Support thread for those keeping it exclusive till 6 mnths

[charitas]

I meant to start this yesterday but had to feed my lovely 20 week old about every hour soonly wrote half the op before being "called on". I need someone to moan at who won't suggest weaning or ff as I am not going to do that I am just moaning 'cause I'm tired fed up with babe who takes ages to feed in public 'cause now he's so damm nosey.

So anyone who wants to bolster their beliefs in the face of rl opposition or remind me why I am doing this please join in.

Reasons why I'm exclusively bf till 6 mnths:

I read the eviedence and I beleive it
Once made meal for friend with coeliac's and it took flippin ages to find all gluten free ingredients and make a torte for pudding. Am far too lazy to deal with allergy prone child
I want to blw as piglet is so determined to do things for himself I cannot see him taking to spoon feeding.
Piglet likes it, he falls asleep quickly afterwards.

There are more but there are now sounds coming from the bedroom

Hi alexpolismum - do you mean try a different position?

oooh can I join - 22 weeks EBF and counting. Far too lazy for bottles and sterilising, especially as feeding to sleep works so well! Plus we love bf and have lovely time together.

me too! DD has bottles of EBM as I am back at work. She's 21 weeks or so I think.

I'm quite at people telling you guys to give your babies formula or wean them before you are ready! I guess I'm lucky in that my family are all BFers. My Mum weaned us at 16 weeks or whatever the old advice was but she says she was never comfortable with it and thinks waiting a few more months sounds much better.

I guess it must vary a lot baby to baby, but there is no way I could have considered solids for DD until the last week or so and I still think she's doing OK on milk, so I'll wait for now.

My piglet is feeding badly durring the day and making up for it at night now. Moaning here cause I read Kellymom and know this is normal at five mnths, but had first comment from my mum this weekend. So and so's son is weaning their baby. Oh and people who keep on breasfeeding for a long time are doing it for themseles! Hmm good job I am percieved as token hippy by my family and they are used to me following my own star.

Wow great to have a support group here, I was just thinking about this earlier, and wondering how I was going to keep going. It is not the persevering with the bf that is in question for me, but more when to start weaning to solids.

I bf my ds1 til he self-weaned at 7 months ( he did have occasional bottle feeds of mixed breast and formula milk before that).
He started solids at 5 and half months,

I exclusively breastfed my dd til she was a year old (then got mastitis!), she started solids at 5 months.

So far ds2 has been exclusively breastfed (excluding 5 feds of formula while I was in hospital with mastitis), and he is now 20 weeks old. I am struggling to resist the temptation to start solids.

I really want to reach that magic 6-month mark this time, so what hints have people got here for us all to achieve this.

Sorry re-reading my post I confused myself, when I wrote exclusively breastfed my dd til a year, I meant no formula, but ofcourse she started solids before that!!!!

My dd feeds for such a short time nowadays and so, relatively, infrequently that I will be sad when she is feeding even less. It is such a lovely time and am glad I will still be feeding her for the forseeable future. Am glad I have not fed her solids yet as she will no doubt feed even less when she starts!!! Had a close thing on Monday as was out with a 2 year old for lunch who was intent on feeding DD chips!!!

Signing up!!
ds4 is 18 weeks old today and we don't intend to start solids till 26 weeks.

My sis excl BF and is still BFing her 15mo and gets a hard time from our sil and mum. For some reason they just leave me alone, I think that they may be a little scared of me!

DD nearly ate a flower when we were at the park the other day!!

this is great thread. charitas - could you point me to what you read on kellymom about babies feeding poorly at 5 months and making up for it at night please? I think we have the same thing here!

Hi, can I join too? Hello everyone. [Waves to Essie and anyone else from June08 thread].

Early days for me - DS is just over 6 weeks, but I really want to keep going to 6 months. Have to say, the first few weeks of bf were not good, but it's a lot better now.

