If you bf your baby and they never took bottles at all, what age did you stop bf?

[Anothercuppatea]

Hoping I might be able to hear how other people did this.
With ds1 I bf, but he had a nighttime bottle. I gave up bf when he was one, as he was no longer interested. But we kept nighttime bottle til he was 2.5.

Ds2 is now 9 months and has never taken bottle. I'd quite like to stop bf by 12-18 months. He isn't really bothered in the daytime anymore anyway. But not sure he'll want to give up his nighttime feed. I don't know how babies manage without either a bf or a bottle at nighttime? Do some people manage with just giving a cup at bedtime? Is that comforting enough for them?

[izzyhasanewchangeling]

DD is nearly 3 and very occassionally still nurses, DS is nearly 5 and had completely stopped but I have a NB and he has had 1 or 2 nuzzles (I let him to stop any jealousy issues, he says it tastes like milkshake but milkshake is nicer.

I gradually moved to a sort of combined cup/BF thing, probably at about 2.

[vvviola]

DD2 is 16 months & still feeding. I'm well ready to stop, but she feeds a lot overnight and any attempt at delaying/reducing feeds has just led to total & utter melt down.

She drinks oat milk from a cup during the day, but refuses the hypoallergenic formula totally, which is another issue.

I was hoping to have stopped by Christmas. My next goal is February when I go back to university.

[exexpat]

DS fed to sleep until 15 months, when I weaned him off BF altogether. We'd dropped nighttime feeds a few months before that. He refused to drink any milk in any way, shape or form apart from BFing - no formula, no cows milk, no expressed breastmilk - so after weaning he only had a drink of water at bedtime, along with stories, cuddles etc.

[PigeonPie]

DS1 was 19 months and stopped because I was pg with DS2.

DS2 was 26 months before he finally gave up feeding to sleep.

[notasausage]

Stopped at 20months with DD1 when she decided she'd rather have a story at bed time. DD2 is 16 months and I'm still feeding but she doesn't take much at bedtime and still goes into bed no problem. I think she'd rather have a story now too.

[cafebistro]

Stopped feeding DD1 at 17 months - she would never have a bottle but now happily drinks cups of milk. Same with DD2 , stopped at 14m and she loves cups of milk.

[bamboostalks]

I weaned both at 15 months and neither will drink milk at all and never would. They had nothing at bedtime apart from a cuddle.

[pinkyp]

We stopped bf at 22 months, he has a cup of cows milk now before bed

[BartletForTeamGB]

16/17mo using a Doidy cup for EBM/cow's milk/water when I was out or during the day. By the last few months, DS was only having BFs morning and night. I used the Gentle Removal Method from the No Cry Sleep Solution, sent DH in to settle him and did a bit of controlled crying at various points to deal with the feeding to sleep issue.

[stopthinkingsomuch]

p.s i didn't feed to sleep with first two. With the third he missed more good quality day time feeds so I think he sometimes would wake at night to sneak a feed.

[stopthinkingsomuch]

Three breast fed with no bottles.

First bf until about 11.5 (last month of that was fairly pointless as I was pregnant with next child and DC didn't seem interest so it was more me encouraging it). Midwife and doctor both suggested just going to water rather than follow on as DC didn't really take cows milk and it didn't really agree with her at that time.

DC 2. I went to about 13 / 14 months. He was a slimmer baby and it felt pretty natural conclusion.

DC3 was about 14 months. Bigger baby.

None of my kids were big milk drinkers once I stopped bfing.

I really do feel this was a natural age for all of them to stop regardless of what was suggested. I didn't feel that the number of ml's suggested on the formula packets matched what they were getting from me and to certainly breatfeeding the 1st child was more my needs than theirs and same for DC 3.

[rubyslippers]

3 years - sorry

but DD fed before bed and didn't have a feed in the night from around 6.5 months

[chipmonkey]

30 months with ds3. Probably not what you wanted to hear!

[DeathMetalMum]

22 months we stopped the morning feed last and about 21 months for the night feed havn't replaced it with anything. Dd just decided one night she didn't want a night feed and just went upstairs. We have stories and cuddles before bed.

[Llareggub]

DS2 will be 4 in APRil and he has a morning and evening feed and steals one midday if he gets the chance. He used a cup for drinks from around 10 months or so, mainly because he copied his big brother. I am hoping he will stop soon as I have been breastfeeding now for 6 years and 2 months!

[EvenIfYouSeeAPoppy]

(I may not really have the advice you're after, as I was feeding both of them to sleep until they were over 2... path of least resistance and all that)

[EvenIfYouSeeAPoppy]

dc1: mixed feeding for the first month due to difficult start, crap advice, breast refusal, difficult expressing etc. After that month we were able to move to exclusive bf and he never had another bottle after that. Bf exclusively to 6.5 months and went on bf until 4y 7 mo.

dc2: never had a bottle. Exclusive bf to 6.5 months and continued bf until just after his 3rd birthday.

In both cases it wasn't entirely self-weaning, but they had been losing frequency and interest - I just gave it a little push.

[howdoyouknowjenny]

My ds started using a cup for daytime feeds at 8 months. By 14 months all bf had been replaced by cups including bedtime. He had been night weaned prior to this, by offering a cup instead of bf, he wasnt very impressed with the offer so his morning bf increased substantially for a while.

[LittleBallOfFur]

20 months and he went on to a cup (still has a cup of milk now before bed at 26mo). I offered the cup before each bedtime feed for a while and eventually he preferred it (as he took more from the cup the milk I produced became less).

It was a lot easier than I'd anticipated in the end!

[cakebar]

9 months and 7 months ish. First one to a cup with a straw, second one to a sippy cup (just what each preferred). Took about 3 days for them to get used to it, during which time not much milk was drunk but they were both having a decent amount of food and water. Neither were drinking at night tho.

[teacher123]

DS is 8 mo and won't take a bottle. I have spent the last two months getting him to accept formula from a sippy cup in the daytime, we have cut out all daytime feeds unless extenuating circumstances. I still bf first and last thing and in the night if he needs it. A few times DH has put him to bed and he's accepted a sippy cup of formula at bedtime as well. He doesn't feed to sleep though, he sucks his thumb. I have stopped bf before naps to prepare him, and he settles at naptime after a few minutes of chatting to bunny! I am hoping to wean him completely in the new year, and not quite sure what to do about night feeds. He has never really accepted formula in the night, and I'd say he still wakes up for a feed half to two thirds of the time...

[TiggerWearsATriteSmile]

21 months.
She was taking a beaker during the day but just needed that last feed at night.

She wasn't even having a decent feed, it was just habit. I started to withdraw and letting DH take over. She fought for a little while but went from being completely dependant in me all the time to being a daddy's girl now.

If he is in the house she won't go to bed for me and calls for him. She'll be 2 next week.

[catyloopylou]

DS stopped at 17 months when he caught chicken pox and had a few spots in his mouth which seemed to make it painful to bf. He absolutely refused to put his mouth anywhere near my breast again. He never took a bottle and has never drunk milk from a cup, although will eat it with cereal. I digress.

By the time he stopped he was on morning and evening feeds only. We just carried on with his regular routine of bath, stories and bed, skipping the feed but offering him a cup of water instead. He went to bed with no problems.

I have to admit I wasn't prepared for him to give up both feeds at the same time and felt really sad about it, but great that someone else could then put him to bed.