Benefits of breast milk after 6 months

[Mintie190]

Hello mums, my baby girl is almost 6 months old. Just wondering whether i should continue with breast milk or switch to formula at the same time as we start weaning. I know it is recommended to breastfeed for 6 months but what about beyond? My baby has never latched on so i have been expressing 6 times a day and have managed to exclusively feed her breast milk up until now. I can't believe I have done it for this long and while i have a good routine, now that she is getting more active it is getting harder to supervise her while I pump. Basically, I need to ignore her for the 5 x 20 min pumps i do during the day. While I know it's a personal decision, is there a great benefit to feeding with breast milk after the 6 month mark?

Wow, that's incredible that you've been pumping for 6 months! I don't think saying 'well done' even begins to cover it...

There are benefits to going past 6 months. WHO recommends BF for 2 years and beyond but obviously in your situation you need to have a think through the benefits and the practicalities before you can decide what would suit you all best. Here are some ways that BF is beneficial after 6 months.

I'm afraid I don't know a lot about pumping so I can't offer you any experience but you might find some useful tips here.

Absolutely brilliant mintie :)

The benefits of bfing over 6 months are really the same as under 6 months, although the risk of gastric illness and allergies reduces from around 6 months.

So:

YOUR risk of various cancers is reduced the longer that you breastfeed (including pumping).

Your DAUGHTER'S risk of breast cancer reduces in later life the longer she receives BM.

She continues to receive antibodies to treat whatever infections she comes across (a child's immune system isn't mature until around 6 years).

She continues to receive the components which are exclusive to breastmilk which are designed to grow human brains (rather than cow's brawn).

Those are just a few suggestions for you, which will be relevant to a mum who is exclusively pumping.

Even if you find that you can't express as often as you did as she gets more mobile, any breastmilk that you are able to offer will be giving her these "benefits".

When her gut seals at the roughly 6 month mark quite a lot of the risks of formula do reduce, so you can consider formula to be part of her "solids" if that makes sense, if you want to (and count it towards her daily milk intake of course). I would personally choose infant formula rather than 6+ or follow on as it's got fewer health risks. www.analyticalarmadillo.co.uk/2010/08/breastfeeding-q-ask-armadillo.html

Have you tried dropping a pumping session and seeing if you can still make the same volume? Do you pump to a set schedule (e.g. every X hours, or at Xam every day) or do you pump when your DD naps/has quiet time (ha!)?

Some women manage to get down to 2 or 3 pumping sessions but you would need to be careful not to drop pumping sessions to quickly or you might get a plugged duct/mastitis or get engorged.

There is a good article here about weaning from the pump/dropping a pumping session which hopefully should help you if you decide you want to stop/drop a session.

Agree with OCC about the infant formula vs. follow-on milk (and the excellent link!).

Hi. I pumped for 7 months and had enough in the freezer to last another month. I pumped x4 30min sessions 7, 1, 7, 1. I always thought I'd drop the 1 am first but the least convenient was 1pm due to naps etc!! I used breast milk to kick start weaning then mixed in formula at month 8 (and cows milk in cooked meals). You've done an amazing job and will continue to do so regardless of the origin of the milk . To wean, I reduced pump- time by 5mins every 2 days and cut out one pump at a time. HV thought that overly cautious though!

I agree re: sticking with infant formula vs follow-on if you can afford it.

It might be possible to try getting her back on the breast if that would be a good option for you, even at this stage. Things might be easier now she is bigger as well, though it won't help if there is some problem like tongue tie which was preventing her latching before.

Wow well done, I hated expressing and can't imagine doing it for 6 months.
You have already had lots of advice so can't add to that but once she starts taking on a decent amount of solids she will need alot less milk so you won't have to pump as often. You could also try a baby entertainer I had a baby einstein one it keeps them in one place once the can sit up unaided was a life saver when I was trying to cook.

Hi,

You have done a great job already so a big pat on the back and feel proud of yourself whatever you decide.

I did this for my DD, but am just weaning off the pump now she has turned 1 last week (down to twice a day for 8 minutes and my supply has really dropped off).

To be honest I am really ready to finish now, but still feel a bit guilty as she is still drinking 4 150-200ml bottles every day and feel bad that I am not going to be giving her breast milk. So I think that unless you keep going to about 2 or something you will always get the same feelings about stopping.

For me, I committed to feeding her to her first birthday, and as planned I am now stopping but it has been hard and I have come close to stopping a few times (especially as I have a milk monster) although I have never had the whole aversion to formula that some people seem to have. I would guess that in her first year she has had in excess of 97% breastmilk, but has never shown a preference for breastmilk over any of the formula brands that I have used and is happily guzzling 2 bottles of formula a day now.

I guess what I am saying, is that you need to work out how long you can go on for for you, but once you get there or have had enough, don't beat yourself up about it and know that you have done a great job!

Of course we all know that breastmilk is good for babies, but sometimes you have to look after yourself and it does get more difficult to pump the more active they get!

Thank u so much for all the posts. I just thought I'd check my post to see if anyone had responded and was so pleased to see that you all had!

Pumping has almost become a vocation for me. I was so upset not to be able to breastfeed - still don't know what the problem was even though we tried everything to get her to latch on. The lowest point in the past 6 months was going to my first NCT mums gathering and being the only one in my group not breastfeeding. I felt like a failure and think I have been so committed to pumping to overcompensate for not being able to fulfill my desire to breastfeed. I can see how easy life will be if I give it up but I can't imagine doing so. I was aiming for the 6 month mark and now that's 10 days away, I don't think I am ready to stop.

I think I was almost wanting people to post that beyond 6 months breast milk is still the best option so that it gave me a reason to continue. I'm just torn between physically providing for my DD by feeding her breastmilk but ignoring her while I pump, wash the pump and bottles and sterilise them. If I do 5 pumps while she is awake, that's 1 hour 40 mins when i leave her to do her own thing on the mat or in the bouncer. A small part of me feels a bit selfish for persisting with the pumping. Is it really in her best interest or am, as I said above, just fulfilling my desire to breastfeed albeit via the bottle? It's been pretty exhausting and I think I'd be a more easy going mum if I didn't do it.

I'll see how I go and maybe wind down slowly so I am doing only 2 pumps a day - AM and PM.

Not sure if you've come across Kellymom, but it's a wonderful site. It alsp happens to be American which means it has loads of excellent information on exclusive pumping :) Here's the section.

www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/index.html

Hiya. You've done amazingly! Yes the benefits continue past 6 months - 6 months is the length of time we hear a lot about because of introducing solids, and, unfortunately, as that is when they are allowed to advertise formulas from.

Have you tried getting her to latch again? I know of a little one who never latched - then one day when mum was getting dressed, he crawled over, climbed up, and latched on! He was about 10 months.

I wouldn't feel guilty about expressing. If you still feel the desire to do so, then keep going!

Thats fantastic, my SIL pumped like you for 9 months as she had a similar problem. I would continue it as long as you can tbh, see how you feel in a few months time.

Like others have said, now she is bigger, try her on the breast too

try nipple sheilds to put on your breast at first.