How long did you plan to bf for and when did you end up stopping?

[JollySergeantJackrum]

With all the threads on extended breastfeeding I was just interested :)

I have always planned to feed DS for at least a year (as that't when you can move on to cow's milk) but hoped we could continue until 2 as per WHO advice. DS still bf at 18 months and showing now interest in stopping (despite serious scarcity of milk due to pregnancy)

I'm currently bf my first at 8 mo. I guess I planned 1 yr. But the more I learn about breastfeeding and the further I go on our bf journey, the more I seem to love it. Who knows when we'll stop, maybe 2? I'm going back to work 3 days a week when dd is 13mo, but I envisage we'll be down to morning and eve feeds by then so I'm not expecting it will be a problem.
I want bf to be the norm in my house. I'd love to think that my dd might one day want to bf her children :)

6 months exclusive then stop at 1 year.

Have now been feeding for over 6 years with 3 dcs.

DC1 Managed nearly 6 months (with a few bits of formula) before starting solids and continued bf til nearly 4. DC2 6 months exclusive and not sure whether we're finished or not at the moment (age nearly 4). DC3 6 months exclusive and still going at 18 months (going strong every 2-3hrs by day if I'm around, so no guarantee they drop right down this young).

YY fridgemonkey DS also doesn't just do 'morning and evening' as I was sort of expecting from about 8 months or so. In fact, he ate very, very little solids until about 12 months old and still had majority bf poos. (Not for want of trying, mind.) he's now down to mainly morning, some mid-morning, perhaps afternoon, and before bed. But no longer feeds to sleep and has (surprisingly to all) night-weaned. He can however go all day without any mummy-milk if I am not around.

Not that it has made a jot of difference to his sleep. But at least he isn't feeding anymore and settles easily with a cuddle or some back-patting.

Planned on about a year, DS stopped about 17-18 months, DD is 17 months and still has the odd feed. Glad to see I'm not the only one that is loathe to stop it though. :)

Planned 6 weeks initially when it was hard going, then 6 months. DS is nearly 8 months and no immediate plans to stop but will probably give some formula when I go back to work in September.

Planned to do six months, and then a year when I found out you needed to replace with formula if you stopped before that (not a dig at formula - just that it seemed a big hassle to start with bottles and powder and boiling water etc, etc).

Actually did about 21 months, until my milk dried up (pregnant with DD2) and DD1 lost interest.

Will probably aim for about the same this time, though she's only a month old at the moment. If she isn't tailing off by about 2 I'll probably have had enough and see if I can gently encourage things.

I went back to work at 11 months, but had dropped daytime feeds by then (even on the days I wasn't at work - DD1 was very 'all or nothing', by her own choice).

I planned for at least a year - my reasoning being you had to give either BM or BM substitute til then anyway. DS1 nursed til 1yr and a week or so, DS2 has recently, sort of, weaned he's 4, DD is 2.5 and still going strong.

With dd: planned to introduce solids at 4 months (standard advice in those days) and then just take her lead on how long she wanted breastmilk: did that and ended up bf'ing until 11 months.

With ds: had planned to do the same but found I needed a change of medication to something not known to be bf-safe and it was impacting my health quite significantly, so gave up bf at 6 months.

I planned bare minimum of 6 weeks, but knew I wanted to BF for somewhere close to a year. Managed around 9 or 10 months - DS bit me (drew blood twice), and I knew I didn't have the commitment to work through that after all the BFing probs we had in the early days, so I stopped. Pretty happy with that. I gave the odd bottle of formula from 10 weeks, which saved my sanity and meant we carried on longer than I think I would have otherwise.

DS2 is 14 weeks and on formula top ups for failure to thrive, but am desperately trying to preserve my supply with pumping/lots of feeding. Again, I'm vaguely aiming for a year, but not fussed if it's a bit less. Will be sad if my milk supply reduces loads before 6 months though.

threefeet on the days you were at work did LO have other milk in a cup or just water? The face LO pulls when I offer formula in a cup really is hilarious and suggests its not something she will be entertaining any time soon....

I planned to give it a try for the first 6 weeks, I was expecting it to be a struggle and I thought that initial newborn period was better than nothing.
It's her first birthday in two weeks and we are still going!

With ds 1 had no real time plan for how long- jus knew I wanted to try to bf - ended up feeding until 16months.
With each subsequent baby it has been a case of going for as long as the previous one and maybe a bit longer. Ds2 it was 18 months (was pregnant and needed a break) Ds3 kept going til he self weaned between 5 and 6 so I'm not sure where this leaves me with ds4 who is currently 15months!

I planned to do 6 months. DD weaned at 4 years (with encouragement as was 4 months pregnant and already tandem nursing), and ds1 is still going at 2.9 years and ds2 is still going at 12 months.

DS is 8mo. Had no plan for how long I would feed for, though definately hope to get to at least a year and so avoid introducing formula. After then who knows, will see how it goes, back at work when DS is 10 months and currently he won't drink anything from a bottle or cup.

I always hoped to get to a year and then see what happened after that. DS will be one in a week's time and we're still going. Down to three feeds a day and I keep thinking I ought to cut out the lunchtime feed as I'm going back to work (part time) in a couple of weeks. However, he seems happy not to have the feed when I'm not around but needs it when I am there - so I'm kind of hoping I can keep that feed going on days I'm not working.

DS does seem to be losing interest to a certain extent so I'm not sure how much longer we'll carry on. In a way I'd like to make it to 2 years, but in another way there's a weekend away I'd like to go on in October so I wouldn't be too sad to stop.

I planned to EBF until 6 months, then mix feed and see how things went with stopping at about a year in the back of my mind. DS turned out to be allergic to cows milk so I bf him until he was 2.

WEEONION!!!

Long time no see!!

sorry for hijacking

Planned 6 months when pregnancy stupidly thinking that at 6mo you swapped to food (so glad to read other posters have thought this too [hwink] )

Got to 6months and then realised that needed either BM or FF for another 6mo so have decided to keep on until 12mo (we're at 8mo now) as actually seems easier now than FF - and don't want to buy a load of bottles etc [hgrin]

But don't really enjoy it and DD doesn't seem that fussed about milk either so we're stopping at 12m and going onto cow's milk.

Planned for 6 months then 12 as my understanding of the recommendations changed - though I clearly remember planning to express and bottle feed all feeds after six months (funnily enough I was thinking about this earlier today and racking my brains but have absolutely no idea why I thought this was a good plan).

Currently nearly 39 weeks pg and still feeding DD who will be 3 in September. Oops!

Trix!!!! waves back!

ds1 - planned 6months exclusive and then I thought you "had" to give formula too wonder where I got that idea from. He is now almost 6yo and we are still going.

ds2- plan to let him self wean, he is currently 16months. He will probably wean before ds1!!!

Planned for at least 2 years. DD went off it at 14 months .

I think this was actually nursing strike, but I couldn't get her interested again.

I really wish I was still breastfeeding. I miss it.

I started in mid 2005 and didn't intend to still be breastfeeding now in 2011 after 3 DCs and without having had a break! I guess I thought 12 months was the norm.