Baby is 1 tomorrow - remind me of the benefits of continuing to breastfeed?

[MrsMcJnr]

That says it all really, she doesn't take a bottle and has never had any formula so was going to start replacing the day feeds at least with cow's milk, is my milk still best for her?

It also gives you and your child a bit of quiet time together
Its very comforting for her too - I found it invaluable for settling DD when she was a bit upset.
I'd not intended to bf for ever, but ended up doing it until she was about 2.5 yrs by which time I was ready to stop, although I think she would have happily continued.
I found once cows milk was introduced, DD wouldn't take it at first but did eventually (it was offered at nursery too) and she did bf less during the day so it was a fairly gradual process of reducing feeds.

Yes, as she is a human and so is your milk.

Not to mention the fact that you have a BFing relationship and to suddenly be made to stop feeding will be difficult for her if she hasn't initiated it.

If you do decide to do mother-led weaning, be gentle. Don't offer feeds, and use distraction, rather than substitution with another milk.

Why cow milk? Nutritious food and water will be fine.

I found that the feeds naturally cut down with weaning and offering water with meals etc. By the time my son was 12-14 months I was really only doing a 'first thing' and 'bed time' feed with the odd afternoon snack. By the time he was 18 months I was really only feeding him at bedtime - there was an occasion when I stayed out late and missed bedtime for the first time and my husband put him to bed with no problem at all. The next evening I thought I'd see what would happen if I didn't offer to feed him - I just had a cup of water as a distraction. There was no fuss at all - I was ready to stop but also a bit sad that he seemed ready to stop too! I guess I did replace some feeds with cows milk as he was having cows milk with his cereal (mashed up weetabix!)and ensured he was getting plenty of calcium from other dairy products. He's four now and loves his cows milk.

If you want to start gradually weaning then start introducing some cows milk in the day.

I did that with my DS at 12 months. This week at nearly 16 mths i think we've more or less weaned but the same time I'm happy as it has gone very smoothly and I'm ready to stop.

I started by offering some cows milk in day. Not huge amount of interest to start with. I actually found he started to take more if in the eve I BF first then offered a drink out of a cup of cows milk.

I've had a few nights out where I did not feed at bedtime. Then last week at bedtime he did not want to feed ( not offered though) and seemed to just want a cuddle.
This week taken on principle of don't offer and don't refuse and seems to of weaned with not any real upset from him.

www.kellymom.com/bf/bfextended/ebf-benefits.html

you've done fantastically to feed for a whole year! I don't mean that in a patronising way obviously - it is really good, and pretty rare really.

If you really wanted to stop, then cut down gradually, but if you're happy to continue you may as well. Lots of my friends BFed full time til 1yr, then just did morning and night for a while, then just night time. Don't forget, the WHO guidelines say breastmilk is beneficial until 2 years so there's definite advantages if you do continue. I don't know why it's classed as 'extended' BFing as really it's biologically normal!

There's also been research that says (sorry don't know where) BF benefits are 'dose-related', it's not all or nothing IYSWIM - they get benefits from every single feed.

Not that I'm biased or anything...

Reasons to be Proud

Thanks ladies I feel that the best way for my baby and I is to gradually cut down, at the moment we are just about phasing out the afternoon feed and I am feeding her in the morning and at bedtime BUT she is also a bad sleeper, has never slept a night through and still wants to suckle most of the night, the lack of sleep is killing me and people keep telling me that she is waking because I am still breast feeding her. Any thoughts on that?

Don't tell people you BF her at night when she wakes. - It's easier. DD is 14mo and am also still BF. I stopped at 12mo with DS and thought it would be the same with DD, but she still carries on and as much as I'm wanting to stop at some point in the next few months, am hoping it happens naturally. DD only feeds at bedtime, morning, and surprise surprise through the night! - When people enquire about her sleep now, I just say oh she's waking with the teething a lot at the moment, all of her molars are coming through... etc. and leave out "and most times I feed her back to sleep as it soothes and settles her a lot more than 5ml of calpol does [and means I get back to sleep quicker too!]"

I've seen so many posts on here disagreeing that BF causes disrupted sleep, but I do think it does cause the sleep association and gives them a reason to wake up (albeit a good reason - they wake because they want that close time with just you and them). A colleague who FF had a couple of dreadful sleepers, but the majority of people I know with frequent night wakers have BF.

Am with you on the sleep deprivation, do what you have to do to survive (guessing you already co-sleep by you saying DD wants to suckle most of the night?) - both DS and DD's sleep did get better just after 12 months, DD is now waking just twice, sometimes with longer gaps (e.g. we had a 1am waking this week, then she slept till 6.15am), so hopefully it's just round the corner for you.

It's free.

The biggest thing for me is that I find cross-species breastfeeding a weird concept. Cows milk is for calves and human milk is for babies. That said, ds who is 3 does like cows milk now. I thought when he stopped breastfeeding at 2.4 yrs there would be no need.