when and how should I stop BF?

[missbumpy]

I know it's a personal thing and everyone's different. I assumed I'd stop at 6mo (not sure why but I thought that was what you're meant to do ) but we're now at 7 and a half mo and I'm still BFing. DD's just got her first tooth and, even though she hasn't bitten me yet, it's making me think maybe it's time to start dropping some feeds.
Not sure though. If I do drop some daytime feeds, how do I do it? Just cut them out one by one?
Sorry for vague question. I just feel like I don't have a clue what to do.

if you don't have any particular desaire or need to stop don't!
if you do want to stop, i think cut down gradually, keep night time feeds till last
DS has lots of teeth and feeding is fine

Thanks. Don't need to stop until I go back to work in Sept (when DD will be almost a year old). I just kind of feel like I should be stopping now...loads of people have made comments about how they assume I'll be stopping now DD has got a tooth. I think people think it's odd that I'm still bfing at 7mo.
Part of me doesn't want to give up but part of me would like the freedom of not being the only person who can feed the baby (I've never really got the hang of expressing).

It gets a lot easier from this point as they start to eat more. You have done the hardest bit!! Just keep going as long as you want. A lot of people just have some regular feeds, say 3 times a day but do whatever you feel comfortable with and what you want. What other people think doesn't matter!

If you feel fine with it, carry on, I'd say. You don't need to be the only one feeding the baby if she's started taking solids now.

As you've noticed yourself, having teeth doesn't necesarilly mean they'll start biting. Maybe others expect this to happen which is why they ask. You could reassure them it's not happening. (Mine sometimes bit but i don't think it's because of the teeth, sometimes they'd "bite" just on the gums, long before any teeth.)

Well done so far and good luck.

Well it really is your decision - don't do it because other people want you to (but don't carry on because I want you to )
I assumed I would stop at 6 months too, not sure why
BTW DS is just over a year, I'm back at work almost FT and still bf - just saying it can work if you want to

BTW, i have a 7.5 month DD as well. It's a lovely age, isn't it?

To be honest I think when the time comes to stop you'll know - until then I'd carry on. I wasn't sure how long I'd carry on but we reached a stage where DS only wanted 2 feeds a day (before his nap and at bedtime) and he had started to bite and pull really badly. Feeding had become a struggle, I wasn't wholly enjoying it anymore, so I decided to stop completely. DS was almost 11 months at that point.

The message about exclusively needing to feed a baby milk for 6 months has become confused so people think you only feed a baby your milk for 6 months. People only harp on about teeth because they have no knowledge of how babies feed. Babies still need breastmilk for a year but no one really spells that out for us do they. Formula companies jump in with clever marketing ploys!

You are not odd at all and I think really if your feed your baby for a year it is only 1 year in the many years that you will be on this planet.

I think pressure to switch to formula is huge and been artificially created and motivated by money.

missbumpy
i cut feeding my ds at 8mths to a morning and night feed, he was quite keen on a beaker during the day. and i continued with that routine til 13mths when i had to leave him for a wkend wedding the other end of the country

maybe a beaker would be something to try

My DS has just stopped bfing at 23.5 months - he had 20 or so teeth at the time and very rarely bit me. I went back to work when he was 4.5 months, and expressed until he was 13 months or so.

If they do bite, its really not that bad either.

The WHO recommendation is for all babies to have breastmilk for 2 years or longer as it protects against allergies as new foods are introduced, and protects against other infections - particularly important when you go back to work.

i'm still going although my baby is almost 2 and has nearly all her teeth, she's never bitten hard enough to draw blood and if you say a sharp "No" and take her off if she bites you she'll soon learn it's not the done thing.

Keep going as long as you're happy, ignore anyone else, stop when you want to and you feel your baby wants to.
If you do want to stop try dropping a feed per week, gradual is best for the baby and for you so you don't get engorged.
There are loads of health benefits to you and your baby if you keep going. There's a couple of lists of them here:
www.promom.org/101/
www.kellymom.com/bf/bfextended/ebf-benefits.html
Sorry can't do links

I originally thought I would bf for 6 months but just carried on until about 11 months when ds decided he wasn't interested in feeding anymore. My milk dried up very quickly.

Yes, to clarify I meant at least a year, feed for as long as you want to.. I'm still feeding DS at 2.5 years. This week he has been really poorly with a nasty bug and massively swollen neck and the only thing he would take yesterday was breastmilk. It has so many benefits past a year too!

Interesting food for thought. Thank you all. I definitely want to carry on with the early morning and late night feeds for as long as DD wants to. I can't imagine getting her to sleep without a breastfeed (but then maybe that's my fault for not getting her into a good sleep routing !).
It's just the daytime feeds that I'm thinking of cutting back on.
So they start taking less around now? I'm still feeding DD around every 4 hours. Will she take less as she takes more solids?

PS. I did suspect that it might be a bit of a marketing ploy by the big formula companies to spread the notion that women should only breastfeed until 6mo and then formula is the answer!

PPS. I never thought I'd have this dilemma. I had such trouble bfing at first and spent many a day trawling MN in tears trying to get support. Had cracked nipples and mastitis and couldn't imagine getting to 1 month let alone 7 months! It's a nice dilemma to have

Also no need to stop when you go back to work, esp if she's feeding less during the day at that stage. I went back at 6 mo and DS still bfing once a day (at 19mo).

Do what you and your DD want and ignore everyone else! Bfing older babies is great, soooo much easier and if they miss a feed or two they just feed up on solids/whatever.

It's also fantastically useful when they're ill - DS was in hospital a coule of months back and bfing settled him beautifully

Fark what everyone else says, carry on as long as you want. it's so weird this 6 months cut off point. I thought it too at first, now DD is 11 mo and I am back at work PT.

Just think, do you really want to start faffing around with bottles after all this time?

DD does bite occasionally, though not really hard, it's more the potential for damage that freaks you out!

The getting to sleep without a bf isn't really something to worry about yet, unless you want to tackle it, then you can get some good advice on here.