Does he want to stop breastfeeding?

[nj79]

Hi

My baby is now 15 months old and is still breastfeeding once a day before bed. Apart from the first 3 months, which looking back was one continuous feed, he hasn't been a 'milky' baby. He gradually dropped feeds of his own choosing until we were down to 2 feeds by 8 months. I used to worry sick that he wasn't having enough milk but I had to accept that you can't make a baby breastfeed. He dropped his morning feed at 13 months.

After not experiencing any problems since the early days, the last month has been tough. Doesn't matter what position I try his teeth hurt me when feeding and now during the last week or so he's started biting. Sometimes he hurts me to the extent that I put him in his cot without much of a feed and he still sleeps through no problem. When he bites he giggles and just messes about - I don't think he actually needs the milk.

I'm starting to wonder if its his way of saying he's ready to stop feeding? I am 100% happy to stop feeding if he is, we've had a good innings. It's just that we'll have say two bad nights, followed by a night where he takes a really long feed without any biting (although his teeth still rub), and he's very contented. I'm confused! He's never bitten when he's dropped previous feeds, he's just refused to feed and that's that.

Any advice gratefully received.

Thanks,

Nia

I only managed to breast feed for 6 months, so I hope I can be helpful. As a comparison, my daughter went down to one bottle a day from about 12 months. I am told this is normal as they are getting sufficient sustenance from meals etc. Maybe is the same for bf's?

My 1 year old has dropped from4-5 day feeds to 2-3 quite quickly , I think she is weaning herself , I guess at this age they are not needing as much

My 1 year old has dropped from4-5 day feeds to 2-3 quite quickly , I think she is weaning herself , I guess at this age they are not needing as much

Could he be teething? My 15mo had a nursing strike this week where he refused to bf for 3 days and when he did try he bit. I could see that his gums were swollen and painful, now the teeth have broken through he's back to bfing as normal (about 3-4 times in 24hrs - never slept through though!).

You could try the 'don't offer don't refuse' technique if you're ready to stop?

I'm not so with ds2 this week I carried on offering it and then he latched back on when his teeth weren't as painful.

Can you just offer each night, but not push it if he's not bothered?

My twins are older, but have recently self weaned. My son cut down to a bed time feed and occasional night feeds, and then started to giggle as soon as he started the bedtime feed He started sleeping through, leaving just the giggly hardly-started bedtime feed and a few days later we just stopped (by which time he just thought 'boobies' were hilarious and bedtime was one big round of giggles and pointing at my boobs).

His twin sister also started sleeping through, and then started skipping bedtime feeds so she was only feeding every couple of days. One night she latched on, and then looked at me surprised and told me my boob was broken. She tried the other side and declared that one broken too. That was the end of that.

What I am trying to say through my story is that as long as the biting isn't too annoying, can you let him lead? If he cuts down enough, then your supply will decrease until your boobs are declared broken (!). This is gentle on him, and gentle on your boobs :)

Good luck!

Kellymom.com has great info about nursing strikes and nursing manners etc.

Thanks all. He is teething, but has teethed lots of times before and it's never resulted in biting! He fed a little tonight, giggled a lot and then started biting again...! Will just see how the next week goes then - think the dont offer don't refuse approach may be the way to go until they 'break'! So when he does stop fully, do I need to give him milk in a cup before bed or won't he need any milk at all?

Do you want to stop bf?

You may find that once the new teeth have appeared the teeth grazing / biting stops .

Have you had your 12 month check with HV? They can advise on milk intake. DD (now 2) still has 240ml growing up milk each night, as well as a yoghurt & cheese each day. Infants need at least 500ml fluid per day.

At this he its more likely to be a nursing aversion or strike than weaning.

It may just be a phase.

Re milk of you stop feeding he needs 12oz a day but that can include cheese/yog etc and milk on cereal in the morning etc so he need to drink milk.

You could offer am up of milk before bed but he doesn't need it.

I'd guess teething. WRT to the biting I have always stopped feeds as soon as the DC bites (I have 3). It's a non-negotiable. DS (who is a lot younger) was just biting (for the first time) recently then two teeth appeared at once.

I'm trying to remember what happened when the girls weaned, I was pregnant both times which drove it to a certain extent. DD1 just stopped, she wasn't interested in feeds in the way you described, she was 15 months and I was 6 months prregnant. DD2 was a lot older (nearly 3) and so I had a running commentary about my milk supply. She wasn't feeding every day and so my milk supply dropped quite quickly. She wanted to feed but 'your boobs aren't working' I was told and so we stopped after she tried a few days and got nothing, she was upset initally but now has forgotten she had milk relatively recently. DD1 got cows milk instead of BM, DD2's last feed was in the morning so we had some bananas in the bedroom for her to have instead because she woke up hungry. Both still have milk at breakfast and bedtime and they are 4&5.

My DD bites and giggles when she was teething , and wouldn't feed , it could be teething and a strike

Sounds like it could well be a teething strike then...We don't have 1 year checks with the HV, only 18 month ones. He eats plenty of cheese, cereal and yogurt and always has a huge cup of milk in the morning. I guess I just can't imagine him not having milk of some sort before bed because the bedtime feed has always marked the end of a day.

I've really enjoyed breastfeeding but don't want to get to stage where I'm dreading every feed, will see if there's any improvement within the next 2 weeks. Can't believe I'm back on the Lansinoh! However, if he's ready to stop then that suits me fine.