15 month old breastfeeding

[FellOutOfBedTwice]

Hi all

I'm still breast feeding my DD usually at night before bed, during the night (she sleeps on her own 7pm-2amish but then comes into our bed) and first thing in the morning. I work two days a week but when I'm at home she sometimes has an afternoon cuddle and a feed.

Basically just want a barameter of the usualness of this. I only have one friend who has BF and she stopped when her DD was 13 months and is saying maybe I should too as it will get harder the longer I leave it. A (in my opinion pretty crap) GP also gave me similar advice last week.

I've taken this advice with a pinch of salt- I like feeding her, she likes it and it's keeping her happy and it's good for her health.

However is there any truth in the older she gets/harder it is wisdom in people's experience?

At the moment the only reason I might feasibly give it up is to ttc number 2 which we would like to do next year- if BF was interfering with that I might try and wean her off the breast.

Interested to hear people's thoughts.

Yes your right that not many are still feeding at this age but. Both my children where still feeding this often at this age maybe even a little more.

If your both happy with it then as yousayit's really good for actually not just her health but yours two. So carry on, it really doesn't get harder to stop I think if anything it gets easier the older they are. You can distract them with something else, pot a feed off for a bit. Both mine naturally dropped the night feeds when they started sleeping through.

My oldest weaned in the early phase of my pregnancy with my second just before she turned 3 as my milk dried up. Some will happily dry nurse through pregnancy then tandum nurse. But I felt the age gap was big enough not to need to do that.

I was lucky to be around a larger group of women in real life who had fed for longer as I did my breastfeeding helper training while prangranet with my youngest. But you'll fine many online communities of you don't know anyone in real life. made long term breastfeeding much more normalized for me where as before I had felt like a bit of the odd one out. Good luck and I hope everything keeps going well as it sounds like you have a lovely bond with your daughter.

Glad i found this! I'm still feeding my 14mo and everyone keeps telling me to stop. Tonight I've let my DH do night duty but DD is very upset and just keeps crying for a feed so we've all been awake for hours! Not sure the weaning pain is worth it so I'm just going to keep letting her nurse till she gives up on her own.

I'm still feeding my 13mo and I find people already think that's odd. I've no idea when I'll stop but I'd like it to be his choice - however I do worry it won't be for years yet! I only feed at night and he's a terrible sleeper, he's just distraught if he's not fed.

I'm a believer in bf til one of you wants to stop. And that's the only good reason to stop against a sea of good reasons to carry on. It's no body else's decision to make etc etc
Bf my 27mo as a I type as he woke early from his nap.
It gives him security and comfort as well as the regular documented benefits. Plus it's just so snugly.

I still breastfeed my 16 month old and no plans to stop. If you are on Facebook there are some good supportive groups for breastfeeding older babies.

I breastfeed my 2 year old. The WHO guidelines advise breastfeeding for 2 years and beyond.
I'm a big believer in normalising full/natural term breastfeeding. The natural weaning age is between 2 and 7 years old. It's whatever you and your child are comfortable with.

I bf dc1 to about 18 months - by then I was v pg with dc2 and it was sore for me - I weaned her using distraction mainly and it was painless. Dc2 bf for nearly 3.5 years and completely weaned herself with no drama. By then end it was occasional and bedtime/waking only for both of them. Pretty much no one would have known that they were still bf so it was never up for discussion.

I think most people would not have me down as an extended breast feeder as there's a cliched image that simply isn't true.

I'm now pg with dc3 and guess I could feed even longer! What they want/need and what I'm comfortable with will be the only deciding factors.

Bollocks does it get harder as they get older! They all wean themselves of if you leave it long enough, it gets easier as they get older and need it less. I bf-ed dd to 22 months. Bought her a new bed and duvet and introduced a pillow - she was so excited she didn't want to bf she wanted to go straight to bed - didn't mention bf for a week and then she forgot about it. Ds was 2 (26 months I think). Didn't wean himself but was down to not much and I told him boobies were empty now, it's all gone, and that was it. Lots of people are a bit anti bf after a year because of ignorance of the benefits, or general being a twat, but don't worry about that, the WHO know better than some knob-end who just feels uncomfortable with it.

I breast fed DD until 3.1yo when my milk run dry because I was pregnant. Dry suckling didn't work for either of us so it was a mutual decision. I thought she would start again 10 weeks later when DS arrived but she seemed to have forgotten how to latch. I do feel a bit bad that circumstances forced her to stop.

I a, now bfing 13mo DS. I don't know when he will stop and I don't care. In a few months I might introduce some rules so that he doesn't ask to bf all day long and by 2yo I might try to get him to sleep through as all that worked well with DD.

In RL I know of one other person who bfed her DCs till around 3yo but she is Japanese and they seem to have a more be friendly culture.

I've only just stopped BFing my 14 month old, but that's only because I'm 6 months pregnant and it hurts, as well as DD seeming to not like the taste any more. I totally plan to tandem fed though once the new baby is here.

Also found this :)

So nice to read this. I'm still BF DD (14 moths) and have had the feeling some people expected me to just stop at 1 years. I hate the pressure, and it really affected me for a couple days, I tried to get DD to feed less, but she was so unhappy with that I thought sod it, she's my baby, I'm going to do what seems right for her.

I'm still BF my 17 month old DS. Apart from the night feeds (sometimes 3 times!), I'm happy to continue for now. My husband is supportive, but I guess some of my friends and family would be aghast if they knew I was still feeding him. Society needs to change, extended BF should be more the norm.