Extended breastfeeding/toddler feeding support thread

[Hellohello2020]

Hi, just wandered if anyone doing same wanted to join. I thought I'd stop breastfeeding my daughter by 18 months but she turned 2 in June and we are still going. I'll post a few questions and pop back in here later to add my answers
Child's age?
How often do you feed
Have you/did you have a plan to stop
Best thing
Worst thing

Well done on still feeding your little one 🥰

My little girl is 2yrs 4m

She feeds to sleep, once or twice through the night and in the morning before we get us. Doesn't tend to feed in the day as a rule but it's not unusual for her to perhaps have a quick but of 'sofa booby' as she calls it in the afternoon 😂

No plans to stop, we are both currently happy to continue until she decides to naturally wean.

Best thing: ooh tough one. The look you get when they are feeding and look up at you is probably the best thing for me but I am just so proud and happy to still be able to offer her comfort and protection so perhaps that.

Worst thing: Nights when she wants to be constantly attached 😬

Hi, we had the same issue with nights so we decided as she is old enough to set boundaries to not feed to sleep initially but I will feed if she wakes up in the night/early morning. When I remember I offer cows milk before brushing teeth and water after. She often will sleep though.

I keep thinking she's self weaning as she has gone a few days with no feeding or just latching then finished. Then other days, as her back molars are coming through she has more. So undecided about weaning.

Since she was about 9nonths/ 1 year she only really breastfed at home. I went back to work part time at 9 months and she barley took my expressed milk at the childminder so from that point onwards stopped feeding out and about.

Best thing: it calms us both down. When I was pregnant I had insomnia but has a baby I'd fall asleep like a light after breastfeeding. Also if she's had a tantrum I can talk her through it while she's feeding.

Worst thing: when she's shouting 'i want booby' at bedtime. she doesn't do it every night but it's normally when she's overtired and I think it's a stalling technique. Husband usually settles her.

This is such a lovely idea! Thanks for starting it . My little one is 22 months old and we've no plans to stop until he's ready. He still nurses to sleep and a few times at night too. I think it also really helps with tantrums.

I forgot to mention the worst thing is definitely the reactions of some people when they find out we're still nursing especially in my NCT group.

2 years and 4 months
Had plans to stop before 2.5 but then pandemia hit and read how it protects them so no plans anymore
Feeds mainly at night but sometimes he just pulls the top and will have a shoot of milk or when he needs to settle down and he asks for it
Best : how it calms him down when he’s really upset.
Worse : people (relatives)

Honestly, don't listen to what other people say. Do what feels right for you and for your child.

DD1 weaned at about 3 and a few months, DD2 at about 2.5. Tbh DD1 would still loooove to breastfeed at 4!!! The last few times it was just literally 5 seconds! But it made her so happy :)

To reduce the time on the breast, especially at night, I tend to sing a lullaby song. I know it takes roughly 5 minutes to finish it so full song at first then start reducing to the end of different parts of the song. So after a couple of weeks is easily down to 2 or 2.5 minutes. When DD1 was young she used to stay in the boob for AGEEEEEESSS when going to sleep so much that I had to start having a timer on my phone and stop her at 20 minutes (cue crying!!!!) then reduce it to 10/15min after she got more used to it.

Worst thing for me was maybe thhe comments. I don't care about them but they get annoying. Also I'm pregnant so I weaned DD2 mainly because my nipples are too sensitive so it feels like she's biting me

Oh I forgot!!

Best thing: when they are upset/ in pain/ unwell/..... it's just miraculous! It's what gave me the most anxiety about stopping breastfeeding. DD3 will also breastfeed at least until 2!! Probably longer

Aaahh this is a lovely thread! I hope you don't mind me popping on, my ds (first baby) is only coming up to 8 months, but I thought I'd have a read through what people experience with extended feeding as I can see us going down that road potentially. I really didn't think I'd still be breastfeeding, but it's going so well!

Can I ask, how did people manage transitioning to more solids?? I still feed him roughly every 2 hours in the day to try and fill him for the night (mixed results!) and currently give a light lunch (porridge and fruit) and a more filling tea (pasta, veg etc) always do a milk feed about 40 mins, before as advised by NHS. I think we'll be on 3 meals by about 9 months and will start gradually increasing portions from then, going by him I guess?? Does this sound about right??

Best thing... The little sigh he does when he's been upset and latches on and calms down.

Worst thing... Comments from in laws and how distracted he is in the day, especially if I need to feed him out and about, although I think this is reducing now anyway!

Welcome everyone. @Fivebyfive2

Comments from relatives seems the main worst thing which is sad. I don't talk about it much, but my mum breastfed helped me establish breastfeeding. She asks when I see her 'are you still feeding her?' which confuses me for a second as why would I strave her. We all stopped before 2 but she's proud of me for still feeding. You should all be proud.

I don't tend to talk to other mums unless I know they are still breastfeeding as I know it's an emotive subject with people who had issues like tounge tie.

Part of my message deleted @fivebyfive it sounds like you are doing well. I didn't know about the 40 minute feed before solids but that sounds very sensible to avoid mealtime frustration. I breastfed on demand during weaning and provided sips of water during meals. After turning one I allowed access to water all the time. I followed my childs lead during weaning and she loves food. I added breast milk to wheatabix at some point when I thought she wasn't drinking enough milk.

