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Infant feeding

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

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Original poster

How long did you breastfeed til?

162 replies

GimmeDaBoobehz · 20/11/2013 20:51

Including mixed feeding, if you did it.

Just curious really.

Can mention all those you have BF'd.

I am at 8 months so far and as long as she doesn't start biting, I'm hoping I can get another 3 or 4 months in.

Sorry, being nosy.

OP posts:

Zappo · 21/11/2013 20:19

This has been such a lovely non judgmental thread- such a contrast to many of the BF threads on here.

TheThirdHare · 22/11/2013 13:22

Yes Zappo, lovely thread indeed! There is a very angry thread on AIBU at the moment (woman feeling sad at friends not bf) and I always find it really upsetting to see how much anguish the topic of bf can cause!

Thanks all you ladies for sharing the details of your menstrual cycle with me , what a mixed bag of experiences! I guess there is no telling when my period will return then... I'm sure I'll be complaining about it when it arrived, but for now I actually quite miss it!

VisualiseAHorse · 22/11/2013 14:46

Are you mix feeding thirdhare?

I mix fed for the first 10-12 weeks (70% Breastfed I reckon) and got my period back in the third week! Lochia stopped after just 10 days I think.

I would really love to EBF next time round.

TerroroftheAutumns · 22/11/2013 14:50

8 years so far, including 3 years 2 months of tandem feeding. I had 6 months off during one pregnancy, so 8.5yrs since I started.

JugglingFromHereToThere · 22/11/2013 14:55

6 mths off Terror ? You slacker

(I'm joking of course)

Liveinthepresent · 22/11/2013 15:13

DD 13 months
DS am 5 months in and it's going too fast - I won't have a DC3 so hope I can continue for upto about a year like i did with DD even though I will be back at work.

TerroroftheAutumns · 22/11/2013 15:14

. It's almost a decade of ttc/bf/pg or some combination of them now. Quite a large number of years of changing nappies too!

TinyTear · 22/11/2013 15:25

22 months and counting

rosiedays · 22/11/2013 16:41

Yes a lovely lovely thread. So many inspirational ladies :)
4 months so far aiming for 2 years.

VerySmallSqueak · 22/11/2013 16:50

Just a few weeks with DD1. The HV had a very hard time persuading a very upset me to switch to bottle feeding because I wasn't producing enough milk and we had tried everything we could to increase supply.

DD2 I only did a couple of days before I realised it just wasn't going to work for me.

But I have two beautiful healthy children so I soon lost the feeling that I had somehow failed.

JugglingFromHereToThere · 22/11/2013 17:06

The first few days are the most important I've heard Squeak

VerySmallSqueak · 22/11/2013 17:13

Thank you Juggling .

I loved breastfeeding and so did DD. I had no problems with soreness or anything like that and she knew exactly what she was doing.

Such a pity it wasn't to be, but it couldn't be helped.

PurplePidjin · 22/11/2013 17:29

One year three days and counting. I aimed for a week, then a month, then 6 months... Seems a bit of a waste of effort to switch to bottles now! We're down to breakfast and bedtime although he's a bit off kilter atm through teething/cold combo so we've sneaked a couple of extras in. Night weaning was the best thing i ever did though, we need our sleep

My mum's flabbergasted having dried up at 6 weeks, for my ILs it's totally normal - sil went to 15m (natural term) and 2y (encouraged) with hers.

No period yet but i had the implant at 3m pp.

DXBMermaid · 22/11/2013 18:01

Have been Ebf'ing my PFB for almost 6 months now. Going very well despite initial issues which turned out to be a tongue tie. She also needed an adjustment at the chiropractor due to vacuum delivery. I was lucky as there is a fantastic lactation consulant just down the road from me.

I told myself I would reasses every 3 months aiming for 12. Before reading this thread I hadn't really considered going on much longer then 12 months. Would love to hear some reason for doing so and also interested in hearing how many feeds a day you are doing by that stage.

TheRaniOfYawn · 22/11/2013 18:15

The main reason is that the recommendation is to breastfeed for a minimum of 2 years, with 6 months of nothing but milk and then a minimum of 18 months alongside food. Why? It's the appropriate milk for a human, so what we evolved to drink until we reach an age where we don't need any sort of milk. It helps develop the shape of a child's mouth properly. It helps to back up a child's immune system once the child is at nursery. It has lots of stuff that just isn't in formula or cow's milk. It has stuffv in it that helps calm an agitated toddler when they are on the verge of a tantrum. And toddlers seem to need the closeness of their mother's breasts no matter how they are fed- I've seen all of my formula feeding friends with an 18 month old with their hands down their bra.

