Just a quick survey.How long did you Breastfeed for??

[elliesmoomoo]

My DD is 8 1/2 months old and we both love breastfeeding. I plan to carry on for the foreseeable future and wondered how other mums got on with the "Are you STILL breastfeeding??" comments.

[dinny]

Zaphod, blimey!!! That's fabulous!

[bossykate]

sansouci, you can check here on mn or on the nct website or with the la leche league - according to authoritative studies, you need to drink a lot when b/f for it to affect your baby.

ds - 4m exclusive with a further 2m mixed
dd - 6m exclusive with a further 2m mixed

both times stopped because of returning to work.

[sansouci]

& what an alcoholic i turned out to be!

[moondog]

sleepyjess,you're stats are very interesting!
Of course you can drink while b/feeding! Otherwise even I would ha ve thought about SMA lol! Jeezuz,a bottle of chilled champagne was one of the fist things dh brought in and I drank nearly all of it.Damn, it was good.

[bossykate]

sj please cite the sources for your assertions re alcohol and b/f/

[dinny]

I drunk when pg too. done neither of mine any harm.

[sansouci]

no moralising going on from my end, bk! I drank the odd glass or 2 of wine while pg & certainly when bfing but to say you can drink ANYTHING when bfing is incorrect. As you have pointed out.

[pixiefish]

dd still going at 16 months

[Socci]

Message withdrawn

[SleepyJess]

Cripes.. I wasn't quoting stats.. calm down girls. I was just saying that what a bf mum drinks.. be it orange juice, tea, alcohol or cat pee!.. the baby will get some of it. For instance, every time I drank a glass of orange juice, just one, DS got the runs.

I did not say anyone's baby was 'sozzled'.. carry on then. Sorry for any offence!

[SleepyJess]

And I HONESTLY wasn't moralising!!

[mcmudda]

ds - 17 months and then he decided to call it a day.
d? (due any day) - as long as possible - would like to make it to the recommended 2 years, but will see how we go.

[Blu]

4 months excl, then til about 22months mixed.

[bossykate]

SleepyJess wrote >>> "Well you can drink.. but it's not really ok"

Um, yes it is, unless you are utterly blotto when feeding your baby - the studies are out there.

[sansouci]

ah, SJ. you're such a sweetie!

[SleepyJess]

Ok.. it's ok then.. but each to their own. I certainly wasn't quoting any statistics nor have I done any studies (!).. I just didn't like the idea of DS getting ANY alcohol at all.. it didn't feel 'ok' to me.. same as I don't like him breathing any smoke at all.. it's obviously just a personal thing.. maybe because he spent so long in special care.

But I am SO not mother earth so I hope I am not coming across that way. And would not deign to tell people what they should or should not do. Was just an opinion.

[SleepyJess]

Er thanks Sansouci.. I think..worried emoticon

[sansouci]

I'm being honest, SJ! I like the way you put things... you comfort me.

[moondog]

sleepyjess,the stats I was referring to was the vast disparity in the time spent breastfeeding your three.

[SleepyJess]

[moondog]

Why was that if I may ask?

[SleepyJess]

Moondog.. it didn't work out with DS1.. he wasn't putting on weight.. was losing it.. so assumed it was my (milk's) fault and gave up. Midwives were crap and TOLD me to bottle feed! He was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at 5 weeks .. which meant he couldn't digest anything without medication. Turns out bm would have been the best thing he could possibly have had!

DD was a dream to feed...

DS2.. massive health probs.. wasn't well enough to have anything but a glucose drip in neonatal ICU until 10 days.. eventually had my expresssed colostrum.. and then I proceeded to fill fridge AND freezers up in SCBU with my EBM so they had to ship it down to the hosp. canteen freezers! Then my boobs dried up despite getting up in night to plug myself into the industrial monstrosity! Got milk back with drugs..and renewed vigour with said machine.. eventually.. after long hard road, DS fed like a dream. But turned out to have CP and was not physically able to drink from anything but my breast at 2 years old! Used to drink ALL night..! SO weaned him off forcibly as was so knackered and he learned to use a wide neck feeder thingy..

hence disparity!

That was long.. sorry!

[SleepyJess]

Oh and gave up bf DD at 10 months as was pg again.. I know you CAN feed when pg but was sick and knackered and feeding her ALL night..

[Caligula]

22 and 1/2 weeks with DS (went back to work when he was 24 weeks and wanted to get him off reasonably before so it wasn't a complete culture shock - toyed with the idea of expressing, but carrying bottles on the tube, trying to express in the loos - forget it) and 2 weeks with DD.

8 and a half months really isn't that long imo, especially if you aren't back at work. It wouldn't have crossed my mind to stop DS until he was at least a year if I'd had the choice. How very strange that people should comment on an infant under a couple of years being bf.

Re cutting down, I knew I was going back to work at 24 weeks, so I started doing it at about 19 weeks, first cutting out a mid-afternoon feed (doing bottle instead) then the mid morning one after about four or five days, then by 22 and a half weeks it was down to only one feed, in the morning. But if you have plenty of time (not pressured to go back to work, enjoy bf), you can have much more spacing in between feeds - someone else I know cut out her first feed (for bottle at a year, and didn't give up completely until her DD was about 20 months, so had about 10 months of gradual cutting out feeds. And a different person I knew cut out all feeds by six months except the night time one - she was actually back at work by about four months, but she had her night time BF with her DS every night until he was about 18 months.