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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

When did you give up Breastfeeding, and why?

56 replies

amri · 26/03/2013 20:59

Hi,

I've been breastfeeding my daughter for 6 months - 4 months exclusively, and introduced a bedtime bottle as part of her routine from 4 months on. If you had asked me before she came along how long I'd like to feed for, I would have said 6 months, but I don't feel quite ready to give up (though part of me would like to, mainly for selfish reasons!) Will be going back to work in August when baby is coming up to 10 months, so will probably keep at it until then, in combination with BLW. It's so convenient in many ways, and i'm enjoying the cuddles which are happening less and less these days! Also can't really face washing bottles, the one-per-night is enough as it is, goddamn Dr. Browns bottles and their little parts :/

Just wondering really how long you breastfed for, and what your reasons were for giving up?

OP posts:

LilRedWG · 26/03/2013 21:03

DD didn't feed, so I expressed for her and bottlefed her my milk for just over three months, which totally exhausted me.

DS I fed until a week before his second birthday. I stopped because I was going overseas to visit my sister without DS and the time kindof seemed right, although I still found it hard. Two months later he still asks for milk, although isn't too gutted when I tell him it's gone. I miss it.

How about sticking with the morning breastfeed when you go back to work?

LilRedWG · 26/03/2013 21:04

Oh, I also said six months initially, then it went up to 12...... etc etc.

Enjoy it. :)

BimbaBirba · 26/03/2013 21:08

I'm still breastfeeding my 13 month old and I'm not planning to give up any time soon because it's easy, convenient, good for both of us, doesn't cost me anything (money-wise and effort-wise), I enjoy the time spent with him while he's feeding. It would break his heart to stop and I don't see one single reason why I should. I'm at the stage where I can go for hours without feeding him if he's at nursery and my boobs can cope alright so the freedom consideration doesn't even come into play.
Does this make sense?

GreatBags · 26/03/2013 21:08

I thought I'd do a year but went to two. Then stopped when we moved house more because it fell by the wayside. By the time you go back to work you should find that your boobs will be able to cope with a feed in the morning and/or evening only without getting engorged, if this is what you want to do. I am currently bfeeding dd2 who is 20 months, but only in the morning.

Willdoitinaminute · 26/03/2013 21:26

22 months because always had plenty of support from DH
Gave up when I felt it was right for DS and me. He accepted it quickly although would only have milk out of tommee tippe nature bottle which he then took far longer to separate from.

Booyhoo · 26/03/2013 21:33

i gave up at 20 months because i realised that DS wasn't actually asking for it anymore and it was only out of habit that i was doing it once in the morning and once before bed. i really was ready to give up though and wanted to end it. i cant really say why i wanted to stop but i just felt i needed to. i found myself groaning when it came to feeding. i wasn't enjoying it and when i twigged that ds wasn't asking for it i thought it would be worth a try at stopping so i just didn't feed him one morning and he never once looked/asked for it so i know he was happy to stop.

i found going back to work whilst BFing was fine. i had a great CMer who was near my work and on days where i hadn't been able to express enough or had forgotten to pack it she was happy for me to come on my lunch break and feed him. he was 9 months at the time and on solid meals so it wouldn't have been a big issue for him to have missed it but it was great to know i was welcome to come and feed him.

i did not like expressing though. i wasn't very good at it and never really got enough.

Booyhoo · 26/03/2013 21:35

i had aimed for 6 months and when i reached that i aimed for 1 year and then just kept going because it was not a hassle.

leedy · 26/03/2013 23:06

Just past two with DS1 - I was pregnant and didn't really want to tandem feed, my supply was tanking anyway, and he was already down to just bedtime and (I think) losing interest somewhat when we stopped. I also continued after I went back to work at 10 months: just fed morning and evening (I expressed a lunchtime bottle for a couple of months but he lost interest in it after he was about a year and I was happy to stop being hooked up to Robobaby). Definitely not a hassle for us either, I could even go away for a weekend when he was a toddler and just resume when I got back.

DS1 is just four months, so who knows...

MousyMouse · 26/03/2013 23:07

at 18m
because I needed my sleep back, working full time and being milk bar all night...

BlissfullyIgnorant · 26/03/2013 23:09

DS was 8 months - he wanted to do more interesting things than look at my armpit.
Dd was about the same age and equally bored.
I wasn't going to force it.

ceeveebee · 26/03/2013 23:14

I bf my twins until 10.5 months (not exclusively). Had to stop before going back to work - by that stage we were down to just morning feed but it used to take well over an hour for them both. Couldn't tandem feed anymore as they just wriggled and fought and DS starting biting really hard.

So just didn't have the time to continue in the mornings as well as getting ready for work and getting them ready. It broke my heart the first morning when I gave them a bottle instead but they didn't seem to notice

TheEasterBunnyVsTheKids · 26/03/2013 23:17

I aimed for 6 weeks, and 11 months later we're still going strong!!

Ds took to it easily, much easier than either DDs and he settles well, so I'll keep doing it.

I also love the cuddles at bedtime!

