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Infant feeding

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

Talk to me if you stopped bf at 10/11 months?

27 replies

sunshine75 · 23/01/2009 15:16

How did you do it? Did you go straight to milk from cups? Did it make you really sad?

OP posts:
beforesunrise · 23/01/2009 15:24

i stopped at 8m do you still want to hear about my experience?

sunshine75 · 23/01/2009 18:29

Yes please

OP posts:
EldonAve · 23/01/2009 18:30

what about 12m?

TamartorousBeastie · 23/01/2009 18:31

What about 7m?

Only kidding, DD stopped when she was 8m and went straight onto a cup.

maretta · 23/01/2009 18:32

I stopped at 11 months with ds2. He used a bottle. I think 11mo is way to young for cups for their milk. He only had cups for drinks.

Really it wasn't that sad. I hadn't realised how tired i was, I suddenly had so much more energy.

ChasingSquirrels · 23/01/2009 18:32

I fully stoped at around 9/10m with ds1, had been mixed feeding since around 6mo when I went back to work - so he was already on bottles for some feeds and I just cut it down.
I didn't feel sad, however I fed ds2 until 20mo (exclusive, well and solids) and at that point wished I had fed ds1 for longer.

Onlyaphase · 23/01/2009 18:35

I stopped at 12m and it was sad. DD used a sippy cup for milk though to be fair she didn't drink a lot of milk anyway.

It was sad on the first night I didn't BF her before bed, but DD seemed happy enough with it, and after the first few days it didn't matter any more so much to me.

littlelamb · 23/01/2009 18:36

I stopped at 10 months with dd. She has been having expressed milk at nursery since 8 weeks so she kept with bottles but gradually switched to formula- at first for one bottle a day and then upped it til all feeds were formlua. It did make me sad and tbh I think I stopped for selfish reasons _ I wanted so badly to lose my pregnancy weight and it just wouldn't budge while I was bf I am still feeding ds at 7.5 months and I don't intend to stop this time until he is ready, fat be damned

sunshine75 · 23/01/2009 19:02

The energy and weight loss sound gooooooood but the faff of bottles? I'm just going through a sick of bf phase I think.

OP posts:
ConnorTraceptive · 23/01/2009 19:12

Stopped around this time did it gradually just replacing one feed at a time with bottles until all I was doing was last feed before bed and if he woke during the night ( which he did two or three times)

I took my time before I gave up those last feeds ans even once I did I still occasionally gave a breast feed if he was teething sometimes going a week without and then just offering breastfeed.

Cathpot · 23/01/2009 19:16

Stopped at 12 months and felt very actively and physically sad in what I can only guess is a hormonal response given that I was definately ready to stop. DD was fine. I should have gone to cups but went to bottles as she loves them, and a year later am still on bottles... At 12 months was only 3 bottles a day so no big faff.

beforesunrise · 23/01/2009 19:52

i stopped (well kind of, still doing one feed in the middle of the night because it's jsut the easiest thing to get her to fall back asleep!) about 10 days ago. dd2 was 8 months and i had been trying, unsuccessfully, to get her to take bottles since 6 months. i am going back to work next week and i kept being told not to stress if she didn't take bottles because she would be fine with solids and lots of yoghurt etc and bfeed first and last thing. i would have liked to do that (stopped with dd1 at 5 months and regretted it) but guess what- she wanted solids even less than she wanted bottles... so i persevered with the bottles, kept offering bottles and gradually she took them. but i knew with her it had to be all or nothing, so i fairly quickly (over 10 days) switched to formula completely, and she quite likes it now and finds comfort from it, which for me was also important.

was i sad? yes, a bit, esp the first evening when i didn't bfeed her and afterwards my boobs were exploding and i had to manually express a bit in the sink, and seeing all that milk go down the drain really made me feel sad and guilty. i am sad that it's the end of a phase of my relationship with dd2, and that i have made her independent of me.

but- i think it was the right decision, it's nice to have my boobs back, and to wear non feeding bras etc. also as soon as i stop completely i can take some serious drugs to keep my eczema at bay, i have really suffered with it since getting pregnant and i may be selfish but i want to be able to feel comfortable in my skin again.

