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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

Can we start a 'club' for extended BFers?

189 replies

GuppinBuppin · 02/10/2006 20:25

DS just turned 1 last week. I just need some friendly support from other moms who have BF toddlers. I am definitely in the minority in RL!!

OP posts:
belgo · 03/10/2006 13:45

I do feed dd2 during the night. But she is very tiny - just 16 pounds at the age of one - and I think her stomach is very small. It's not something I'd broadcast, I don't want anyone saying that she'd sleep through if she was bottle fed. She is a good sleeper apart from wanting bf at night. It doesn't bother me.

dollyp · 03/10/2006 13:46

sorry that's a bit unclear - we're only part timers as she feeds so rarely and we may indeed get evicted from the club if she self weans. Presumably being pg makes the milk taste different?

belgo · 03/10/2006 13:48

I couldn't bf when I became pregnant, I still produced milk, but it left me very dehydrated. DD1 lost interest at about the same time, so I wonder if the milk did taste different.

PrettyCandles · 03/10/2006 13:52

Dollyp that sounds so nice . I'm not feeding any longer, but I consider myself part of the club because I did do so. And 18m is certainly extended bfing by UK standards!

Belgo, don't even let the thought cross your midn and worry you. Sleeping through the night is nothing to do with whether a child is ff or bf.

It was just curiousity on my part, as there do seem to be assumptions that if you extended bf you have a) a child who hoicks your shirt up in the middle of Tescos every ten minutes and b) no sleep because you're feeding every hour at night. But I suspect that most of the people who assume this have no experience of extended bf.

belgo · 03/10/2006 13:57

I read a newspaper article on bf rates in my are (65% of six day old babies are bf - that's not a lot is it?) and they recommend bf because 'it helps you regain your pre pregnancy figure - which will make the daddy happy too!' I couldn't help but feel slightly offended.

belgo · 03/10/2006 13:57

'in my area' - not 'in my are'

PrettyCandles · 03/10/2006 14:00

. Excuse me while I blow a raspberry. Bfing certainly did not help me regain my pre-preg figure. In fact, I would probably have lost the weight faster had I been ff and able therefore to go on a diet.

belgo · 03/10/2006 14:01

That's how I feel - bf makes me hungry, and it's very hard to diet.

Spidermama · 03/10/2006 14:08

My 4th baby is 19 months old and I'm still feeding him. I fed the first three until they were 2 and 3 and one one isolated occasion I fed a four year old who had fallen badly in the playground and was inconsolable. It felt like the most natural thing in the world and luckily for me there was only my family and my friend's family there so judgement of weirdos not an issue.

I don't call myself an extended breastfeeder though. Rather I prefer to see the others as curtailed breastfeeders. And given the world average age of a child when a woman stops feeding it is something like six, actually we're the normal ones.

cornflakegirl · 03/10/2006 14:10

Can I join? I'm feeding 16mo ds. I was originally aiming for a year - but can't imagine wanting to give up at the moment. I work full time and dh is a sahd, so I like the fact that there's something which is just for me and ds.

Most days he just feeds twice - more often at weekends, as he tends to ask. And sometimes at night if he wakes up, although he's pretty good at sleeping through.

We haven't had any negative comments, although I don't know how many people actually know. A couple of my friends find it very amusing when he feeds standing up while I'm sat on the sofa though - I guess because not many people feed toddlers in public it's not something you get to see that often

TambaTheVampireSlayer · 03/10/2006 14:14

I fed DS1 til her was 14 months and would have liked to carry on but I got pg again and he stopped all on his own. I love the close bond we had and still have.

Tinker · 03/10/2006 14:16

Still feeding my 16 month old.

princessmel · 03/10/2006 14:24

I'd like to join please!!
I'm still feeding my dd 2-3 times a day. First thing, bedtime and usually mid afternoon. I also feed her in the night when she wakes. On a good night ( no colds/ teeth coming etc) its only one feed.
My sil is feeding her son who's the same age as my dd (14months) but she's the only one in RL I know.

All my friends and family think I'm mad. Some think I'm strange, wierd etc. All used to ask me all the time "When are you going to stop" but have gradually stopped asking.

I think most people know I feed her. I don't advertise it but if its milk time and we're out then I feed her. In the shops, park, friends house, soft play. Its usually a quick feed if we're out though. She wants to get down again.

Only not-so-good thing I find about still feeding her is that I still feel a bit tense when I'm out for the evening as bf is the only thing that will settle her if she wakes. I've only ever had to come home a few times though so its not been too bad.

princessmel · 03/10/2006 14:25

Oh yeah, I'm at the thinnest I've been for ages too! That will put me off stopping! I won't be able to fit into my clothes if I get bigger!

Flamebat · 03/10/2006 14:26

Only at 7 months, but at my thinnest for 5 years... I think a lot of that is to do with whirlwind toddler, carrying DS in the sling a lot, and not having much time to sit still!!!

iamapieceofcheesecake · 03/10/2006 14:26

It's about the 29th post up from the bottom!

Marina · 03/10/2006 14:27

I am passing through to lend support .
Dd just self-weaned with arm-twists at 3.2. Ds self-weaned at 2.6 five years ago.
So I would have joined this club until a fortnight ago!

iamapieceofcheesecake · 03/10/2006 14:28

Sorry all, please ignore my last post, it should've gone on a different thread!

Spidermama · 03/10/2006 14:50

LOL iamapiece.

WelshBOOris · 03/10/2006 14:58

I bf DD for a measly 14 months and she didnt want me anymore

IF I hope they want to feed for even longer

Will be following this thread with

belgo · 03/10/2006 15:05

at all those mums who are at their thinnest ever!

harpsichordcarrier · 03/10/2006 15:14

well I am not at my thinnest ever but I am remarkably trim for someone who stuffs her face all day
god help me when I finally stop bf
sometime in the next ten years or so

WriggleJiggle · 03/10/2006 15:15

So what age does b/f become extended b/f iyswim?

belgo · 03/10/2006 15:16

Harpsi - I also stuff my face and maybe I'd be a lot bigger I I stopped BF. DOn't really want to find out!

belgo · 03/10/2006 15:17

Wriggle - I think it depends on what country you live in. In Belgium you're unusual to bf beyond 6 months, but in some Scandinavian countries I've heard mums bf alot longer.