Startail · 26/03/2013 23:18

Because DD2 could feed standing up without a chair.

PogoBob · 26/03/2013 23:22

Still breastfeeding DD at 31 months as well as 12 week old DS.

DD is a total bib monster who fights any hint of stopping but we are currently night weaning.

Startail · 26/03/2013 23:23

ok she's probably taller than me and way more glamorous

Also I don't do attachment parenting, DD just liked BFing.

BuntyCollocks · 27/03/2013 04:40

A year, only stopped because I wanted another baby, and despite dropping to one feed a day I still had no periods. Stopped that feed, period back a few weeks later, and fell after the next one.

He wasn't arsed about feeding by that point, which was sad.

KatAndKit · 27/03/2013 08:31

I aimed for 6 months, after a couple of weeks I was only aiming for 3 months, I got to 6 months, I kept going, I'm now nearly at 12 months and nowhere near giving up yet! I'll carry on for a few more months but with a view to giving up at 18 months in order to be able to go away on my honeymoon for 4 days and then try for another baby. It's nothing to do with attachment parenting either for me - it's milk and cuddles. I haven't BFed exclusively, after about 7 months it became harder and harder for me to express any decent amount so he has formula if I am out for the evening.

Iggly · 27/03/2013 08:47

With ds, at around 26 months. I went back to work when he was 15 months and kept feeds up. Feeding dropped right down to evenings only by the time we stopped.
With dd I'm still going - she's 16 months. I went back to work when she was 9 months and fed mornings, bedtimes and nights on my work days and I feed once in the day when at home.

You could still keep BF when you go back to work if you choose.

Eskino · 27/03/2013 08:59

bimba you said it so well.

Ds1 bfed to 2yo
Ds2 bfed for 6 months as I went back to work
Ds3 bfed til 14 months, just bedtime feed in the end, he went off it when I became pregnant
Dd. 9 weeks old. I'll bf for as long as she wants

Just to point out there can be differences even in same family.

willyoulistentome · 27/03/2013 09:14

1Year with ds1. We were down to just one morning feed a day by then and he was having loads of solids and cows milk too. He was quite happy to stop and so was I by then. Ds2 for 18 months as he wanted to carry on.

Beatrixpotty · 27/03/2013 09:19

7 m with both,co-incided with weaning,increasingly more frequent night feeds which were exhausting,going back to work in one case,and wanting to actively TTC again.Easy adjustment and neither showed any signs of missing it so eased my guilt!

weebarra · 27/03/2013 09:27

DS1 was 6 weeks, it just wasn't working for us and I was very sad about it.
I educated myself a lot more for DS2's arrival and fed him till he was over 2. Stopped in the end as he told me there wasn't much left and kept messing about. He gave it up no problem.
Currently pregnant with DC3, will feed as long as we're both happy with it.

Zara1984 · 28/03/2013 11:03

Could you not stick with some bf/some ff? Lots of mums I know do morning and evening feeds after childcare. Will she take a less fiddly bottle eg Avent or Tommee Tippee?

Quite unexpectedly, I stopped at 2 weeks! I planned to bf for 1 year +. I was devastated when DS refused to latch from the start/seemed terrified of my boobs and screamed heartbreakingly whenever I tried to feed him (but loved bottles!) It was awful. Like, really fucking awful, the worst thing I have ever experienced and made me feel suicidal. Every support person and bf professional i saw/hired was at a complete loss as to why he wouldn't feed. Would do labour 10x over than go through that again. So DS was fully FF from 2 weeks old! Well he never latched at all really, so perhaps I never bf at all!

I really hope I can bf the next one! Again I plan to feed for 1 year +, but my actual goal is to get DC2 to latch with ease and get to 6 weeks at least. Maybe I have no control over that. But next time I think I will be quicker to switch to formula if it's similar to the horror show. If DC2 is also a boob hater like DS I think I will FF almost immediately.

Pleased to read on this thread of all the mums who have bf for a long time. Because I went through such hell I try to give practical support wherever I can to my mum friends who want to bf long-term and, on the flip side, to those who hate it or have to stop and want to move to FF!

MyNameIsAnAnagram · 28/03/2013 11:17

Stopped at 18m. I was very stressed with work and also poorly with sinusitis which I'd had for a couple of months. Stopped purely for me and wish I hadn't.

heymammy · 28/03/2013 11:23

We bfed until 9 months (I was aiming for 12 months). Bfeeds gradually turned to ffeeds for a few reasons. At around 6 months ds became impossible to feed in public...always bobbing on and off and noseying around so I started taking a bottle out instead.

Soon after, bedtime turned into a farce with ds nursing on and off for up to 3 hours and still not falling asleep (and he was furious about it) so DP gallantly took over the routine while I hid put the DDs to bed, so the bedtime feed became a ff.

Night feeds soon turned to ff as well when I realised that ds slept for longer after DP gave him a bottle than after I'd bf him , then he was usually full up come morning time after ff 2/3 times during the night so he no longer wanted his morning feed.

That was quite cathartic

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