why did you stop breastfeeding?

[clarahj]

Hi all. This is in no way meant to be a contraversial thread, or pass judgement on the way people feed their babies, it is just a question i would love as many answers as possible to.
How do you know when to stop bfing? My son is 6 months old and i am still bfing between 5 and 10 bfs in 24 hours. He has started on solids with reasonable success although is rather fussy and only likes sweet potato and parsnip but that is another matter entirely . He is also happy to take a bottle - been having the odd bottle since boxing day (maybe 1 or 2 a week) - he even stayed the night with my parents last week and was bottle fed for a full 12 hours with no problem (my boobs were another issue though OWWWWW! .
So there is no problem on his part and i enjy doing it BUT there are a few niggly annoying things that mostly wash over me but some days (like today) just drive me mad! (such as he is distracted easily and pulls my nipple and it hurts, he pinches, i want to wear a dress, i want dh to take a bit more responsibility, i want my boobs to go back down to their normal size to name a few).
BUT they all seem like such trivial reasons to give up bfing, and i guess i dont really want to, i am all a bit mixed up at the moment and glad i ahve made it to 6 months!
So why did you decide to give up bfing?
I need advice from some wise ladies

Hm, with es it was rubbish proffessional advice and me not being that well informed and feeling that strongly about bf at the time...es was constantly spitting up, and I now know that part of the reason was my let down...and he also just was a chucky up babay...changed him at 4 month onto Bottles, and obviously it didn't make things better, it made things worse, as now what he chucked up was even more vile and smelled badly. He also was still chucking up well past the time he started walking...
ANOTHER REASON WAS THAT i WAS LEAKING SEROUSLY severe...but I think, itb was just a matter of over supply and with bf councelling, we would have gotten to grips with it...

With ms, I really wanted to do extended bf, and after a rough start (couldn't latch on to severe engorgement), it all went smoothly enough, but when he started to get teeth at about 10 month, he would bite me every single feed, and after trying everything, I threw in the towel, and put him onto bottles...

YS fed till 13 month, when he became frightened after he bit me once and I reacted with shock (it did hurt, and I just didn't expect it, until then he never bitten me, teething or anything)..and we just couldn't get it back together again. As he was 13 month we never introduced a bottle or anything with him...

clara, your dh needs to lay off and realise that what you do is for your child benefit...
He either needs to help out wiht the housework or quit moaning, because things change when there is a Baby in the household...simple as that!

I thought I was going to be feeding forever at six months and then within a few weeks dd was taking so much more food that (along with a bottle in the evening and here and there) she's only having 2/3 feeds from me which is much more manageable. So I'd go with the advice to stick with it another month or so and then see how you're going.

clara same here, up till about 7 months DS was feeding every hour or hour and a half (no exaggeration) unless he was asleep (night times and naps were fine). Some time around 7 months he must have started eating more food and now he regularly goes 3 or 4 hours between feeds, often longer. Although I'm still feeding on demand I no longer feel as though it's the end of the world if I can't drop everything immediately and feed him, either. I know he can last for another 10 or 20 minutes and he can have a breadstick and some water. So yes, that aspect of it IME gets MUCH easier after 6 months.
Starlight - OUCH! Is all I have to say to that!