13 month old frequent breastfeeding

[alfiesmadmother]

I'm not particularly bothered but my nipples are a little sore. She has never had a bottle or dummy, will drink water out of a cup. She has very large feed before bed, one in the night and long feed on waking, short feed before her naps. Is this far too much for this age?? Do I refuse or just keep going??? She eats 3 meals plus snacks and eats anything and she is petit for her age but with a good layer of chub on her little frame.

It depends how you feel about it. Personally I am happy to demand-feed a toddler but many people aren't. I don't think she's feeding 'too much', 13 months is still fairly young and a lot of BF babies feed a lot more at this age- DD hardly touched any solid food until she was about 15 mo.

She'll still be getting plenty of calories from you, not to mention comfort if she's teething or feeling under the weather so there are benefits in continuing if that's what you want to do.

How good is she at sitting still? I get sore nipples feeding DD if she fidgets around too much.

I guess I feel ok about it, but have had comments like oh you look tired you should be stopping, but I feel fine!! Sometimes at night she sucks for comfort which I think is leading to sore nipple on that side. I guess I am looking at adverts for the toddler milk and wondering how on earth my milk is still good enough! On the plus side I am losing weight with all the feeding, and she points to my neck when she wants it so it is not obvious to other folk.

I went through a similar thing when DD turned 1, everyone I knew had stopped BF and I had a wobbly moment! Fortunately my MiL was very supportive and told me she fed all 5 of hers until they were 2.

If there is a LLL group near you then you'll be able to meet other mums that are BF older babies and toddlers, it's pretty common. There's a list of local groups here.

There are also lots of us on MN that are BF toddlers so you are not alone! And yes, the weight loss is definitely a bonus

There's some good info here about why your milk is still really good, way better than that toddler follow-on stuff.

That is really helpful information and rassuring to know it's actually ok to nurse for comfort!! Also she has just started walking and had a development spurt so that probably explains why she has been a bit obsessed!

I have a 13 month old and he feeds at least as much as that- so you are not on your own on this. I feel you can hardly just not give it to them when they want it so badly. My son wakes at 12 fro some and then from 3 onwards on and off. I do feel v tired some days.