Breastfeeding 'older' babies in public

[PrettyCandles]

What's the big deal? If you're comfortable feeding a 3mo in public, then why not a 1yo? Between about 4m and 1y I tended to use Mother-and-Baby rooms, or somewhere discreet to feed dd, but that was because during that period she was an awful thrasher and I disliked having my breast periodically displayed to the world. Dd was still having daytime feeds at 18m and I happily fed her in public - in fact, at that age I prefered not to feed in MaB rooms because I felt that I might be rubbing it into the faces of mums who regretted having weaned.

I can't understand why it should be an issue, but so many mums have said that they fed to a fairly advanced age 'but only at home'.

prettycandles - i thought that by that age (ie abt 1) the number of feeds would be v. low anyway?? eg just morning & night?
if so, then you'd never need to feed in public, would you?

I think it depends on how scheduled you are. With DS1, I was quite scheduled, and by a year, he was feeding just twice a day, and soon after, just once a day.

But with DS2, I don't really have a schedule, so I feed him before putting him down, or whever I think of it, or whatever. He's 10 months now, and I don't think I'm going to turn into Gina Ford any time soon.

I don't feed him in public that often, as he's not interested in feeding in public, and will often bite me as a result.

(I do feel a bit funny bf in public now, although it's totally natural to me, I know that 10 months old is, to many people, "old" to be breastfeeding.)

When I started cutting down on dd's feeds she was about 19m and was feeding 4/5x daily - and eating 3 full meals plus occasional snacks. And she was not a porker, just big and strong with a good appetite!

ok pc, that's quite a lot i guess! she must need it tho??

i'd happily bf my 6 mth old ds past a year (originally said i'd stop then), but i thought it'd just be a couple a day by then. i have no problem whatsoever with public bf (tiny babies, bigger babies, whatever), tho i can't actually remember ever having seen a much older baby bf in public. dunno whether i'd be 'brave' enough myself to do it, tho i hope i would, should it come to that (it took me a little while to feel happy with bf my tiny ds in public, fine now). morning/night feeds def more appealing to me personally.