I found that as my toddler grew more independent, breastfeeding was a way for her to check base and would give her the confidence to go further and explore more.

IShallCallYouSquishy · 22/11/2013 18:19

I'm so pleased to hear about so many extended feeders that, quite rightly, aren't ashamed of feeding for so long. Society can be so judgemental of extended breast feeding.

I fed DD until 12.5 months however I was ready to stop then. She's 18 months now and I'm currently 26 weeks pregnant with DC2. I am aiming to feed for at least as long.

I know my mum in particular is a bit about breastfeeding and I've already had the comments of "how's DD going to react seeing another hanging off you?" Great support there mum thanks.

DXBMermaid · 22/11/2013 18:39

Thanks theraniofyawn.
I had heard about the 2 year recommendation, but thought that was for underdeveloped countries (not sure why I thought that).

I am very happy to be able to do this for my baby and hope that I will be able to do the same for any future babies.

jamaisjedors · 22/11/2013 19:11

DS1 I fed til a year although he had a bottle during the day when I was at work so my supply dropped - for us (DH very supportive) a year was the longest of anyone we knew so we were happy to stop then.

DS2 self-weaned gradually at around 4 (just cut down and then stopped asking). He is now 6 and says he can remember it and that the milk was delicious!

I went away several times for work over the 4 years, for up to a week at a time, and it didn't seem to make any difference to him.

I know very few people IRL who have fed for so long although my beauty therapist is still feeding her 2.5 yr old but didn't manage to feed his younger sibling.

TerroroftheAutumns · 22/11/2013 20:04

My eldest two fed until just before they were 4 years old. They were a lot more comfortable with it than me, and I would happily have stopped before they were 3! Why did we do it so long? Well, in the beginning you often take things one hour or day at a time. Turns out, that applies just as well at 12 months plus. They still wanted to, it was still benefitting them emotionally, nutritionally and immunologically, so no particular day seemed like a good day to cut it out... therefore we continued.

The feeding patterns of the toddlers varied quite a bit depending on how much I was working, whether I was roegnant (and therefore refusing to feed them at night because of tiredness/nipple soreness), how much they slept, whether they were ill etc, etc.

In the end I negotiated with my older ones that they would stop. They took some persuading bribery.

My youngest is 16 months and prefers to feed about 12 times a day, including at night sometimes. All four have been like that at this age. The only thing that drives me nuts is the fondling/twiddling. I don't always want to feed her every time I sit down at home either, so sometimes I distract her. She can easily manage 12 hrs without me if I'm not around.

I do totally love not having periods.

BlueC2 · 22/11/2013 22:00

Well I'm still feeding DS1 who turns 18mo next week and is a proper guzzle pants...he just loves his milk! Only snag is I am 6 weeks pregnant and would prefer to avoid tandem feeding so wondering how I will ever wean him as he loves it so much...he only has two feeds a day now but clearly loves them lots and I will feel so mean saying no when I need to! Well done to everyone who BFs it can be hard work at times but is so rewarding seeing your LOs so happy and satisfied...I'll never forget little man in his milky drunk state when he was so small :) precious times!

TheRaniOfYawn · 23/11/2013 08:58

I think that pregnancy is the easiest time to wean as it affects your supply so much that most children cut down dramatically. DD was a boob fiend who feed every 2 hours when I got pregnant but by the second trimester she was down to mornings, evenings and moments of crisis and I could have weaned her without to much trouble if I'd wanted to.

HalleLouja · 23/11/2013 09:24

DS 13 months
DD 24 months.

Badgerwife · 23/11/2013 09:27

DD1 28 months and still going
DD2 is only 5 months so it's still early days
So I'm tandem feeding at the moment

Both ebf
No plan to stop although I am hoping that dd1 will want to stop some time in the next 6 months! She loves it though and draws so much comfort from it so I will leave it to her to decide.

HalleLouja · 23/11/2013 11:05

Forgot to add my first was born at 34 weeks and was in scbu for nearly 2 weeks. My second was at 36 weeks and could feed from the off.

NoComet · 23/11/2013 11:24

I'm not supposed to say, DD2 gets very cross, but let's say we agreed double figures would be silly.

But nothing like every day from being 7 or 8

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