Stopping breastfeeding at 18 months

[CarraigAlasdair]

My little girl has just turned 18 months, since March we've been down to 1 breastfeed per day in the mornings. Lately she's been showing signs she's ready to stop, not coming to be put on the breast or wanting to play with her toys rather than have a feed. I also have a run of night shifts and long days coming up (busy NHS job) where it would be easier to not have to pump before I go to sleep (there's never time to pump whilst on shift).

I was just wanting to hear about others experiences of stopping. Will it make my hormones go a bit mad? I tend to be quite sensitive to hormone changes (bad hyperemesis pregnancy and have never been able to take hormonal contraception due to crazy emotional hormonal reactions). Also, since we've been down to 1 feed per day I never get engorged but is there a risk of mastitis when you stop? If so I was thinking it might be better if I put it off until after the night shifts are out of the way! Is it better to reduce gradually, every couple of days at first? I last fed her Fri morning.

Bump

I stopped at 14 months as it was just a top up feed after a bottle and I didn't become engorged or suffer with mastitis. DS was naturally reducing amount after cold season and I just stopped one day. Not sure if that helps - I think you just have to go for it. I felt a little sad at times afterwards but I wouldn't say it was a hormone thing. Good luck!

We stopped when DS was 20 months. Had been down to one feed, then one morning I brought him in to feed but he just toddled off to play instead!

I was very emotional (as I am at a lot of things ), but I think at that point he was feeding so little anyway that I had no engorgement or leakage at all.

I stopped feeding my one year old 2 weeks ago. She was having 2 feeds a day then down to one feed for a week then nothing. We were both fine! I did feel a bit hormonal, kind of grumpy like PMS but not for long. No engorgement at all and I am very prone to blocked ducts

I went down from one feed a day to one feed every few days at about 17 months before stopping. I had no trouble with engorging, and found despite being pregnant it took ages for my milk to dry up completely (it had reduced with pregnancy). I wanted to stop, DS less so, and some days I could get away without feeding other days I couldn't - gradually the days without feeds outnumbered those with.

I stopped breastfeeding exactly when DD turned 18 months. It took us around 10 days to teach her not to wake up in the middle of the night and ask for breast. No breast in the day either. She was moved to another room to sleep and when she was waking at night, DH was going to her to put her back to sleep. She gradually forgot about the breast and I guess she didn't even need it as her diet was quite diverse. Every evening I was squeezing my breasts in the shower and no engorgement happened. It finally stopped producing milk in a few weeks. After I stopped breastfeeding, my sexual desire came back (it had almost entirely gone after DD's birth).

I went from two or more feeds a day to zero in three weeks when DD was 18mo. Stopped all but morning and night, then night, then morning.

I was a bit emotional for a few days, and I had really painful achy boobs for a while. Not engorged or anything like that, just aching.

But it was fine.

Thank you all. Glad to hear no one suffered much in the way of engorgement and I suppose I'll see how the emotions go over the next few days. I am feeling a bit sad about it, I enjoyed our quiet morning snuggly feed. But practically I know it's the right time for me and she definitely seems ready to stop. She hasn't seemed to miss it or wanted it at all over the last couple of days.

I stopped at 15mo and was also a bit sad about it, but it was very easy.

Have a snuggle anyway OP! We snuggle with teddies and books and sometimes I climb into his cot bed for a cuddle x