did any of you have an idea in you head how long you wanted to BF for?

[jomummy2]

My DD is now 14 wks old and i'm BF her exclusively except for the odd dream feed of formula by DH if i need to go to bed early to catch up on sleep.

Before i had her i was determined to BF her and went through some initial problems (mastitis etc) but the last 6 / 7 weeks i'v relly turned a corner with it and we are both loving it and i feel so close to her. I wanted initially BF her til she was 6 months and then wean her off onto formula but now i'm not too sure if i want to stop but don't feel 100% comfortable with the idea of feeding for an extended period of time either. Just never thought i'd feel like this. Thought i'd just do it until she reached weaning age. Did anyone else have a similar goal in mind and then change and carry on longer?

with dd when i was pregnant i always said 'I'll do it for as long as i an... even some colostrum is better than nothing' but when she was born despite bf-ing being hellish i was surprised by how unwilling i was to give up. I aimed for 6 months but when we tried formula at 6 months it turned out she was cows milk intolerant and wouldn't touch soya formula so i decided to go to a year. As it happened although the sedond 6 months were far more enjoyable we were both ready to stop at at 12 months as i was pregnant again and tired and she had gone off my milk.

with ds1 i aimed for a year again but kept going as we both enjoyed it... he stopped of his own accord a week before ds2 was born when he was 2.5

ds2 is 12 months now and can't take a cup or bottle at all so his only liquid comes from me so we'll be going for a while longer.... i'l let him self wean too i think

Chairmum your post has reminded me that I too had some idea about expressing all feeds after some point, can't remember exactly why now - think it was so DD still got the goodness of bm but spared me having to feed in public maybe or to help wean DD off the boob earlier perhaps (my mum had a neighbour who found it very hard to wean at 3 years and my mum is a bit obsessed with it). Obviously my brain had blanked that out to spare my dignity but needless to say I am ROFLing now I remember Wtf was I thinking? I fecking HATE expressing with a passion and DD has never taken a bottle anyway. sniggers at former self

Anyway, as to the OP ... I am another who was somewhat negative about bfing toddlers While pg I read somewhere it was recommended to six months, so hoped to do that, then read somewhere else that you would then have to give formula to 12 months, so thought I'd go to a year to skip formula. When asked about it at MW appts I always said that I "hoped" to bfeed, as I'd heard it could be difficult, but I know I would have been gutted if we hadn't managed it (everyone in my family bfeeds).

Still going strong at 16 months and slightly of those whose DC have naturally cut down to one or two feeds a day. Cannot even imagine how we would stop - tried nightweaning a month or two ago and it was horrible for everyone involved (including the neighbours ) but then we have eg DD projectile vomiting her dinner last night and I'm so grateful we're still going

i bf ds til he was 10 months when he self weaned really..
now bf-ing dd and it has been a lot harder (had mastitis/cracked nipples for months but it got better!) so kept setting myself small targets: 3 months, then 4 months, then 6 months.. she is 6 mo now and although in some ways i would like her to take some ff its such a faff, and i am actually enjoying feeding now i figure we will just keep going..who knows how long for?!

Planned to feed DD for a year - stopped when she was around 15mo (pregnant and too sore).
Wanted to natural term wean DS but he wasn't having it and went on nursing strike at 20mo.

I wanted to bf to at least 6 months, that turned into a year, then 18 months, and DS self weaned at 23 months.

Just take it a day at a time and see how you feel. No one ever thinks they will be feeding someone who can have an indepth conversation about it, but they change so slowly to that, its not as weird as you think before you do it

I also assumed that you stopped at 6 months, I didnt realise that babies still need lots of milk after then - also the general guidelines in this country indicate 6 months as the cut off point.
Didnt know about WHO until I came across Mumsnet.
But as others have said, when I got to 6 months there was no reason to stop and both DS1 and I enjoyed it. I fed him till he self weaned around 2.6 ish when I was pregnant with DS2.
DS2 is 2.9 and still feeding, one feed only per day or two but we'll carry on till he is happy to stop.

Taking eash day as it comes and being open minded about the length of time you feed for is a good way to approach it.

Thanks everyone for you experiences. I'm certainly not redy to stop yet and like one poster said i still see DD as a newborn and she is now 3 1/2 months old i suppose he relationship will evolve itself. I'll just plod on and see what happens.

1 question though - her getting teeth absolutely frighten me. She can pull atmy nipple now with her gums which can hurt so the prospect of her chopping down on me with teeth fills me with dread. How do i get past the pain of the teeth?

DD has nearly a full set of teeth now and it doesn't feel any different - they just adapt their latch as their teeth arrive. She has bitten me 2-3 times and yes it really hurts but luckily she hasn't been a persistent biter; I believe while they are actually latched on, their tongue covers their lower teeth, so they can't bite you without also biting their own tongues. The only other times it's been an issue is when she's fallen asleep on the boob and my nipple has slipped out of her mouth and grazed or been nipped on the way past, which does also hurt but only very fleetingly,

OTOH, my little brother bit my mum once and was weaned the same day!

I always thought I'd breastfeed my children until they'd self wean at 3, 4 or whenever. But not in a "determined" kind of way, in my head it was just something people do when they have a baby...

BFed DD for 4 days (just about), and I'm now tandem feeding DS1 3.6 and DS2 22months. I think DS1 isn't bothered anymore, he only does it when he sees his brother, wants to know he's still my baby too iyswim.

I say don't worry or think about it too much. It's great you're managing to breastfeed you baby and just keep doing it for as long as it feels good/normal to you. There's no deadline you need to worry about.

I thought I would try to feed DD1 for the first few weeks. I even bought a tin of formula.
I was really lucky to find breastfeeding relatively easy from day one. And so a few weeks became 6 months, which became a year, which became 2yrs 6 mths. The formula was given away unopened.

I fed throughout my second pregnancy and tandem fed for 6 months. All of which would have been unthinkable to me at one time.

DD2 is now 10 months and I will probably breastfeed her for a while longer.

It's lovely to hear you have had a positive experience. I wish you well with whatever you decide.

I thought I'd do what everyone else in my family did and feed for about 6 weeks then switch to formula. Had some problems with tongue tie over the first few weeks, but maybe because I'm perverse, it made me more determined to continue - especially when I'd done some more research about the benefits. We ended up exclusively BF for 6 mos, and weaned at 10 mos. Used formula for a few weeks (and what a hassle that was) and then switched to cow's milk. She still has bottle now, at 22 mos and occasionally I wish she was still BF.

jomummy2, With DD I found she nipped me a couple of times and I learnt to put teething gel on her teeth before we nursed and/or give her a chilled teething ring to gum a bit. If she did nip, I used my clean little finger to break the seal between my breast and her mouth and placed her firmly on the floor. She didn't so it long.

With DS he (touch wood) has never nipped or bitten me and he is now 18 months old.

I hope your DD is like my DS and never bites you

DitaVonCheese, while you're here, just wanted to say that you and your lovely DD gave me my first sort of 'wakeup call' that breastfeeding didn't stop at 6 months. I think your DD was just turning a year when we met and seeing you breastfeed her with such confidence was really really amazing and was the start of me thinking 'hey, maybe 6 months is not the cutoff point'. So thank you!

One year, then he hit one year and it became two

Now feeding DS2 who is one in a couple of weeks and will aim for two again

Yank Thank you so much for such a lovely message! It has given me such a boost Hope that all is well with you and your beautiful DS.