Should I give up breastfeeding at 13 months?

[Zaziedanslemetro]

Just wondering if anyone has experienced weaning after 12 months, rather than letting the baby self-wean?
My DD1 gave up of her own accord at 12 months, whereas DD2 still has a couple of feeds at 13 months, so I'm in unchartered territory! The night time one she doesn't seem too bothered about (has occasionally missed it) but the morning one is handy as she will feed at 6/6.30am ish then go back to sleep again.

I would be quite happy to carry on (it's also very reassuring to be able to give an extra feed or two when she's ill), but for a couple of reasons I'm thinking maybe not. Firstly, the hormones involved seem to suppress my libido (found this first time round too). Secondly, I've heard it's harder for the child to give it up the longer they go on, and I don't want to upset her by suddenly stopping when she's older.
Any advice? Many thanks.

Hmm, you will probably get lots of "it's up to you" replies but it really is up to you There are lots of benefits to BF past a year (WHO recommends at least 2 years of BF alongside other foods) which you can read about here.

If you are thinking about weaning then I would talk to a BF counsellor about it. Stopping suddenly would be no good for your DD2 or for you (unless it's an emergency), if you talk to a BF counsellor then they will be able to help you come up with a plan to cut down gradually so that it's easier for you and your DD2. Is there a LLL group near you?

Yes I realise no-one can make the decision for me
There might be LLL near me, I'm in France but have heard of them over here too. The thing is, cutting down is either stopping night feed or morning feed then both, I guess, not many other options! Just wondered whether it would be less "painful" for DD to stop now rather than wait another 6 months. Hmm... Thanks for your post, I'll check out LLL.

Good post from Eau there.

I'd add that libido may be low due to having 2 wee kids! I know a few people who have given up only to find that they still aren't in the mood. Perhaps there are other ways you can addrerss that without stopping bfing (if you do want to continue).

Harder to give up - no evidence at all that this is the case. Kellymom and LLL are great on this.

If you do decide to give up, you still have a LOT to be proud of - a year is a fantastic achievement.

I gave up with dd 1 just before she was 1- my reasons were she had just started walking very independently and seemed ready. Plus I thought I'd done my job and it's time for me to dress normally etc again. To be honest the whole reason I carried on was cause I didn't want her to ever have formula. Sort of an "ive started this so I'll finish it"

I have a friend who had to give up at 13 months due to health issues, her DD was happy to switch to cow's milk and never seemed to notice! Mine is nearly 1 and still gets 80-90% of her calories from BF, she'd notice fir sure! Depends on the child, I should think.

Yes, good point re. two small children, nethunsreject! Did notice a big difference after stopping with DD1 though. But at least this time around I know what the problem is, so less worrysome and can work around it, as you say.
Had forgotten about Kellymom, will have a look.
MrsVidic , I'm in a similar position as I didn't really want her to have formula and wanted to "get to" a year. Also DD2 was prem and I was desperately worried I wouldn't be able to do the same for her as DD1 in terms of breastfeeding, but we got there in the end. Now she's getting even more
InvaderZim, yes you're right, some children seem to really need it more.

BF-ing DD1 @ 14 months here - 2/3/4 feeds a day. Personally I;d be loath to stop. She got her first (!) illness recently - a virus that made her very warm and grumpy for a week and all she would have is lots and lots of breastmilk. It was a huge comfort to me that she was still getting plenty of fluid and nutrients throughout her illness, as well as antibodies from me to help her fight it. I know she would probably still have had bottles were she bottle fed but I felt she sued BF as a massive comfort and it felt wonderful to be able to do that for her. Plus I can still eat lots of cake and stay size 12. So for these reasons I personally would not give up.

Gave up at 14 months. Ds had been on 2 bf (first thing and last thing before bed) since 10 months (he decided he didn't want afternoon feed).
He had cows milk with supper (approx 60mls) from 1 yr, then at 13 1/2 months dropped feed just before bed. 2 weeks later dropped breakfast feed.
very easy on me re no breast engorgement/pain and ds coped very well.
wanted to get to 14 months to get past the most MMR inj period incase we needed some extra tools for settling to sleep.

Ah yes, this are my main arguments too -combatting illness closely followed by justification of chocolate consumption
Glad you were able to nurse your DD, zimm, hope she's better now.

On the other hand, DD2 was experimenting with her teeth last night which is exactly what DD1 did when she didn't really want to feed. Perhaps I'll just drop the evening feed and see what happens? Should still keep a reasonable supply on one feed a day after all this time, (surely?) just in case.

I stopped at 13 months - ds was on 4 feeds then. I swapped the day feeds for cups of cows milk over a period of a couple of months, then the bedtime feed, but was happy to keep the first morning feed for as long as ds wanted. As it happened he refused the morning feed about a week after we swapped bedtime for a cup and that was that!

Mx

My dd is almost 18 months and I have found in kid last few months that my libido has returned to normal. My dd is fed morning and night and the odd time once during the day. It is really handy when she isn't well. She wasot well this week and fed a lot more

Oh dear my phone is causing me problems, sorry.