@grey12 I did a similar thing with a music box that stopped after 20 minutes. Now though, less fuss from me is better at bedtime, Potty, teeth story then straight to cot, because I need my evening and she wasn't settling with breast just playing around.

Hi all,

I have a just turned 1 year old but she is very definitely a toddler. The worst thing is currently the acrobatics while feeding and trying to wander with my nipple in her mouth. The best thing is feeding to sleep, it makes bedtime so easy. Since introducing snacks she has gone down to 5 to 8 feeds ish in 24 hours.

@Fivebyfive2 I think some babies just each more than others: I do blw and I don’t my daughter eats any more per meal now but she does has snack. She doesn’t like to keep still but happily grazes through the day.

@Fivebyfive2

Some children don't really eat until about 1year old. Don't worry, you're doing fine ;)

Kids eat very little. I find it important to get them to eat at least one bite of the food (so they don't become fussy eaters) but sometimes they're just not hungry! Even at about 4, my oldest today didn't have lunch. She had a good breakfast, a glass of milk in the afternoon and then dinner. Sometimes she eats half the fridge.... it can depend whether they are in a growth spurt or not. Just remember that ;)

1)16 months
2) Planned to stop by 12 months
3)Continued because of Covid so dc can get the extra goodies for his immune
4)Dc feeds regularly as he loves it, he is high needs though!
5)Best thing is the bonding, I just love our little 1-1 time ❤️
6) Worst thing about still BF is I have lopsided boob and night time feeds as dc won't settle without boobie. Also, dc loves groping my boob (nipple fiddler) and it can be very embarrassing when he pulls down my top and takes it out

Its a very long time since my children were babies but I breastfed them all til self weaning including tandem feeding for around 3 years. Just thought I would add a word of encouragement to those who are in the same situation now and encourage you to do what you feel is best - don't let other people's prejudices get you down.

Name changed but I'm the op. Just coming back to this thread seeing how everyone is doing. My DD hasn't breastfed since Sunday morning. I think she is self weaning at just over 2 years. She had a small morning drink then because she woke up early and I offered as I wasn't ready to fully engage. How's everyone else doing.

Hi everyone. My DD is 2 in less than a month and she is still very much attached to the boob. We are hoping to TTC again but AF still isn't fully functioning so having problems there. I presume due to still night feeding.

I'm may start to wean after her bday but she will not be happy about it let me tell you!

@wiskerspete, yes I know someone who weaned at 6 months onto formula for fertility reasons. I'm not ready for another yet. We decided to stop the feeding to sleep at bedtime sometime between 18 months to 2 years. The best thing was for her dad to do bedtime. Now I can, and occasionally she asks for it and I say not after brushing your teeth as I do feel at that point it's a bedtime stalling act when she's overtired and she will now accept that most of the time.

Hi everyone! Thanks for the thread x

I am still feeding my 3 and a half year old. I have always worked from home and he’s never been to nursery /child minder etc so I think our lack of separation has meant that we’ve never needed to bottle feed and therefore now he we still are.
Here’s a secret though, I don’t like breast feeding. I never have. I looked forward to it during pregnancy but in the first twelve weeks of his life I was in absolute total and constant agony due to latch/mastitis/blips/you name it and I think a combination of that trauma, severe pnd and the fact that he was EBF and would sometimes feed for 18 hours out of 24 leaving me beyond exhaustion has taken its toll and I’ve never enjoyed it.

I do it for him and all the health benefits, the bonding, the fact that I can comfort him instantly etc etc. Also he’s always loooooooooved his milk so it was heart breaking to say no. I tried bottle feeding him with expressed milk a few times, but he hated that so that was a non starter.

I fed him as though he was a newborn until he was probably 18m or over, just all the time constantly whenever he asked until I decided no more public feeds. That was when I think we finally started to cut down

He’s now down to 2 or 3 feeds a day, here and there and sometimes he just puts it in his mouth and doesn’t suck, so I think he is beginning to self wean at long last.

I’m so glad I did it all though, I wouldn’t change a thing really. I think it was just so so much harder than I ever thought possible. And it never imagined doing it for so long, in the early hellish days I remember saying “I’ll just get him to 10 days old...I’ll just get him to 6 weeks old....I’ll just go to 3 months...” so desperate was I to stop . But here we are!

Welcome@thedaytodayyesterday. Do you think because you struggled in the early months you and more inclined to keep feeding? Either way it's great that you have done it that long.

My LO is still only 11 months but I plan to carry on breastfeeding whilst it is still working so well for both of us.

My only concern is his weight gain. He is fed on demand and feeds a lot but also has a lot of solids as he loves food. He is on the 80th percentile for weight but was born on the 50th. His height is only on the 25th because his family is quite short. The health visitor says I should cut down on breastfeeds but I am not sure. I do comfort feed him if he gets upset and he feeds to sleep for naps, should I stop this? He settles at night without a feed and sleeps until 5am without one.

He has been mobile for a couple of months and is very active (cruising and crawling) but it hasn't affected his weight.

I wouldn't know about the weight issues as my daughter has stuck to her percentile but my HV at the one year review said something about which feed to drop first when weaning which I ignored.