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Infant feeding

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

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Original poster

if i continue to feed on demand, at what kind of age is feeding likely to drop off?

15 replies

stuffthenonsense · 19/04/2011 21:13

my dd4 (10 months) is currently breast fed on demand which is between 6 and 9 feeds a day with at least 2 of those being during the night.(despite stuffing her little face at 3 meals a day she is still only 25th percentile) im not complaining, i love feeding her, even(especially) at night when i am totally pooped.

i was just wondering, if i continue giving her the breast on demand, when is she likely to start dropping feeds and (dare i say it) stop altogether? i am really wanting to continue with at least 1 feed a day until she is 30 months.

dd1 was fed until dd3 was on the way (didnt think id manage to feed 3),dd2 stopped when dd3 was in hospital as i couldnt be there to feed her and dd3 stopped by herself at 11 months, all this was a very long time ago, (dd3 is 13 years now) and i have forgotten so much of how all this works, i would desperately love to hear of other peoples experiences.

please forgive me if this is garbled or sounds all wrong, i am feeling very tired and in need of a little moral support

OP posts:

Marmitecheese · 19/04/2011 21:22

Hello,

Am still feeding an 8 month old on demand - similar pattern - 6-9 feeds a day, 1-2 at night, interested to hear responses!

saturdayschild · 19/04/2011 21:26

It varies so much. Dropping feeds - probably from around a year iirc. Most likely to end up with nap, bedtime, and night feeds until 2 or 3. You candecide to hel them stop when they are old enough to discuss and /or understand or wait until they are ready to stop by themselves, which could be any age - 2, 3, 4, 5?

RitaMorgan · 19/04/2011 21:27

I think the natural self-weaning age for most children is between 2-4 years?

fifitot · 19/04/2011 21:30

Age 3 for me and I had to force the issue tbh. She would still be hanging on my nipple now (Aged 5) if I hadn't!

MummyBerryJuice · 19/04/2011 21:31

I'm still bf 16mo DS on demand and it varies but he feeds about 3 times during the day and quite a few times at night (I don't count and we co-sleep). There was a definite drop in the number of times he requests feeds from about 12 months but that was when he agreed to be more enthusiastic about solids.

Probably not much help but this has been my experience.

washnomore · 19/04/2011 21:34

My experience was that DS fed loads until I went back to work, then fed less again when he started walking and talking, then gradually weaned himself at 2.3. Night feeds went last. Maybe we'd have managed longer but I had to work from 6 months and he reverse cycled, I suspect it impacted on supply. DD's 7 months and feeds in a similar pattern to yours although probably more often between 6pm and 6am than during the day :(

weasle · 19/04/2011 21:55

hi, my 10 month old also feeds quite a bit.

5-10 times a night and about 6 times in the day. he eats food really well. very active, walking, climbing etc. but the nights are getting to me, i'd love to return to my own bed (currently co-sleeping in ds3's room) and get a bit more sleep.

my ds2 slept through the night from 15 months but not likely to get there this time for a while. at 15 months i think he bf about every 2 hours in the day (6/day), at 18 months it was 4times/day (pre- and post- bed and nap), then 2/day when we dropped the nap at 22months, then just bed time from 2ish when i was pg with dc3.

NinkyNonker · 19/04/2011 21:59

My 8 month old has dropped her feeds right off, am worried now! She tends to feed a few times at night, on waking in the morning and then at bedtime, with one in between somewhere...is this weird?

fifitot · 19/04/2011 22:02

5-10 times a night!!! Bloody hell, I thought my 2 night feeds were bad enough. Can you not encourage him to stop feeding so much at night if you want to get back to your own bed?

you poor thing!

sweetandtenderhooligan · 19/04/2011 22:21

NinkyNonker my 8 month old doesn't feed much either! He feeds on waking and before bed, and then maybe once or twice during the day... and a couple during the night. Sometimes just 3 feeds in total (excluding night feeds)

Thought it was weird too, but he seems happy

Original poster

stuffthenonsense · 20/04/2011 06:26

Ooh great responses, thank you, dd4 seems to up a feed every time she hears of one of her little friends stopping feeding. Its quite funny.
I think she will soon be the only real-life baby I know who is feeding. Is this a good place for support? Does anyone know how to seek out real life extended feeders for friendship and support?

OP posts:

Goldengirl01 · 20/04/2011 06:58

My DS has been feeding 3 times a day since about 9 months. He has morning feed when he wakes up, mid-afternoon (though this has been replaced with a cup of formula as I'm back to work next week) and bedtime. I always thought I'd give up when he had teeth but he's got 8 now and apart from a few nibbles it's been ok.

I don't know how you manage to feed so often I think I'd be knackered!

TruthSweet · 20/04/2011 09:07

Breastfeeding groups like LLL or SureStart are good for meeting extended nursers (have a look on FB for local groups) or you could do what I did - go to an ordinary bfing group, ext. nurse and find that others follow your example .

And yes, I know that sounds incredibly big headed but a friend from the bfing group I go to told me she would have stopped at ~6m rather than continue to self weaning with her DC at 3y/o after seeing me feed DD1 and that it seemed normal/nice/achievable (I nearly cried when she told me that!).

Original poster

stuffthenonsense · 20/04/2011 21:32

Truthsweet I don't think sounds bigheaded at all. In fact I am going to find a group to go to because you have suggested it. Thank you x

OP posts:

TruthSweet · 21/04/2011 08:29

Glad I could be of some help . Don't be afraid to try a few, like any sort of baby/toddler group there are lots of different sorts, and you may not 'fit' with one but find another that is just the right 'fit' for you. Can you tell DD1 has done Goldilocks and the three bears at school recently?

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