Demand feeding past a year old?

[Whitty]

Hi, I have an 11 month old, who, yes, is still breastfed. He has many bf's through the day and also at night rolled eyes!

It seems lately that he has started to have a lot more feeds, he can feed 3 or 4 times within 20/30 mins or so, so if I'm out and about its a bit, well not necessarily awkward, but kind of, pop it out, then in, and ooh, out again, and in etc.....I was at my Mums today and baby just couldn't make up his mind, so it was a bit awkward. (Not due to feeding in front of her or anything, just like lunch was ready, then my 3 year old needed me....etc) He was far easier to feed when he was tiny!

He always wants to feed more when we go to places we don't visit that often and also new places, like he needs the comfort or something.

I just wondered if the majority of bf'ers still demand feed past a year old, or cut it down slightly, and if so, how did you do it? He signs for milk so I don't feel its fair to refuse. He loves his boob, and if I have to do something else sometimes after he has signed, before I feed him, he throws his arms about!!!! He won't wait and can't see him stopping anytime soon, so I think I will be ready to stop before him

I have a friend who stopped through the night and daytime feeds at 12 months, and just fed first thing in morning and bedtime, from then to 24 months, and a lot of posts I read from mums feeding older babies say they are on only a few feeds a day or just bedtime etc. Just wondered what peoples thoughts were on this?
Have any of you fed on demand past 12 months, and if not how did you stop them? Sorry if this is a bit jumbled, its how I feel at the mo!
(I fed ds1 till 8 months, so this is new to me.)
Thanks mners
x

Gosh what a lot of replies!
Thanks everyone, its so nice to know I'm not alone. I'm new to mn talk, so I'm so grateful for your support. Me and hubby were talking the other night (good old pillow talk ) and he knows that bubs isn't going to give up his boob that easily and that he still needs it. He is very supportive generally, so I don't neccessarily have any issues along that score, its just now bubs is almost 12 months he just wondered, as he only knows us and our breastfeeding relationship/habits etc, he has no friends with breastfed babies, so whoever it was that put the bit about literature and nursing older babies was right.

I have just read all of the responses, and now can't remember who said what but I connected with a lot of the posts. Night times are really quite bad still, only slept through once around the 3 month mark, and never since. He is SUCH a fidget when he is in our bed, and a few times a week he will wake up and stay awake for an hour or more, holding onto our headboard and bouncing . He has a physical inability to stay asleep for longer than a few hours, and I don't think this will get any better until I stop feeding him.

It was nice to read of everyone else's experiences of feeding past a year, as I never thought I would get this far!

I hear ya silverandgold! My ds is 14 months and we co-sleep and demand-feed. I rack my brains every day as to how to get more sleep at night. Have half-heartedly tried refusing him at night - even tried putting up a little fence between us so it would restrict his access, but he was too upset, so I caved in quickly

On the other hand, I love being able to comfort him and I really feel it adds a depth to our relationship that would otherwise not be there. So I am in a quandry - I want my sleep, but I want to demand-feed too. I have found this thread encouraging - I now feel like I should just stop trying to force my baby off the breast which upsets him every time. Maybe I should just relax and stop fretting and see what happens. Maybe they will just gradually stop feeding so much at night?

But I really think his attachment is getting stronger and stronger rather than fading. I often wonder what is normal in other cultures - I presume no one does 'cry it out' in India, for example.....

My daughter was demand-fed until she was 14 months. She just gave it up one day and never asked again. She kind of wanted it at night for a week or so but not really that much and once I started offering her water and a cuddle instead, that seemed just as good. Sometimes they really do just stop of their own accord.