Any one breastfed a second child for a shorter length of time than a first child?

[Reallytired]

I breastfed my son until he was two and half years old. My dd is nearly 11 months and I feeling a bit fed up of breastfeeding. She is waking up 4 times a night and has been biting me.

Do you think its unfair not to feed her until two years old? I think that toddler nursing has great benefits for children and I feel guilty about giving my dd a poorer start than her brother. Or am I being nuts?

I wonder if it was the other way round, would you be thinking 'I'll have to stop dc2 bf now because dc1 only got x months'.

First and subsequent children end up treated differently in so many ways. I don't think just cause it's bf that you should make the decision based on comparison betweeen the two, but on how you feel about the issue in question, with the child in question.

IYSWIM

I fed dd1 until 13 months and stopped as she was a biter, just laughed at me when I tried to tell her off. I fed dd2 until 8 months when she appeared to wean.

I now suspect that it was nursing strike and she'd probably have gone back to the breast. But at the time (9 years ago!) I didn't have the bfing knowledge I do now. So we stopped.

dd3 fed until 22 months, ds until 25 months both gently encouraged to wean but me cutting down very slowly. I have now refused ds feeds as he stopped a month ago and when he's tried to feed more recently it hurts.

Anyway, that's my history! if you're not enjoying feeding and want to stop, then give yourself permission to do so 11 months is a good time to have fed for and if it's not working then don't beat yourself up for not being fair! different children have different needs

if you think you want to stop, how about giving yourself permission in a fortnight's time. See how things go until then and then decide. You might find that it fixes itself and you're happy to carry on

have you thought about back molars? I think some of mine (vague!) had molars coming through at about a year and it causes issues with sleep and lacth

i am the youngest of three and on asking my mum how she sorted out nap times, she said i refused to take my afternoon nap when i was about one. i said, so what did you do, she said tbh, nothing. i got you up and you would pass out round the house. on the stairs once . she said well i had two older chldren so you just had to fit in. she bfed us for differing lengths of time too, including giving my brother formula much earlier - not sure what happened but...

the point of this story is that i am not remotely bothered by this and you should just do what feels ok and not worry. different children, different circumstances, they won't mind in the long term.

hope this helps and is not completely pointless!

I do not think is unfair at all.

You have fed her through all the months when she was only having breast milk, it is hard work, you have done a great job.

I am having teh same thing - DD1 I BF for 14 months - stopped when I went back to work.

DD2 I am BF she is 8 months, but I find it tiresome. DD2 is also still waking at night, DD2 slept through at 6 months and everything was easier, of course i didn't have a toddler there as well then.

I am planning on taking it to the year and stopping. It makes no sense to wean her from breast to formula in my mind, but breast to cows milk - yessiree that's my plan.

If it's what you want don't sweat it, honsetly.

I did.

Oldest got BF for 14 months. Youngest only 9 months.

They were very different characters; younger one never used BFing for comfort (preferred thumb), liked copying the older one (liked a cup) and was a complete pain e.g. biting, getting distracted.

Sometimes feel a few qualms because 9 months isn't quite long enough. However, she was a pain!!! It then took her years to wean off formula.

Yes. Fed ds1 for 14 months and ds2 for 11 months. He just wanted whatever his brother was eating - absolutely loved proper meals, and was far too busy to breast feed.

Yes. Fed dd for 11 months (until she self weaned). Ds I stopped feeding after 6 months because my GP pointed out that the side-effects to the medication I was taking meant I wasn't very effective at looking after him, in fact a bit of a potential danger. But then you are never going to be able to bring up two children exactly alike, give them both exactly the same amount of attention at each stage etc etc. Doesn't worry me at all.