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Infant feeding

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

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Original poster

How long did you BF for?

23 replies

Mamabear04 · 26/02/2020 20:19

Just wondering how long everyone BF for and how did you decide to stop?

My LO is 4mo now and we are planning to begin the weaning process in a few weeks due to reflux issues (starting with a spoon full of baby rice a day!) I have been EBF since birth but I'm wondering what I should do in terms of full on weaning at 6mo. I would like her to be able to take a bottle mainly because 1.she's already so distracted when feeding from the boob 2.hopefully help with social skills and 3.it means she can be looked after by her Dad or Granny without having to rely on me to feed her.

I'm wondering if I should express breast milk (part of me wonders if this would be best or just full on hard work) or move to formula or do a bit of both - is it worth the effort to express at this point? And when and how did you get them off the boob? Was it hard emotionally to do this? I've loved feeding my LO and feel so grateful that I've been able to

OP posts:

Lazydaisydaydream · 26/02/2020 20:22

I'm still breastfeeding at 22 months.

I'm not sure what you mean by helping with social skills?

I found it easier to get my son to take milk from a sippy cup rather than a bottle, which meant he would always happily have it whenever I wasn't around (he would still always choose to breastfeed rather than have it in a cup if I am right there though)

Original poster

Mamabear04 · 26/02/2020 20:30

@lazydaisydaydream I'm not sure what I meant as 'social skills' actually just scrap that!!! Do you BF alongside food and do you express for his cup?

OP posts:

JohnLapsleyParlabane · 26/02/2020 20:30

4 years 3 months and counting with my eldest, and 11 months and counting with my younger child.
They both went through very distractible periods, particularly around 6m or so because the world is so interesting.
I work 3 x 12h days a week and went back when the baby was 9m. I have never bothered expressing. Until 1, anyone else caring for my children has offered them food, water or formula (in that order), and from 1y replacing formula with cows milk.
Both my children are well socialized, and I go away overnight without them several times per year.
So, if you want to fully wean off the breast then do so, but you don't have to in order to achieve the things on your list.

merryhouse · 26/02/2020 20:42

going slightly off-topic...

I would strongly suggest you avoid the baby rice.

I mean, it could be sheer coincidence, but: I used baby rice a lot with my older son (had never heard of it before being given a free sample) because he would reliably eat it and at the time I thought that was important. When slightly older he was a very particular eater and wouldn't eat things mixed - as in, I would try adding tomato puree to his mince because it looked so dry, and he would refuse it. Everything had to be separate. He didn't start eating our normal meals until his 3-years-younger brother did. The younger brother who never had baby rice...

merryhouse · 26/02/2020 20:43

oh and I missed out the bit about not liking strongly-spiced food. He still prefers korma even now, but it was ages before he'd even have that.

Verbena87 · 26/02/2020 20:50

Still feeding at 29 months (I’d happily stop but my little one is a boob monster and I’d rather let them lead) but I did pump and leave milk when I went back to work (he was 1) - he hardly ever drank it and preferred to just have water and wait til I got home, but it helped me feel calmer at work knowing he had milk if he needed it.

Try not to worry too much - you’ll work out with your baby what works for the two of you. What anyone else does/thinks isn’t nearly as important.

JesusSufferingFuck22 · 26/02/2020 20:53

A long time ago for me now, my dd is 25.

9months for her. I weaned off not long after she gave me a particularly sore bite! Her grandparents babysat and would often throw out the breast milk I'd expressed because mil thought it smelt funny/was a funny colour. Weaning just kind of happened naturally after she'd spent a few days with granny and my supply was quite low.
Ds was only a month because he just wasn't happy/satisfied and barely slept. I fed him formula for the first time and he slept for 4 hours straight!
Just do whatever feels right for you. There is no right or wrong.

IceColdCat · 26/02/2020 20:54

DC1 - stopped at 12 months because I wanted to start TTC again and didn't fancy being pregnant and breastfeeding at the same time
DC2 - weaned herself off at 11 months
DC3 - moved to formula to try and get him to sleep better (it didn't work!)

DC1 and DC2 went straight onto cows milk, DC3 had formula. I disliked expressing.

In all three cases it was easier than I expected- they accepted it without much fuss.

Lazydaisydaydream · 27/02/2020 07:56

@Mamabear04 yes when he started solids I just carried on breastfeeding him on demand and giving him food when I ate (so my regular meals and snacks too). He then just gradually reduced how much he breastfed until he was eating three solid Meals a day just after he turned one. Now we mainly breastfeed first thing in the morning and when he has his nap.

I nightweaned at about 18/20 months (made no difference to his sleep but meant it didn't have to always be me resettling him!).

