I've been bfing for a year!

[CamperFan]

Just that really, with DS2. I never thought I would be! I still feed him 3 times; morning, noon and night, though have started giving him a bottle after his before bed feed to ready him for someone else putting him to bed as I would quite like to go away for the night and visit a friend! TBh though, i don't think he would be bothered if we stopped now. I'm not really sure when to stop. I think I am ready to, but don't want to do anything hasty. What are other people's experience?

Also, I have found the whole experience this time round such a positive one that I'm half way through a peer supporter course.

CamperFan thats super, im only 17 weeks in and would love to feed for a year. To me it is/would be a fantastic achievement so very well done

What a great milestone, well done you :) And it's excellent that you're doing a peer supporter course.

I am BF both my DDs, the eldest just turned 3. We are still going because it's working well for us but every BF relationship is different. I find it invaluable as a parenting tool. Tantrum? Need to get them to sleep? Need to distract them while you're on the phone? No problem But you might find other ways to deal with all those.

There are health benefits to BF beyond a year, you can read about them here. You might want to have a look if you're not sure whether or not to carry on.

Well done! My 19month old dd is bf, she usually feeds first thing in the morning and at bedtime.

I go through phases when I think I'm ready stop, then I change my mind! I would like to keep going until my dd decides to stop. Some days she loves booboo, others she isn't so bothered. She is fine if I am away overnight.

Well done you.

If you are ready to stop, just go at your own pace. Probably easiest to encourage him to drop the lunchtime feed first because you can offer solid food to distract. Same goes for morning.

DD1 self weaned when I was pregnant with DD2 at 21 months and the morning feed was the last to go.

Just to echo what others have said - from about 1 DD1 could be put to bed without me quite happily- and I didn't get uncomfortable.

Well done. :)

DS has been happy for DH to put him to bed without any milk from when we first tried it at 9 months. Apart from that, I bf him to sleep every night and still do at 22 m.o.

Well done you!
DS is nearly 14m and we feed morning and bedtime, and sometimes he gets other feeds if he asks for them as well. I?ve left him overnight once for work, and quite a few times been out for the evening so DH has put him to bed with a bottle of ebm instead and it?s been absolutely fine (although don?t underestimate needing to express for relief!!!). I?m also a peer supporter and volunteer on a helpline :)

DH has always done a bedtime bottle, thats my off-duty time. The Boy is nearly 14 months now and has 2-3 feeds a day from me, I love the morning one best. I don't know when we will stop. Not for some time I hope.

Well done!
My DD just self weaned about a month ago (she's 20 months). After she got to a year she cut down from 3-4 times a day to twice then after a couple of months she just BF before bed.
The bedtime feeds got shorter and shorter over a couple of months then she just stopped wanting them at all and hasn't asked since.
I do miss bringing her into bed in the morning to feed though, as it gave me the chance to grab an extra 10 minutes sleep!

Camperfan that's fantastic. Well done. I've got a 10 day old dd, was still
Nursing ds2 (3y10m) at bedtime but he stopped as soon as dd born. Means I've been bfing almost 4 years If dd feeds as long it will be 8 years!!

Well done! My DS weaned at 13m and I miss it terribly. If he falls or something my immediate reaction is to whack a boob out. He just stares at me now. As do strangers when I have done it in public. -cries-

Thanks everyone! Actually it seems to be the morning feed that he is the most interested in, and then he really likes it before his nap at lunchtime, but is losing interest in the bedtime feed (due to the bottle?). It is a "parenting tool" for me because since 4 months, he'll only do it lying down (for several months this was only lying down on my bed, no other! So I wasn't able to just whop out a boob at any given moment, he would just scream. And I was pretty restricted by this, but decided to just go with it. From about 5 months, feeds have been more or less set times. I think he'll be fine without me before bed - perhaps I'll do a test run before I visit my friend in a few weeks!

Its interesting that they self wean at such different ages! Deflated, poor you. Cosmosis, well done - is he sleeping better now?? I really don't think I would need to express - my boobs now just feel empty all the time even if I have skipped a feed in the morning if I've had a lie in for example. Awen, that is a long time to bf!! Good for you.

Camper yes he sleeps really well now, about 3 or 4 nights a week he sleeps through, the other nights he?ll wake once but generally goes back to sleep quickly when DH goes in to settle. I never thought I?d see the day!!!

I didn?t think I?d need to express either any more, I never feel full anymore, but I went out the other night and DH put him to bed and I woke at about 3 rock hard and leaking all over the bed, so if I went away again I?d definitely still take the pump.

Thats brilliant. I couldn't keep it going longer than 6 months and was pretty keen to stop once I got there.

But was just reading about carbon footprint of bottle feeding, so you've helped the world as well as your baby!!

pregnancyandchildbirtharoundtheworld.blogspot.com/2011/10/holy-cow-some-bottle-feeding-statistics.html

That's really interesting jandanaligazan, thanks. I will bear that in mind Cosmosis when I have my night away in a few weeks - I am beyond excited at the prospect!!!!!!!

Brilliant stuff. I hope to be able to do the same :)