Stupid question but... it IS possible to excl. bf a second child, isn't it?

[CherryChoc]

Just a conversation the other day with a few friends and the subject turned to second babies (we all have just one atm) - general consensus seemed to be that ebf would be impossible with two and you'd have to at least give the occasional bottle. I don't see why bf would be any more difficult tbh! Especially if I'm on my own with 2 children - I don't want to add more work (making bottles) - so am I right, is it possible to exclusively breastfeed a second baby until, say, 12 months? (With solids from 6m of course)

I don't think its impossible at all - i exc BF dd (my third baby but first bf baby) until 6 months, and we stopped (not our choice) at 10 months. It really worked for us and i found it far easier than bottles.

Yes of course. I fed dd for 10 months, but was expressing a lot as she was in nursery. Ds is now 10 months and I have no intention of stopping anytime soon. I'd have thought it's much easier, especially with 2, to just whip a boob out tbh, rather than make up bottles

Yes I am sure you will get loads of these responses.

I ebf DD2 and am currently ebfing DD3 who is 9 months. I also know Mums who are ebf no 6.

DP works long hours and I have no family help so on my own with 3 under 5, if I can do it anyone can

Well, I did it - it seemed the easy option to me tbh - I couldn't be bothered messing around with bottles. I had 2 years between mine. Don't really see why there should be a problem, if there's no other problem with bf.

yes, i ebf dd2, still am! she's 8 mo and i have no intention of stopping.

Oh, and get yourself a good wrap sling- invaluable for feeding in when you have another one to look after as well

Eh?
Of course it is!
I ebf my second and I was all alone (from 3 weeks) and moving house as dh had his job abroad to get back to.
People do come out with some funny stuff.
The baby had a bottle of EBM every other day from quite early on as i had to see a physion/see to house stuff but it was fine.

I ebf dd who is my third child. She is 19 months and still has the occasional bf. She has never had a bottle and it was so much easier to bf than to do all the sterilising etc....

I did it until 12 months with both of mine and fully intend doing it with a third.

Tis hard work but am crap with sterilising etc so felt that it was less work in the end.

It's difficult in the beginning when the baby is feeding alot and you do have to make ccompromises such as letting your first one watch more TV than you would like, scrambled eeggs, baked beans etc for dinner.

But that period - as you know- only lasts a few months and once the feeds are more regularly spaced it is easier - you just pop them on and get on with whatever you were doing with DC1.

I do see the benefits of someone else being able to feed DC2 though and have to admit there were times when BF seemed difficult - in the park with 2 for example...

It's better to ebf - you need two hands to bottle feed but only one to breast feed - the other one is free to play with dc1, pick up the phone, play ludo, put on a dvd, open the door etc etc

Thanks for all the responses I knew it was a stupid question... just been bothering me, is all!

I have five children and have never used formula. They all weaned naturally, and were never dependent on cows' milk.

I do think most of my friends found it more difficult, and I know several who ebf their firstborn but mixed fed their second child or gave up bf sooner than they would have liked. But it's certainly perfectly possible. I ebf DD and didn't even try her with ebm.

I did have to wean DS off an excessive reliance on Cbeebies afterwards, admittedly...

I Had a 17 month gap between DSs and DS2 (still BF never had a bottle) I am now exBF DD who I hope will also never have to have a bottle of anything. I can't get my head round the idea that it is easier to give even the odd bottle. Surely sterilising and either expressing (biggest faff in the world) or making up ff would be harder.
Oddly DS1 is the only one to have had (a agrand total of around 10) ebm and that was enough to put me off wanting to with DS.
In short, it is entirely possible to EBF a 2nd child.

mine have never had a bottle and only ever had bm and i have fed both til 19 mths. I had a two year age gap and both of mine fed every hour and a half/two hrs in the day but would usually do a very good block at night from about 7 wks so got a break and sleep then (i was lucky that both were going through from 10pm - 6ish on a good night from 12 wks). My first child just had lots of cbeebies early days and i didnt mind bf wherever we were out. I found it so much easier bf and as long as you had your boobs with you then it did not matter if you stayed longer than intended somewhere and it made travelling so much lighter!

Still ebf-ing ds2 - he's 6 months now, just starting solids

I did better bf no2 than no1

Still bf-ing my 11 month twins, who are dd2 and dd3 - dd1 was 3 1/2 when they were born and they haven't had any formula or ebm. So: definitely possible!

DS1 had an occasional bottle and was bf until 13 mths but DS2 never ever had one and I bf him until he was 16mths and self weaned.

Definitely easier second time around particularly if No. 2 isn't as demanding as or such a slower feeder as No. 1. DS1 would have been a nightmare had I had him second but I reckon I would still have bf as I wouldn't have had time to do any bottles.

still bfing my 9mo who has never had a bottle. in some ways easier just because you actually really know that the constant feeding will steady off, that this stage will pass really quite quickly. did find it tiring, and found 6week growth spurt marathon a bit much, but this too shall pass! ds 23mo older btw

Why do your friends think it's not possible?

Excl bf all 9 of mine. Six of them up to 6m and then introduced solids.

Although first baby did have some bottles of formula while still in hospital for 3days postnatally.

I ebf both mine til 6m and continued til 12m. Neither ever had a bottle and they are 24 months apart. Was easier the 2nd time.

I exclusively bf ds (my second). In fact, whereas with dd I did try and introduce bottles of ebm, with ds I didn't bother faffing with expressing or bottles. Fed until he was just over 1. Solids from 6 months (dd was having solids from about 4 months, as was the then guidance from HV).

I didn't manage to BF my DS1 at all. I am exclusively BF DS2 (4 months). Not even a bottle of EBM. I don't get how bottle feeding would be easier when you have a toddler as well - who needs extra washing up and sterilising etc as well as making up bottles? I wonder if your friends mean that their approach to parenting changed, ie they were anxious to get the baby into a routine and wanted to see how much they had so they could definitely leave them waiting for food for another 4 hours? Not the same thing IMO.

Cherrychoc - I exclusively breastfed DS for six months while feeding DD as well! So yes it's completely possible.