I'm a bit concerned at dealing with my mum next week - we are going to visit her for the first time, and she has told me several times on the phone that I should have DS on formula, and that's what SIL has done.... I am building up a stash of EBM to feed DS when we're out - I mostly prefer to do that anyway, as it's quicker, and I can't always get comfortable to feed him when we're away from home, but I think I will be 'banished' to the bedroom to feed him when we're at hers. Just wanted to get that off my chest really!!!

Why does she think your baby should be on formula, whinegums?

[shck] at being banished to a bedroom at your mums!

Is that just because your BF? Sorry for butting in but just seen that comment and had to ask.

Have to say, whinegums, I would be inclined to brazen it out and say that if she's not comfortable seeing you bf then you won't visit till you're finished bf. Which could be years!

Hi, I would like to join too

I exclusively breastfed my DD for 6 months and 1 day before BLW her on to solids.

I am tandem nursing my DD with my brand new and scrummy 11 day old DS and hope to get to 6 months exclusive nursing with him too.

I feel more confidant this time around, as I am already use to NIP (nursing in public), NAK (nursing at keyboard) and feeding in front of family/inlaws...things I struggled with last time

Oh DD is 2 years old (yesterday) in case anyone was interested

Wow babieseverywhere! Am in awe of you! Didn't realise you could keep bf through a pregnancy, that's amazing. Did you plan to keep feeding DD for this long or did it just happen?? Am so impressed!

can i join?

so glad i found this thread! ds is 16 weeks and a bit of a nightmare lately - seems so hungry all the time but also messing about during feeds. want to exclusively bf til 6 months and sick of well meaning friends and relatives sugesting that ff or early weaning is the answer! in all honesty i can't be bothered with the faff of bottles and certainly don't think he's ready for food!

Thanks peachsmuggler

It is not just me, there are several Mumsnet mums have/are nursing though pregnancy and/or tandem nursing.

For me I had no fix date to wean my DD and when I fell pregnant decided just to go with the flow

Chipmonkey and mamadiva - my mum thinks ff would be better for me - I think she's concerned that bf is exhausting. I've explained to her that it's much easier than sterilising, making bottles, etc etc. Also SIL bf for a few weeks and then put her babies onto ff to make sure they were 'getting enough' - this is my mum's version anyway .

Escaping to the bedroom might be a good thing when I'm there - to get a bit of peace and quiet!!

Anyway, I fed in a coffee shop today! First time I've fed in public other than in feeding rooms so feeling a bit pleased with myself .

I know my cousin was hounded into ff by my aunt and I just wish I had been around at the time to put in my tuppenceworth! My aunt is a very forceful person and I know my cousin's dh has banned her from their house on a couple of occasions. And she would listen to no-one on the benefits of bf.

peachsmuggler - sorry to take so long to get back to you, I have been so tired this week with a whingy teething toddler and the new baby, I haven't so much as looked at the computer in the last few days.

Yes, I did mean try a different position. I found lying down the best for my biting baby, but you might find something else works for you.

IHEARTIONA fairly bad at linking but think it was an article about different developmental stages and breastfeeding. BTW my sister has a friend in edinburgh with an iona is it possible you are her.

Feeding rooms!!! Goodness, do such things still exist??? I am very lucky in that we live in an area where bf mothers are EVERYWHERE so have never had an issue in public, it never occurred to me to be embarrassed, but when I have been away from home I have really noticed the difference, e.g. in the centre of London with all the city boys. It feels very different doing it there. Such a shame.

oh i just found this thread, my ds is now 20 weeks (had to go and put that info into an online calendar to check ) We will start wening blw the last week in sept/first week in oct (he was an april fools baby!) i did blw with dd, which was a great sucess, although i started about 23/24 weeks then, due to pressure.

Only comments i had this time was a friend with a baby six weeks older than mine, who (only half jokingly) said i was depriving him when i said i wasnt expecting to start until end of sept earliest, as she started weaning just before 5 months.

I did reply that he wasnt showing signs, as he isnt sitting unaided and still has the tongue thrust reflex. But she only replied that her dd was the same, so there isnt really a reply to that!!