Breastfeeding - when did you stop and why?

[Merrz]

Hi all, hope I'm posting in the right place. DD is 4 months old, breastfed from newborn, I'm enjoying bf and it came very naturally to both of us. Imagined I would bf until around 6 months then move to bottles, we've been trying a bottle occasionally since about 8 weeks, DD not keen but think she could be persuaded if I persisted. But now I'm begining to wonder if I should just carry on feeding myself and never bother with the bottle? But feel like there's a bit of pressure to be able to leave her, i also worry by 8/9 months I'll be regretting it but will be too late to start a bottle then? How long have other people bf for? If i were to stop bf at 1 year would I need to move to formula at that point or could she just have cows milk? Any advice or experiences would be appreciated.

With my son, I carried on. I tried to get him to take the bottle because I was going back to work full time when he was 9 months. He never took it, or drank any other milk until we weaned at 18months!

My daughter was a total dummy refuser, let alone bottle. We stopped at 2yrs 7months because she genuinely loved it and she still (aged 4) doesn't drink any milk. Now feeding my third, he's 7 months. I'm not too bothered about holidays, etc without them for now, but you may feel differently xx

Thanks for your reply Wallabyone so when you went back to work did your son just manage without milk through the day? I don't actually have any desire to go on holidays/nights out etc without DD either but not sure I'll feel the same in a year. It's funny, feels like theres a lot of pressure on woman to be but not I feel like theres a pressure to get her to take a bottle and be able to leave her

I would carry on as long as you want to. I also wouldn’t assume that what it’s like now is what it will be like at 8 months or a year.

My first was only bf for 10 weeks, had to stop for medical reasons unfortunately. My 2nd is still bf at 15 months but we are winding down to stopping soon. It’s been way easier bf him this long than doing bottles with my first.

At 8/9 months I was only really feeding him maybe 3 times during the day (morning/afternoon/bedtime) and during the night. At 12 months, just morning and bedtime. Now I only really feed him in the morning every couple days, more for my comfort than his. He never took a bottle but he drinks from a cup. He started nursery at 11 months and it’s been fine.

Oh and I had my first overnight without him at 13 months and he was fine. He slept through til 6:30am just a bit of cow’s milk in a cup before bed. I’m taking my dd on holiday for 2 nights away in a few weeks. It hasn’t limited really what I’ve wanted to do.

DS1 self weaned at 2.5, I’d gradually brought it down to feeds only at nap time and bed time and he did the rest himself. DS2 is 20 months and still breastfed

I stopped feeding DD at 18 months but by then she was only getting breastmilk at bedtime (and had been since about 11 months). I started dropping feeds from about 7 months as she upped her solid food intake. She didn't drink from a bottle and went straight onto a sippy cup of water / cows milk

Why do you want to give a bottle?

When you reach one year, they can have cows milk in a sippy cup.

I fed my DS for 18 months when he stopped on his own. Couldn't be bothered with bottles. They're not obligatory.

I BF to 18 months with DS1 and 2 years with DS2. Neither took a bottle but I started leaving them for a few hours quite regularly at 7 months, and went back to work full time at 9 months. They just BF before I left and when I came back and had solids and water in between, then at 12 months we added in some cows milk.

I breastfed until my daughter was 23 months, when my milk dried up for my 2nd pregnancy. She just became uninterested.

Re the bottles, I always expressed / gave her bottles from quite early on if I really felt I needed break (which wasn't easy, I didn't express well!!)

But what I would say is if you're not bothered about offering bottles, by 9 months she will likely go a longer period of time without needing to breastfeed, so should you want to leave her you would be able to without her taking a bottle. She would likely feed around you being with her.

Once she is 1 you wouldn't need to continue if you didn't want to, she could have other milks once she reaches that age. Again she wouldn't need other milks either, if she has a varied balanced diet, food is enough.

If you choose to stop Bf before age 1 you'd need to introduce formula.

DS1 - 18 months DS2 - 1 year (friends mothers view was stop when they need shoes!)

I BF (not exclusively) for 14 months with DS. I stopped then as he was down to 1 feed before bed, didn't seem all that bothered and I was done with it tbh. Also wanted to start ttc#2 and my periods didn't come back till 13 months so wanted to maximise fertility etc as I'm not getting any younger.

I went back to to work when DS was 9 months, at that point he bf morning and evening (and fed once or twice at night) and had a bottle of formula in the day.

My DD never accepted a bottle, though Lord knows I tried! Around 6 months she started taking an occasional sippy cup of expressed breastmilk. At 8 months - specifically, the very day she learned to crawl - she decided to stop breastfeeding and would only take the sippy cup because it was faster. Places to go, people to see, don’t you know! It was quite painful for me because she went from 7 feeds per day to zero absolutely cold turkey. I kept on trying to offer her the breast for 2 weeks, but mostly ended up pumping for her. It worked out well because I returned to work at 9 months. She then had a combination of expressed milk and formula until she was 11 months, when we switched to cow’s milk per our doctor’s recommendation.

Personally, I’d recommend trying to persist getting her to take a bottle occasionally. EBF is lovely in theory, but it really stank when I had a migraine at 3 months and my husband wasn’t able to help give me a break at all. I was invited to a once-in-a-lifetime event when DD was 4 months old, and my wonderful DH fed her 60ml of milk with a medicine dropper, 1ml at a time, so that I could go out! The man is a saint, but that was very much a one-time solution!

