.

I thought this too - I remember going to breastfeeding support group with newborn DS, and seeing a lady tandem feeding a baby and a toddler. My face must have looked exactly like this - hope I didn't offend her by staring, am much more enlightened now!

I thought this too. I honestly didn't realise that there was a long period of solids and milk. I think that's partly because my Mum breastfed us but, way back in the 70s, you started solids early (I had baby rice at 10 weeks ) and by 8 months my mum had stopped breastfeeding totally. No formula either, just solids and cows milk.

As it is, I am still BFing 19 month old DD. Normally just once a day. But she loves it sooo much. Yesterday she finished, climbed up to my face (we were lying on the bed) and gave me a big kiss before announcing "ahh, hug mummy."

My HV thinks this! She said to me the the other day "you're doing really well, and no reason you can't continue to feed for the full 6-8 months if you want to".

but I remember a woman at baby group a couple of years ago who said to me "I stopped feeding a couple of weeks ago, and I'm so sad, but you have to stop at 6 months, don't you?". I didn't know what to say, and with a 4 week old ds1, had no idea whether she was likely to be able to restart if she wanted, so just sympathised. so sad she'd got this "must stop at 6 months" message.

I thought it stopped when they got teeth. Made sense to me.
Then I thought it would be freaky to carry on once they were talking and actually asking for it, as dh reminded me the other day when he heard 13mo ask for 'zizi' which is his version of 'breastfeed'.
Now I think I'll stop when ds2 writes me little notes asking for it

I read a funny retort (on MN probably) when a woman was asked when she'd stop bf her child she said 'when he stops or when Channel 4 approach me to make a documentary about it'

I too thought that at 6m food rapidly took over and that would be it for bf really. They don't make it clear enough (in the media esp) that if you stop at 6m, then it means formula for another 6, and that milk is the main source of nutrition for a year.

And I also thought my mum was a bit of a hippy for bf my sister for 8m! (my ds is 2...)

Secondtimelucky Yes I think my mother confused the issue for me as well - she is very pro breastfeeding and "doesn't like the idea" of formula. And yet she weaned me at 4 months and my sister even earlier I asked her the other week what we had to drink (if not formula which she claims never to have used) and she couldn't remember! (I suspect normal cows milk).

She carried on with a last BF at bedtime though but she is already getting a bit about how often I BF DD . . .