How many breastfeed does your 2 years old have?

[itsnotpossibleisit]

DD is two years old now and we have reiniciated breastfeeding after a break of 6 weeks. At first we started with having only a feed before going to bed but now she keeps asking the whole day and I am managing to give her 3 or 4 times a day only. Is this a lot?

She eats pretty well during the day and breastfeeding does not seem to affect the amount of food she eats. I am not sure if all these feeds should be happening or I should just stick to 2 or maybe 3 feeds per day.

At the moment she feeds when she wakes up in the morning, before her nap in the afternoon and before going to bed at night. Athoug lately she is asking for feeds mid morning and mid afternoon and other feeds which I am saying not to.

So any advice in what a 2 years old shold be having would be much appreciated. Thanks

My DS is 2.4 and he just usually has 5-10 mins at bedtime. Occasionally he will ask first thing in the morning, but I usually tell him that he can have it after breakfast and then he forgets to ask again. I am trying to take the "don't offer, don't refuse" line with him, so don't want to say no to a morning feed but am wanting to wind down feeding as long as it doesn't upset him.

I guess once they're 2, it's kind of up to you how much you are comfortable with her having. I find that DS doesn't eat his breakfast if he has a BF first, which is partly why I tell him he can have it but after his breakfast. But if your DD is eating well regardless of the amount of BF, then I guess you just have to find a number of feeds that you and she are happy with.

Too much

I'm managing to distract during the day most of the time but early hours of the morning....

I would like less but can't handle the upset int he middle of the night.

It may be that she is unsure about how long bfing will be carrying on for so is making her preference known in case it is withdrawn again. In a few days of bfing her when she asks (if you want to introduce nursing manners now might be a good time so she asks in a way you are happy with) she might be reassured that she is okay.

Or you could set up times that you always nurse e.g. on waking, after lunch, or before bed and read a book together/sing songs/have a chat/play a game whilst feeding or after so she gets lots of closeness with you in addition the closeness you get with nursing. That may provide her with extra reassurance too.

Bedtime
During the night
In the morning
After I get back from work

If we're off maybe one more, maybe not

First thing in the morning
Sometimes after breakfast - though that is disappearing.
Before nap.
Sometimes after nap.
Night time.

I missed off how much bfing my (nearly) 2y.o does.....

DD3 nurses on waking, at least once during the day (at time of her choosing unless it's blinking inconvenient!), before bed and occasionally during the night if she wakes and DH can't settle her. I fully expect her to pick up more bfs as she gets older as that is what my other two did and then tail off again after 3y/o though obviously I won't make her bf more often if she doesn't want to.

Thank you very much, it really helps to know what other mums are doing. None of my friends have breastfed their children after 12 months so I am a bit clueless.

I have recently separated from her dad so I do not want to be too strict on this matter as I think sometimes is more comfort than anything else. I also think that I have been lucky that she has not asked as yet to be breastfed when we are out and about, not sure what I would do in this situation to be honest. When she was little I used to breastfeed her anywhere but now I do not know if I would get weird looks for doing i.

By the way, is it possible that she empties a breast? Today for first time she has told me that there was not milk left in my right breast, it has never happened before. I always thought that milk is like a river it never dries, is this correct? Or was she right and there was nothing left?

don't know - DS used to say the same though, when he was easily old enough to know for sure - not sure who to believe really, the experts or someone who's experiencing it first hand :o I imagine although your breast is always producing milk, and there would always be more, it's not like a tap, more fits and starts iyswim

Sorry to hear about your recent separation btw, must be hard :(

DD2 (who's 3.9y/o) often says 'there's no milk in your bahs mummy, DD3 has drunk it all' just so she can get me to check that there is any milk. Once she sees the milk she laughs and goes back to nursing - the little wotsit!

Constantly A lot! She is almost 3. I would say that if an hour goes by she will have asked to be fed at least 3 times if we are at home- she doesn't always get it, I would be on the sofa feeding her all day if she had her way! If we're out somewhere then she'll usually ask about once an hour unless she's really distracted.

I keep hearing about these 2 year olds that only feed at night and I wonder if that will ever happen for me

I used to think it was 5 or 6 times a day but I counted once. Holy crap.

DS1 - all the time. Zillions of times a day
ds2 - only 17 months, but similar.

It was way easier just to feed on demand than try to limit it IME, and ds1 was cows milk intolerant so I wanted to get as much milk into him as possible. And, it was like a reset button for him. Nurse him a bit and then he would toddle off and amuse himself, all his worries were sorted.

Re the empty thing. dS1 says they are NEVER empty, but he much prefers when the milk is flowing fast, preferably with ds2 on the other side to make it go even faster!

Thanks a lot girls. It did surprise me that she was saying no milk but I thought she would know better than anyone else.

She has asked for some breastmilk today in the park but I think it was because a frind of mine was breastfeeding her baby and she wanted too although we were alone which it was good

I guess I will keep feeding her on demand and see where we go from there. THanks again