EBF all mine.. Dd til 2, same for DS2 and now DS no. 3. We don't give dummies or use bottles, generally by 18/22m I'd start winding down feeds including night weaning if they haven't already done it, but find they need the comfort a lot as toddlers, big feelings etc. I've found both mine fed waaaaay more as toddlers than as young babies.

Just remember that it can be harder to wean past a certain age, not impossible but harder.

No reason to rush, introduce a bottle, listen to others, leave them overnight etc etc. Do what you feel is best for your lo. I didn't leave either of mine til I was in hospital having no. 3...over four years. Once they're 6-9m you'll find they can go longer stretches without the boob but they, and you, might not be ready anyway. Classic seoerarion anxiety time.

I BF my DS and my DD until they were just under 2 years - by which time they'd naturally reduced to once a day at bedtime. I think once they were eating solids they naturally reduced to only BF before naps / bedtime and first thing in the morning.

If it's going so well, why stop? Once on solids you will be fine to leave your DD for a good few hours here and there - she can have water and expressed breastmilk or formula in a sippy cup, plus food. If she adapts well to milk from a cup then you could leave her for longer if you wanted to. Bottles aren't essential at all.

Four months is tiny still. It sounds like you're both doing a great job. If it aint broke don't fix it :)

I stopped last month at 20ish months. He'd sort of self weaned to just a small comfort feed at bedtime but a family illness meant I had to be away from him for a week and that seemed to finish off my milk. I tried a couple of times after that but it was painful and he wasn't really interested anymore.

I EBF to 6 months, then introduced some food but kept BF until DD was about 8 months then swapped some feeds for formula and worked down to only feeding first thing in the morning and last thing at night. Then just at bedtime (she doesn't wake up in the night often at all) and when she was about 11 months I stopped all together and now any feeds she needs she just has formula. I was going back to work and was ill for a while so the timing made sense and I wanted my boobs back/not to feed anymore and for her dad to be able to put her to bed without me being there.
Good luck whatever you decide! There is no wrong answer for me, I'm lazy and feeding for a bit longer was just easier

First baby- 3 days
Second--5 days
Bf just didn't work for us. Midwives were adamant the latch was right, I fed regularly but they both lost weight in the first few days and I got very sore with the constant feeding. I mean absolutely constant.
I have pcos and wonder if this affected my milk supply.

Well you should do what feels right for you. If your happy and comfortable breastfeeding then you could carry on. Weaning all depends on the child, the age and the way u do it imo.

I breastfed DD until about 8/9 months and she weaned naturally because i was pregnant with DS, she went on to formulae then cows milk very easily. With DS I had to pump breast milk often for the first month or so until I finished my masters at uni, then i was exclusively breastfeeding and I had to wean him BY FORCE just before his 2nd birthday because he would want to breastfeed all night and it would be so painful. Mind you, he never accepted a bottle nor a dummy after my time at uni.
I defo didnt plan to breastfeed for that long, it just happened but it was a nightmare to wean him, took about 2 months of hell lol

Thank you everyone for the replies, its really good to hear what others have done. The only reason i want her to take a bottle is so someone else could put her to bed, I'm supposed to have a hen weekend and a big night out for a friend's big birthday later in the year but I feel so guilty and stupid stopping bf just for those 2 things but I also feel stupid saying I can't go to anything in an evening for the next year because I'm bf

At 4.5 years and because he didn't want it any more. Until that point he did (albeit once a day for the last year or so), it didn't bother me and I'm a lazy cow so path of least resistance, always. He never had a bottle but drank cows milk from 1.

@Tootyfrooty35 I had no idea it was harder to wean past a certain age, what age?

You can try her on a bottle in prep for your nights away, doesn't mean you need to wean her. Good luck - DS would never take a bottle! He would take an open doidy cup from about 5 months though.

I would also suggest carrying on if you’re finding it easy - you’ve done the hard part of BF, it gets easier as time goes on. I BF DD2 until about 23 months when she kept saying ‘all done mummy’ and refusing! What I did do though, at around 6m when she started eating solids, was to start BF mostly on a schedule (to help with fitting all the meals in!) and got her sleeping through the night without a feed. That meant i didn’t feel completely tied to her all the time and could go out after she went to bed at 7 if I needed to. Gradually I dropped it to 2 feeds and by the time she stopped she would just feed in the morning.
Nothing wrong with formula (DD1 was mostly FF) but I would avoid the faff of switching at 6m if you don’t need to.

I did a year for each of mine. With the eldest, I stopped because I was pg with the second, and
as I was on clexane to prevent mc, I was advised to stop. It did seem like a good time though. Tbh, it changes after you start weaning - it isn't like the first few months. As the baby gets more efficient it gets quicker, for one thing, and as they start taking more solids you start dropping feeds, and you can start using cups for milk rather than worrying about bottles. So it can be more of a tailing off than a switchover to bottlefeeding for a younger baby. By a year it was really just the going to bed feed left.

2 years and one month. I tried to introduce cows milk at 1 years, and he wouldn't have it. He still won't have it now, so doesn't drink milk at all. Milk in porridge or weetabix mixed, but no naked milk. I also tried milk shakes, cartons, straws, novelty cups, soppy cups to tempt him with no damn luck.

I would say I felt quite over it by the time I stopped and quite drained. Plus he still got a cold every week, but hey it's done. I found it hard to say no as I'm a SAHM