Breastfeeding past six months

[confusedfirsttimemum]

I've been exclusively breast feeding DD,who is now 12 weeks. It has all been going really well .

I had originally set myself the goal of exclusively breast feeding to six months. However, now I would like to look a bit further ahead.

We have had limited success with bottles of EBM, and so my questions are:

1. How old are most babies before they can drink from a cup (I realise that there's likely to be a massive range of answers here)and don't need to use a bottle;

1. How long would I need to breast feed to let DD skip formula all together? In all honesty, I probably wouldn't want to breastfeed on a really extended basis (although I respect those who do), but could probably keep going to a year. By that age, is food, water and cow's milk enough?

I went back to work at 11 mo and DS had cows milk (if he wanted it - he didn't) when he went to nursery. In reality he had water during the day and bf morning/evening/through the night as necessary. I could never express, so that wasn't an option for me, but it all worked out fine for us. I tried every cup going but the ones with the straws were the most successful.

I only managed to get to about 5 months before the pressure from the HV's to stop started. I clung to BF until 6 months and was then really happy to have my body back.

Am toying with the idea of trying for longer this time and this thread is making some very interesting reading....

Mummygirl - I am not at all in the 'formula is poison' mindset. It's just that breastfeeding is going so well for me and DD that it seems to make sense to keep going until the point where she doesn't need formula or breastmilk as part of her diet for nutritional reasons. (I realise that continuing to breastfeed for even longer has immune system benefits, bonding, comfort, etc). That isn't just for altruistic reasons, but also selfish ones like avoiding making up all those bottles! I was interested to know when that point would be reached to see if it was feasible to fit it into my life and return to work. Happily, it sounds like it is .

Thanks for the comments on the cups. My reason for asking is that DD really doesn't like bottles and I am thinking that she might be happier when she can start drinking from something that isn't nipple-like. Straws, sippy cups and open cups all sound like good options to try.

As far as cup goes, DS was a bottle refuser too and anything straw based went over much better with him until he a bit older. IIRC he got the hang of sippy cups properly at around 1 and preferred the non-spill ones initially.

even if you do end up using bottles I wouldn't bother sterilising! (Then, not now!!)
Can you tell I'm lazy...

confused - you don't have to give up breastfeeding completely when you go back to work either. If you want to you could do a morning or evening breastfeed and use cows milk or formula in the day.

Hi,

Sorry to hijack this thread with a question of my own - if I go back to work when my dd is 8/9 months will she definitely have to have formula in the day? Presumably it will not be enough for her to have bm in the mornings and evenings, and water and food in the day?

Do you think someone could realistically express enough for 3 or 4 months to cover the day time feeds? I mean, could you maintain the supply etc?

Would that be more likely if you were working 4 days a week not 5 - so you could bf all feeds 3 days a week?

Sorry I know nothing about this. I hate the thought of going back to work and I hate the thought of taking bm away from her and replacing it with formula.

Both my DC dropped from four BFs at six months to three at about seven/seven and a half (dropping the lunch feed), then to two feeds (dropping the afternoon feed) at nine months. So by the time I went back to work at 12 months/10 months, respectively, they were only BF in the morning and evening, and had three meals plus snacks in between. It worked really well.

I breastfed DD until a year and will do with DS (currently 11 months) as well. Then straight to cows milk at breakfast and evening, from a sippy cup. Both were offered water in a sippy cup with meals from the very start of weaning - DD took a while to take any real volume, but DD was drinking well within just a couple of weeks.

Vezzie, I'm in the same situation as you this time round. I expect ds2 will probably have to have some formula but think it will only need to be one or two feeds. Your dd will be having some food then, and could also have other milk replacements like yogurt. How much women can express is quite variable, and I might give it another go but am not counting on it working.

I am still bfing Ds at 19mo - way beyond my initial "target"! I planned on a minimum of 6m, by the time I got to that I was determined to go to the year and avoid formula altogether (such a faff apart from anything else - why bother when I have fresh milk on tap for free?).

DS never really had a bottle - the few times I had to express for whatever reason, he was reluctant; he had a sippy cup for water but definitely preferred drinking from a normal cup (that I was holding for him). He now drinks from a normal plastic cup (wth a handle) quite successfully but only in his highchair - he hasn't mastered the art of carrying it so it doesn't spill!

Most formulae are made from cow's milk anyway - so giving cow's milk to your baby to drink is just as 'safe' in that respect; the difference is that the formula milks are fortified with extra nutrients whereas cow's milk has to be supplemented with a balanced diet of solids - it can't be used on its own as a BM replacement.

vezzie - it depends a lot on you and your child. Some women find expressing easy, but you might find that you struggle to produce enough EBM. Some babies take to a bottle easily, but some don't. It's not unheard of for a 9 month old baby to refuse all milk in the day and catch up when they are reunited with their Mum after work.

Vessie I did find it realisitic to express enough for my DS starting nursery at 7-8 mths. He had no formula, and was eating minimal solids at that age. I found it alot easier to express once I was at work and missing feeds, than it was before returned to work and was with him feeding frequently through the day. I worked 3 days a week, and expressed just once a day during my lunch break. As others have said, if your DD is eating well she may be ok without milk during those 8-10hrs a day at nursery.

This thread is really interesting. My dd will be almost 12 months by the time I return to work.

I have been meaning to post about this since I saw a GP last week who told me that she went back to work when her dc was 3 months and continued to bf to a year. She said she did this by giving her dc cows milk in the day and then catching up bf in the evening night.

Is this ok? She said another of her dc's refused a bottle so wouldn't have any milk until bf again when she returned from work.

I obviously don't know what hours the gp works. I assumed it was 9-5 type hours from the way she was talking about it.

My sister has to return to work when her dc is 5 months old but I don't want to pass on what the gp said if it's not reliable (although I realise there is a difference bteween a 3 month old and a 5 month old).

sippy cup, able to drink a full cup rather then sips at about 10 months for both of mine.
Ds2 refused to take more than sips of any fluid other than BM, though. from 9 months he got 2 BM feeds a day, sipped a little cow's milk and a little juice...he was fine.
Formula he only spat out.