Those of you who breast feed toddlers when do you/did you feel its time to stop?

[MrsWho]

Just wondering when you feel its time (ie if the child didn't wean themselves)

21 months, when I had to go away overnight for the first time. We were down to just one feed anyway, and he didn't seem bothered about stopping, so finishing bf turned out to be easy IME. Another one here who felt they noticed it FAR more than the baby!

Blooming heck, my ds is 17 months and nowhere near one feed a day. In fact I think he would feed all day if I let him. Dh is beginning to think it's weird, but I have no idea how we would stop even if we wanted to.

I don't know either - Izzy is 2 and 3 months and though it has slowed down it hasn't stopped. Generally we are on 2 -3 feeds a day - though she did skip a whole day a week or so ago. She has a nasty temperature/virus thing at the moment and isn't eating and has been attached to me for a lot of the day and I have felt really thankful that I'm still BF. When I thought she was close to stopping a while ago I felt quite sad - I guess neither of us are ready yet

Same here Feenie, almost 17 months and feeding almost as much as when he was tiny

MrsApron-Thats what i meant- how it feels to you (you always get people who think its weird full stop, those who want to ban breast feeding etc )

To answer the does it feel weird - no, not at all - you're not suddenly BF a 2 year old, you're feeding that tiny baby whose just a bit bigger now Sometimes I do feel a bit self-conscious - but only if I think about it too much - I've decided that it's nobody elses business.

I sometimes found it weird

I sometimes found it weird ds came out of my vestibule and is here at all

doesn't mean there is anything wrong with it, just one of those OMG kind of moments

My DD1 self weaned at 25months when i was 2months pregnant.. then i thought - if she was independent enough to make that decision then the time was right!

Opps wrong button - I found it really diff to decide when to stop - with my youngest two it was when they both started to want more than 'breakfast and tea' ie wanted 'breakfast, mid morning coffee, lunch, afternoon tea, and supper' at about 2.5 years but if I had my way would carry on until they were 5 (spaniel ears here I come

It never really felt weird tbh.
I had a tiny wobble just before dd1 turned three (i mean THREE!) but I soon got over it.
tandem feeding was a little weird but I tried not to look and it was fine

determination ... snap!! Dd1 self weaned at 24 months - though I was only about one month pregnant. I have to confess I wasn't remotely sad as I was feeling so sick it was all I could do to stop throwing up on top of her each morning when she was feeding!

Dd2 is 26 months, I'm not (yet!!!) pregnant, and she's still feeding once a day. I'm happy carrying on till one or other of us feels the need to stop.

I fed ds until he was 22m - by then it was no mor than once a day anyway - I was briefly tandem feeding but found that very hard tbh - DD was born when ds was 20m.

DD is 13m now and is very clear that she wants to continue bf'ing still feeds frequently day or night - as I am not pg and not intending to be - I don't know when we will stop feeding completely , it will depend a lot on how dd progresses this year and whether she makes it out of our bed and into own room. If she is like ds then the process will be gradual as feeds are dropped and other comforts are found, new bedtime routines etc.

I feel comfortable with extended feeding - it is so beneficial to baby and me and can be very useful. fed dd on crowded commuter train last week - much to relief of entire carriage i think as she was screaming and then pomptly feel asleep - but have to admit i do not like feeding in public now as dd is size of av. 2yo already and very inquisitive so it is difficult to be discrete

DS is still going at 28 months and shows no sign of stopping (I think he may be sickening for something as he seemed to want to nurse all morning today when he's normally a first thing in the morning and last thing at night guy.

i stopped bf lo when she was was 19 mths old and 16 wks pg. Had an open mind to tandem feeding or stopping if she wanted too if it got to painful during pg and one wk at 15 wks just got to painful for me so dropped mornign feed and a week later she did not ask for booby. Had a big cry but glad it stopped the way it did as she was happy with it. If i was not pg think she would have carried on quite a bit longer but did not have much there and think taste had changed. Looking forward to feeding my next one as bf was a lovely realationship we had.

last time, 22 months. i think my milk supply had started dwindling as it was hurting when i fed her. so one day i said that now she is a big girl she doesnt need booby anymore and she just accepted it. she asked a couple times the next day then didnt really mention it again. it was obviously the right time for both of us. still miss it though 7 months on...

I'm really glad this thread is here. Ds is 2.6 and I sometimes have that OMG, I'm feeding a little boy moment, but it passes the moment I consider the benefits and how much he gets from it. We have morning and evening feeds and during the day when I am at home (4 days a week) but I know it's there if he needs it at other times (like when we ended up in hospital with a hideous vomiting bug and I was so grateful that I had b/milk to give him).

I have assumed that he will self wean when I get pregnant, but we have been trying for nearly a year now with no joy so it could be a while yet!!

I weaned ds at 14mths - I had an eye infection which required heavy duty do not take while breastfeeding antibiotics, and took it as a chance to stop. DS did not even notice (but now, at 4, is very interested in the fact that he used to drink milk from my breasts!)

I fed ds till he was 4. It didnt feel weird but I'd had enough. Fed dd till she was 3 and I'd had enoguh. Not weird when I was doing it but now if I look at children that age and imagine feeding them that feels weird iyswim.

(P.S. I was right -- ear infection!)