Alishanty · 23/01/2009 21:08

Hi I stopped bf my ds at 11 mths. I had wanted to go straight to a cup as he drank water ok from a beaker but he wouldn't take enough milk that way so he had to have bottles. We just went straight to cow's milk at that age. It took him a while to get used to the taste but after a few tries he was ok with it. We dropped one feed a wk (he was having 4/ day at that stage) getting him to drop the first feed was the worst as it was harder for him to settle but he soon got used to it. We left the before bed and any night time feeds until last but tbh I think my milk dried up as we had cut down so much, he started to get frustated and wouldn't take the breast anymore so we just stopped. He started refusing bottles at 13 mths so we just gave him one beaker of milk before bed. I was quite sad for the first few wks, wondering if i'd done the right thing but soon got over it and was glad I had fed him as long as I did.

madmouse · 23/01/2009 21:21

I stopped at 11months and ds has gone straight onto cups. never wanted a bottle since out of scbu at 3 weeks and was not going to wean him onto one at nearly a year.

It went quickly. I got so exhausted from him being up six times a night, feeding all the time and waking in between that I decided to try some controlled crying. 3days later he learned to settle himself, dropped some night feeds, ate more solids, dropped more feeds, started sleeping through, dropped morning feed and then i stopped the bedtime one.

He drinks water from a tommee tippee, cold cowsmilk (have not bothered with formula either) from a doidy cup and warm milk from a tt at bedtime.

I love the new bedtime ritual, get him in his jimmies, he plays a bit, I warm his milk, we read a story, snuggle, cuddle, chat, he settles in my arm, gupls down one or two ounces and gets very sleepy. pop him in bed, he blinks lazily and smiles, then goes to sleep.

it sure beats feeding him to sleep and hope it stays that way for two hours. So no, I am not sad, although I miss the closeness. The always knowing how he 'feels', how warm/heavy how he smells. Especially when he sleeps through and I go to work (2.5days a week) before he wakes up...

turtle23 · 23/01/2009 21:27

I cant bring myself to do it. It makes me too sad every time I try...feel a bit pathetic. DS wont take milk from anything else (10 months) and I just wish I could do it!

ilovemydogandMrObama · 23/01/2009 21:28

DD stopped at about 13 months, but was down to about 2 breast feeds a day/night.

She would have milk (cow) with porridge in the morning, and plain yoghurt during the day. She would have water in a Tommee Tippee, and sometimes juice.

The night feeds were the last to go, and she started sleeping through the night and didn't seem to want an early morning feed...

HeadFairy · 23/01/2009 21:30

I stopped at 12 months, had been mix feeding from 8 months after I went back to work so was no problem to swap boob for bottle. He still has bottles at 16 months because to be honest I'm a bit stuck on how to swap them as he really loves his bottles.

It did make me sad to stop. If I hadn't had to go back to work for financial reasons I would have loved to have carried on, but the mix feeding really killed my supply so keeping it going to a year was really hard work, so mixed in with the sadness was quite a bit of relief too.

frazzledfairy · 23/01/2009 21:35

i stopped at 12 months and no it didn't make me sad dd is now 15 months and still has 3 bottles a day (no sterilising, no formula, no faff!).

think i would have missed those lovely feeding cuddles if had gone straight onto cups.

HeadFairy · 23/01/2009 21:37

Frazzledfairy, I'm the same, I like those feeding cuddles. DH and I race out of bed sometimes to get to ds first with a bottle in the morning (yes, we are saddos!) so we can sit in our lovely rocking chair giving ds his milk while he's all sleepy, and not charging around like a loon!

madmouse · 23/01/2009 21:57

headfairy i think you guys are sweet not saddos!

I was surprised to get feeding cuddles with a cup, but ds snuggles into my arm like bottle feeding position and that's how he lets me feed him milk from the cup...

HeadFairy · 23/01/2009 22:05

Ah bless you madmouse

I can't trust ds with a cup even when he's sleepy, he's such a bundle of energy. I do let him use a cup during the day, but it usually ends up all over him. The bottle ensures morning and bedtime milk stays dry

piscesmoon · 23/01/2009 22:07

Stopped at 10 months and straight onto cup and cow's milk.

bluepanda · 23/01/2009 23:51

My ds is almost 11 mths and down to morning and night bf (unless he is very sad during the night...) He has never taken bottle and jut screws face up if I offer milk, formula or cows, from cup (which he drinks water from happily) My hv tells me i can give up bf when I choose and he will just adapt, but he cries for feed in early morning and I just can't imagine what he would be like without it. Can anyone tell me how long that bit lasts, and do you just have to be really strong about it??

madmouse · 24/01/2009 10:21

my ds rooted and cried for a bit when I stopped the evening feed, the only one that i stopped, he dropped the rest. I found it just a matter of distraction, talking, cuddles, story. Lots of cuddles as you are only dropping the feed, not the love

madwomanintheattic · 24/01/2009 10:26

we went cold turkey at 10months... took 2 days but fine since...