How long can I keep feeding erratically like this?

[tory79]

I have fed ds (23m) twice in the last 3 days. He had his bedtime feed on Saturday, then again today (Monday)

He was feeding 3 times a day, morning, nap time and bedtime, up until a couple of weeks ago, when he stopped asking for milk in the morning, and I stopped offering. Nap time feed he has if we are in and he is going to sleep in his cot, but if we are out and about he just sleeps on the car/pushchair, this has been the case for a while. We are staying with my mum at the moment, and he loves being out to bed by her, and obviously he doesn't get fed if she does.

I am in two minds as to whether I should be winding down and stopping completely now. A part of me wants to, a part of me desperately doesn't want to. I'm perfectly happy to feed him as and when, but I'm wondering how long i will continue to have milk for if I am feeding so sporadically.

Sorry for the ramble.....

I think your milk will be so established now that you would have it for a good few weeks or even months if you gave up. therefore I guess it will be fine like this for a bit.

there is a much harder emotional angle to the question I guess as it would feel to me like a distinct winding down and I don't know how I'd feel about that. it may of course not be - there have been plenty of times when 17mo dd has seemed like finishing and has either wound down a bit or just picked up again.

I suspect that your milk will last as long as your DS wants it.

However, you might find he is on the path to self weaning and that could take days/weeks/months. My DD (now 26 months) and was a very keen nurser. She resumed feeding after I'd been away from her for 5 days/nights in hospital when I had virtually no milk left anyway due to pregnancy (I did see her in that time, but she wouldn't nurse in the hospital) and then she continued to nurse when my milk had completely dried up (again, due to the pregnancy) but she reduced her feeds and stopped quite quickly when my colostrum came back in a few weeks or so ago. She hasn't nursed for over 2 weeks now. I do feel a bit sad about it, I admit, even though I also felt that sometimes I had had enough.

Yes, I do feel that he is beginning to self wean, which I am glad about as I never wanted to make the decision for him. He no longer NEEDS it in the same way if you know what I mean.

I am so torn between encouraging this along and finally stopping, and wanting to carry on for as long as possible.