Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

what happens with BF after one

11 replies

tumpyfairygodmother · 19/12/2008 18:01

My DS is nearly 1 and is exc BF apart from a healthy intake of solids. He is a few weeks away from 1 when I understand he can start having milk as a drink. At the moment he feeds pretty much on demand on the 4 days I am with him all day and am, pm and once in the night on the 3 days I am at work. I don't have any plans to give up BF but wondered how to encorporate milk into his diet as a drink ? Do I drop BF's and give him milk instead ? he drinks water with his meals/ snacks. How did you handle the transition over to 1 and beyond ??

OP posts:
mrsgboring · 19/12/2008 18:03

I would just give milk when you want to and wait and see whether a) your DS will take to it and want to drink it b) it makes much difference to his BM consumption.

If you are feeding on demand when you're home, you don't have to worry, surely, just watch for changes.

BabiesEverywhere · 19/12/2008 18:07

If you don't have any plans to stop breastfeeding, why introduce cow milk at all ?!?

We just kept on going, my DD wouldn't drink cow milk at a year when we offered it and as we were happily nursing, we didn't offer again. She is 2.4 years old and still going

tumpyfairygodmother · 19/12/2008 18:10

hmm - thats interesting babies everywhere - I could do that. I really struggle to express so the other thought I was having was about going out after work etc whether I could get my DH to try him with a cup of milk instead of me coming home to feed him - so use cows milk occasionally but carry on Bfing ? Have you ever used cows milk or formula or do you express ? or has it not been an issue ?

OP posts:
onwardandmerrilyupward · 19/12/2008 18:18

If there are plenty of calories going in in whatever form, then cow's milk is just an option. Breastfed children don't always like cow's milk anyway (beside human milk it can be a bit ewwww, I guess).

If feeding less frequently, I'd make sure there was plenty of butter, cheese, yoghurt myself, but wouldn't be that bothered about cow's milk per se TBH.

Sallyallyally · 19/12/2008 18:25

My DS who is still B/F at 22 months, quite happily accepted milk as a drink and that was great. He stopped needing to B/F so often in the day. (only does it now if he is ill) but kept on at night as it's more of a comforter I think. So I would offer milk as a drink and you'll probably find he naturally drops a few breast feeds. x

ThingOne · 19/12/2008 18:33

My DS1 never had any cows' milk. He just didn't like it. I stopped feeding on demand sometime after 18 months, but you can easily stop feeding on demand around now, and just do certain feeds if that it what would suit you. You supply will manage it fine.

As for going out, do you mean you need him to go to sleep without breastmilk or do you mean you want to drink more than a couple of glasses of wine so don't want to feed him alchymilk at night?

As for the former, I didn't go out but plenty of my friends did regularly, or were away for work, and their babies learned to settle with Daddy quite easily. I didn't think mine would so I didn't go out until he was asleep until nearly two.

As for drinking, I'm afraid I can't remember. The one time I did drink too much, with my DS2, he slept for seven hours after a midnight feed, clearly somewhat drugged and refused the vile tasting brew in the morning.

BabiesEverywhere · 19/12/2008 18:36

tumpyfairygodmother, I find that DD 'needs' to nurse when I am around but can cope fine without milk if I am away.

We have never used formula nor cow's milk as a drink (she will eat food with cow's milk in it)

I have expressed in the past when I was seperated from DD when she was a baby.
But now she is much older and I leave her for a few hours or overnight, I don't leave any milk. Daddy and Grandma can and have put her to bed without me and she hasn't even asked for milk and gone to sleep straight away. Though on those occasions she will ask for milk the moment she sees me again...misses me I suppose.

If you were going out for an evening just for a few hours, I wouldn't leave milk of any kind, get Dad to offer water or a snack.

HTH

BabiesEverywhere · 19/12/2008 18:41

Oh, there is no problem with having a glass of wine and then nursing your toddler, if you want to.

Search the archives for more information but basically alcohol doesn't build up in your milk but ebbs and flows into it, like alcohol in your blood supply and leaves in a similar way. So no need to pump and dump either.

tumpyfairygodmother · 19/12/2008 18:41

helpful advice thanks. I haven't had a drink since he was born and hadn't really planned to until I hd stopped feeding - sorry if my thread was unclear !
I haven't ever left him at bed time either which has been fine up until now but it means that I have missed out on a few after work things. At the moment that is not as important to me as being with him but I want the information about how other people handle this so I can plan to not be there at some point !
thanks for all the feedback so far

OP posts:
Grendle · 20/12/2008 09:40

With ds I worked three 12 hour days a week from 9 months onwards. I initially expressed twice a day and nursery gave him 1-3oz ebm in a cup morning and afternoon. At 10 months I dropped this to morning only, and by 12 months I stopped expressing and he had food and water when away from me. When I was around he breastfed on demand (maybe 6 times per 24hrs?).

He had cows milk products as part of a varied diet, but drank no cow's milk. It never caused any issue tbh.

The only recommendation in relation to milk after the age of 12 months is in relation to ensuring toddlers have sufficient calcium intake. However, the requirement is actually fairly low. The Food Standards Agency say that children between the ages of one and three need to consume an average of 350mg of calcium a day. If it was just coming from whole cow's milk then about 3/5 pint a day is needed. But yogurt, cheese etc count too, as well as non-dairy sources like sesame and of course breast milk . This has a list of calcium contents:
www.nnuh.nhs.uk/docs%5Cleaflets%5C197.pdf

Calcium from human milk is absorbed over twice as well as calcium from cow's milk, so is like drinking double the amount .

Like others have said, toddlers can be more flexible about breastfeeding. some people continue to feed on cue, others set rules and limits or gradually cut them down. The World Health Organisation recommends that all children should be breastfed until the age of at least 2 years because of the significant immunological and nutritional benefits.

I used to stay out for works things occasionally and miss bedtime sometimes from about 15 months. The first point was that I had to express or I would have burst, lol. Ds was fine with dh, who just cuddled him to sleep. I would then pick him up and feed him when I got in.

tumpyfairygodmother · 20/12/2008 09:51

thanks Grendle - lots of helpful stuff.

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page