He would have water alongside his meals, and take milk in a cup if he was going out with his dad or GPs.

It's one of those things I worried about how best to do it all...but it all happened quite organically good luck!! I found starting solids fun. Messy but lovely watching them explore all the new flavours!

IamMoana · 27/02/2020 08:13

2 years and 2 weeks. We gradually cut down to breakfast and bedtime, then just bedtime, then it just seemed to come to a natural end and she had a cup of milk before bed instead. Good luck!

goldenorbspider · 27/02/2020 08:18

I managed 4months ebf wish I'd stuck it out longer but I was fed up of smelling like milk and constantly having someone attached to me. Co fed until 6months then bottle fed alongside food.

Laura1609 · 27/02/2020 14:25

I’m still going at 8 months but I have to admit that I’m doing it reluctantly now. I can now only feed in a dark and silent room even at home and it takes around 45 mins just to get DS to feed for 10 mins as he’s so on and off which I find really frustrating. He won’t take a bottle or cup of milk so I feel somewhat trapped now.

Megan2018 · 27/02/2020 14:29

I’m almost at 6 months and hoping to go to at least 12 months. I’ll give water with food when we wean.
Once they are on decent amounts of food they drop a lot of feeds anyway usually and boob is so handy for comfort when ill etc.
I can’t see any advantage to formula if BF going well

ICJump · 02/03/2020 02:57

I've been Breastfeeding for almost 9 years. Although with three different babies. My eldest two weaned around 4. I started solids for all three around six months and then the elder two very very slowly weaned themselves. Once they were on solids I'd leave them for a few hours. Have never done much expressing.

lovelilies · 02/03/2020 04:02

9m dc1
18m dc2
18m dc3

TillyTheTiger · 02/03/2020 04:12

DS (bottle refuser) breastfed until 2y4mo. He would drink expressed milk or water from a cup from 6mo though, but I couldn't be bothered with the faff of expressing so I didn't do it often.
DD is 4.5mo, also a bottle refuser. I left her for the first time yesterday for a couple of hours and she had expressed milk in a tommy tippee cup, which thankfully she took no problem.

Purpleartichoke · 02/03/2020 04:17

3 years. We stopped breastfeeding because I was ready to be done.

From about 9 months I would occasionally pump and dd would have a sippy cup if I was going to be out.

IvinghoeBeacon · 02/03/2020 04:25

Nearly 2yo and still going. I have to say that my son didn’t drop many feeds at all even once well-established on solids if I were around. He never accepted a bottle or even a sippy cup of expressed milk. By about 10mo he was fine to be looked after for full days by other people (I went back to work when he was 11mo) and he would have food/water/cow’s milk and then just make up for it once I was back. He only really started cutting down on feeds at about 16mo and even then it hasn’t been linear - he will increase feeds with teeth/illness/no obvious reason and reduce again. He stayed with his grandparents last night and then wanted to feed loads after I collected him. I’m due to have my second in a few weeks’ time so looks like tandem feeding is going to happen (I had sort of assumed he would stop at some point whilst I was pregnant), so I’m clearly not the best person to give any advice about weaning! I would say though that transitioning from the breast isn’t the only way to ensure that others can take care of the child for longer periods, and nor is it a guarantee that they will be happy away from you - it’s a lot more down to the individual baby

rottiemum88 · 02/03/2020 04:38

You may find it difficult to get baby to accept a bottle at this stage. I primarily breastfed DS, but he also had a bottle of formula a day since birth so that DH could have him for part of the evening and give me chance to sleep. It was useful when he started nursery at 8 months as he'd still take a bottle for them, but we don't bottle feed him at home anymore. He's still breastfed at night and sometimes during the day on a weekend if he wants it. He's 13 months.

Maybe try a cup instead and see how you get on? I'd also consider avoiding the baby rice. It has zero nutritional value, tastes vile and is basically like glue

Wallywobbles · 02/03/2020 04:44

3 weeks and 5 weeks because it made me scream in agony. I kept going first and last feed with no 2. Stop whenever you want. Really I know it's not the "best" but I'd say fed is best however that might be.

Throughthegate · 03/03/2020 23:49

2 years, 3.5 years. They both stopped themselves.
But there were bottles in there too after one year. Didn't get on well with expressing at all.

Throughthegate · 04/03/2020 09:23

(obviously it wasn't making me feel agony, or I would absolutely have stopped earlier)

namesneeded · 04/03/2020 10:26

I stopped when DS turned 2, I was pregnant and I think the taste of my milk had changed and DS started asking for milk out of the fridge in a cup instead.

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