Mums who breastfed for 12-24 months?

[brookshelley]

Two DCs, both breasted for 15-16 months. I was sick of it by the end and encouraged weaning by not offering and giving cow's milk and more food.

I feel like the majority of mums I know either

• mostly/exclusively formula fed and think BF was a huge hassle
• extended BF until 2-3-4 years old

Are there mums who are in the middle? BF for longer than average but were ready to give up in baby's second year? I don't really have anyone in real life I can relate to.

[TeddyIsaHe]

Babies don’t need to drink milk past one, so don’t panic too much if he doesn’t have it. Just make sure he’s getting other portions of dairy (full fat yogurt, cream cheese, cheese etc) and dark green veg if he’ll eat it. Dd is not a big milk fan (apart from bm!) and we’ve had no problems not having it.

[Narya]

Narya - have you tried mixing a little bit of cows milk into his formula. Just gradually increase the balance of cows milk to formula over a couple of weeks and hopefully DC won't notice

@ Seeline yep tried that! We've got as far as 50/50 formula/cows milk a few weeks ago. Any further reduction in the formula at all and he won't touch it

[SheRaTheAllPowerful]

I BF twins for a year, I felt like that was the point they could have cows milk and I’d just had enough, I cut it down by one feed every couple of weeks until I gave up.

[MarshaBradyo]

Totally!

[brookshelley]

MarshaBradyo it’s an amazing tool on long haul travel but when you’re home all of a sudden baby is attached to you again! There are also developmental leaps at 13-14 months and 16-17 months that cause clinginess.

[MarshaBradyo]

I’ve just returned from Aus and I feel like we’ve regressed due to jet lag, loads of feeds and clinginess

It’s understandable but as much as it helped on the flight - stopped all crying - I just need to not be carrying and feeding her so much.

So heavy and physically exhausting

[Seniorschoolmum]

I ebf for 6 months, bf & solids until 18 months. It was enough, I wouldn’t have wanted to carry on so moved to full fat cows milk and normal food.

But I was at home for 18 months. I think expressing while working would have been a complete bind.

[Jenala]

I fed both of mine about the same amount of time as you.

[brookshelley]

Glad to see I'm not alone!

I stopped at 14 months with DC1 and I think 13 months with DC2. I figured they could have cow’s milk by 12 months, so I never needed to go onto formula.

For me 12 months was always my target so anything beyond that should be a bonus. Neither of mine ever had formula either but I did go back to work so I expressed for months. I have mixed feelings about stopping BF but I was thrilled to put the pump down - hated it.

Although that reminds me I have some BM in the freezer I can give DD2 now that she's off the breast, to top up.

[ZaphodBeeblerox]

You’ve done amazingly! And it’s okay to stop now. No need to get caught up in the guilt Olympics. There will always be someone who feeds until 3-4-5 and makes you feel like a bad mum but you’ve done so well!

[Seeline]

Narya - have you tried mixing a little bit of cows milk into his formula. Just gradually increase the balance of cows milk to formula over a couple of weeks and hopefully DC won't notice.

[PastaSauceHoarder]

I stopped breastfeeding my little girl when she was 17 months - she was only feeding at night but I sort of put it off for a while because I thought she'd react badly to being weaned off. But nope we stopped cold turkey and she took to it like a dream, I was so relieved!

I had a few reasons for stopping, but mainly because I wanted to get pregnant again. Stopped breastfeeding in the November, took a few weeks for my milk to dry up and then I got pregnant in the December!

[PrincessButtockUp]

We stopped shortly before DD's 2nd birthday. It had become a quick comfort and a quiet moment in a busy day rather than food. I stopped offering and she stopped asking, so we just went with it.

[WinterHeatWave]

Stopped twice at 11.5 months, when I went back to work.

[MarshaBradyo]

Dd isn’t interested in cow’s milk either
She has it in porridge and that’s it

[Seeline]

Due to a difficult start with DC1 I managed 6months of mixed feeding. With DC2 I ended up doing 15 months ebf. Not intentional but with a bottle refuser, formula refuser and a very reluctant taker of solids, I had little choice! By 15 months I was only doing hte bedtime feed, so it was easy to stop. I had had enough by then - the total reliance on me was exhausting. If I hadn't been a SAHM, I would probably have forced the issue much earlier, but felt I didn't really have an excuse in my situation. DC2 has never drunk cows milk, doesn't like cheese, so ended up eating a lot of yogurt

[Narya]

I'm combi feeding a 13 mo - I'm starting to feel ready to stop so I don't think we'll go more than a month or two more. DC hates the taste of cows milk though which is making it harder as was hoping to stop the formula as well as the bf and go to cups of cows milk.

[Wigeon]

I stopped at 14 months with DC1 and I think 13 months with DC2. I figured they could have cow’s milk by 12 months, so I never needed to go onto formula.

[museumum]

I stopped in the 13th month. Or ds did. I guess extended breast feeders would say it was a “nursing strike” and that kids that age can’t self wean but he really wasn’t interested and if you google nursing strike the effort required to overcome it just doesn’t seem compatible with working or with sleeping so I just left it as his choice. He was drinking cups of water and cow milk and eating well. He had always refused bottles.

[FurryGiraffe]

DS1 I BF for 18 months until he self-weaned, but the last six months was only one feed a day and he was happy to skip a day if I was away. DS2 I BF until 2 when I stopped offering. I kept going longer than I really wanted to with him because he was unwell for ages so I didn't to upset things further by weaning, but I was very ready to give up by the end.

[LittleCandle]

I did 14 months with DD1, purely because we discovered she had huge numbers of allergies and wasn't eating solids much at all. But at 14 months, I had had enough (and I enjoyed BF) and just went cold turkey.

With DD2, I did about 10 months. She ate well, so stopping was not a problem. I also had to stop because I had to have an operation. She caught measles (thankfully very mild) the weekend I first planned to quit, so got another couple of weeks before I actually stopped. I didn't give a flying fuck what other people thought of me feeding. What business is it of theirs?

[JITSOG]

Stopped at 2.11. I stopped mainly because my DS was nearly 3 and also because his interest was waning.

I breastfedthrough many obstacles including my admission to hospital for a week when DS was 18 months. I look back on it fondly and also with a sense of achievement.

[Tinyteatime]

I b/f until 15 months. My baby self weaned. It was quite unexpected and a bit premature for my liking but I’m glad she decided to stop rather than me having to make her, I think I had a lukcy escape.

[knitandpearl]

I've got a 13 month old and he's increasingly wanting feeds at night for comfort.I'm happy to continue morning/evening feeds but would like to drop the afternoon and night ones so hoping to tackle that soon

[JassyRadlett]

I stopped at 17 months with DS1, and 21 months with DS2.

With DS1, I was only feeding morning and night and wasn’t quite ready to stop but had a work trip for a few days which was a good opportunity.

DS2 had an operation when he was 20 months so I intentionally kept going until then to be able to comfort him. I was so over it by the time the op came around. It was a real relief to taper off a few weeks later, even though he was a bit narky about it.