breast feeding a toddler

[docma]

hi!i am new to mumsnet and would dearly love to know if anyone else is breast feeding their toddler.my dd is 1 year old and im a stay at home mom.she suffers from cow milk protien allergy and has never taken formulas and is not too keen on the anti allergy ones.my paediatrician and health visitor are subtly telling me that it is weird to still bf her but i am happy to go on since she feeds only in the morning and at night.

I bf DD until she was 2 (her choice) and it was fine. Luckily my HV was always supportive, and no one else dared say anything I don't think it's weird, and neither do a lot of people on this site (welcome btw!)

Hi Docma, im bfing my DS, and he's 16months. There are LOADs of us that are bfing toddlers. I cant understand why HVs and doctors think its weird, as it's obviously so natural! If you need a bit of real life support i can really recommend going to a le leche league meeting - also they usually have a library of books you can borrow, and theres one called 'how weaning happens' that really helped me to stand up for my decision to carry on breastfeeding as long as my little boy wants to.

welcome to mn - be warned, its addictive!!

My dd is 15 months old... my HV/GP hasn't asked if I'm breastfeeding and so I've not mentioned it... some family members think I'm weird though.

I'm feeding my 15 month old. I am aware that people around me think it is weird. I only fed my other three children until 9/10 months but now that I have gone on longer this time it feels like the most natural thing in the world and I wish it was seen as 'the norm'.

My dh is Pakistani and while in Pakistan I felt much more comfortable because it is usual to feed babies for longer there so I didn't feel 'judged' for bfeeding a toddler as I do here.

I breastfed DS until he was three (he self-weaned gradually while I was pregnant with DD and then completely once she was born a couple of months ago). The World Health Organisation recommend breastfeeding until at least two. Your paediatrician and health visitor are bonkers.

Another good book is Mothering Your Nursing Toddler.

Hello and welcome. My dd is 26 months and still BF. I think that no telling the HV is the path of least resistance and likely the one that I would choose if I still lived in the UK.

I am bf my 18 month old and plan to tandem feed him with the new arrival in October. Loads of people on here who feed toddlers, it seems so normal to me now I don't expect people in RL to find it strange either.

Ignore it

My HV ooohs and aaaahs and really?? Well, of course it's your choice and so on...

why, thank you for saying that, I think

My ds reacts badly to milk too. The dietician ia lways mentioning the special formula. He is 17 months and still feeds quite a lot. It's fine. As long as it's fine for you, ignore the rest of the comments and subtle implications.

you've come to the right place then ! It's MN that gave me the confidence and introduced me to attachment parenting in the first place. I wouldnt' still be feeding 16 mth old DS without it

I'm not bfing a toddler...yet, but that's only because DS1 is nearly 4 and DS2 just 9weeks.
When I get to 15months I shall definitely still be feeding though.
WHO recommends feeding til two years so just remind anyone of that and smile sweetly.

Hiya! I'm bf-ing my ds who is 17 months, and no signs of stopping just yet. Will happily tandem nurse when my new bundle gets here if that's what he wants!

I would also not mention it to your HV or Paed. It's not their business really. Also - what they don't know they can't criticise you on! Would you consider going to a bf-ing cafe or LLL meeting, just so you could meet like-minded mothers? I found the rl support of my local Baby Cafe invaluable!

One response I have used to the "Are you STILL feeding him?" question is to brightly say
"Yes, isn't it BRILLIANT! I never thought we would get this far!"

It shuts them up nicely, someone would have to be spectacularly rude to be negative after that.

fed DD until she was three because of her potential for allergies and her weak immune system.

I also found that not talking to anyone about it unless I was actually doing it in front of them reduced how often I had to contemplate other peoples (usually uninformed) opinions.

( have to say as well that although I had a brilliant HV with one of my DC's, my general experience leads me to think that if HV is sceptical I am probably on the right track...only a bit )

thank you all for your thumbs up.its a great relief to know there are so many of you great moms out there with similar experiences.i will certainly go on feeding dd and politely tell my hv and paediatrician to mind their own business.

I am breastfeeding my 22 month old DD and my next baby is due in less than 7 weeks !!!

If you and your DD are happy with your nursing relationship, that is all that matters.

Hello, hope you'll find lots of support and positive vibes here. I bf both ds1 and ds2, 2.5 and 1 respectively. Midwife with ds2 said, "of course, you'll have to wean ds1". I said, "Why", she said.. "I don't know"! HV raises eyebrows, I smile and accept that she thinks I'm bizarre.. ho hum! Welcome.

I'm bfing my almost 8 mo ds. I don't really discuss it with anyone tbh.

I am bf-ing my 21-month old ds. He has a word he uses when he wants to nurse and tells me to 'sit down', pointing to where he wants me to nurse him. He has 4 big teeth coming through and it is a big comfort to him.

I don't feed him in public or in others' houses, especially because he can get quite acrobatic and nosey!

Why is it weird? Still bfing DS at 20 mo, though we're now down to one feed a day. If you're happy and she's happy tell 'em to bugger off!

Still BF DD, 17 months, at night & a.m., and very happy about it.

I breastfed my son until he was 3. But he has a pediatric feeding disorder and I did it to keep feeding tubes out of him. I was his only sauce of nutrition for 2 years. By the time he was 2 I was having to nurse him every two hours day and night to make sure he got the nutrition he needed. My 2nd was born when he was 22 months old. So nursing and being pregnant was hard and very tiring. Then nursing a newborn and a toddler was a nightmare. But i coped. I've now had a 1 year break. In about 2 months I'll be starting all over again when the new baby is born.

I am feeding by 2y7m old dd2. very happy about it, she loves it, no-one else's business
I fed dd1 until she was three and a bit, fed through pg and tandem fed them both until dd1 self weaned
the times spent feeding a toddler have been some of the most precious in my parenting tbh

Still feeding DS (13 1/2 months) in the morning and evening, no plans to give up as we both enjoy it. He's a healthy strapping boy so it must be doing him good!