When and how did you stop breastfeeding

[babyandadog]

And why?

I stopped at about 8 months. For medical reasons we had to start combi feeding at 4 months so for about 4-5 more months we did bottles in the day, BF at night, but it just got to the point she wasn’t interested in the boob and just wanted a bottle - easier/quicker/less effort I guess. I was sad at the time but now at 20months some of my friends are desperately trying to stop and I’m grateful that for us it was easy!!

Don’t feel bad about wanting to stop. It’s fine if you do!!

Ds1 around 2 years because I was tandem feeding with Ds2 and I got really bad nursing aversion (only towards Ds1).

Ds2 gently weaned over 3 months at age 2y6m because I am pregnant with dc3 and hate the idea of developing nursing aversion again.

Bf does get easier so if it's the relentlessness of it then maybe stick it out a bit longer. It's really important that you still get some time by yourself so if you have a DP throw the baby at them for 30mins a day and go somewhere else. I used to sit in the car with a magazine/audiobook and a cuppa- it was bliss

2.5 yrs but i loved it and could have probably gone on but it just felt like a good time when it happened. One of the reasons was that I was a single mum and around this time I started to consider dating again and didn't want to be dribbling milk during sex 😬

If you are not enjoying it, can you hold off until 6 months and then slowly start to wean?

6 months. I would feel bad reading how long you all fed for but my 3 year old boy is perfect so I'm not sure what difference if makes tbf. My second is a few weeks old and I intend to do the same. I quite like breastfeeding but feel just as close doing a bottle too

Around 2 with both. I’d always said I wanted to get to 2. DH took them to DPIL overnight...

14 months and 15 months. Wanted to do a year as after a year they can have cows milk in a cup, so never used a bottle. Seemed cruel to stop on their birthdays! Kept going with first as we had a holiday planned and wanted the safety net of nursing at bedtime! Thought I'd better give the 2nd the same and then Covid happened and I had no reason to stop so kept going. It does get easier.....once you are down to 2 feeds a day......if you constantly feed on demand then I don't suppose it does!

9.5 months. Felt like I'd done enough. Literally stopped cold turkey. Hand expressed a little every few hours to take the edge off my rock hard boobs. Took 2 weeks for them to calm down. Baby never looked for boob anytime after that last feed.

I'm currently trying to stop breastfeeding dd 6months ready for my return to work, however she is a bottle refuser, I have tried a sippy cup but usually end up giving in as she works herself up.

Good luck op !

2 weeks, then I expressed until he was 6 months. Was amazed at how easy it was to stop expressing, I had about 2 days of seapage and then my boobs dried up, to be fair I was only about a feed ahead of myself throughout the 6 months.

6 months because I suddenly had to go into hospital for an operation. Ended up being in for 10 days and when I got out DD wasn't interested

With my first I stopped when he was 2.5 years old because we were struggling to conceive. My husband took his abroad for 6 days and that pretty much killed it.

With my second I stopped when he was just under 3 years old and it was a gradual process of weaning that took about a month in total.

The reason I chose to stop breastfeeding him was because I had spent that the last 6 years breastfeeding (bar a the 9 month gap during my second pregnancy) and I was just done with it.

14 months with both. It worked well with dropping one feed a month so they were both down to only morning and evening at a year so could start nursery easily and I just dropped one of those a month again till we were done.

Going till then meant I never had to faff about with bottles and making up formula so very much the easier option as far as I was concerned!

16 months, was only feeding at bedtime to get her to sleep as was significantly easier than anything else. Decided just to stop and she wasn't bothered at all. I found it quite sad though and maybe wish I'd done it for a little bit longer. Much like previous poster, I couldn't have been bothered with sterilising and making up bottles etc.

DS is nearly a year old and I’ll have to start weaning him soon so we can ttc for number 2 (we’re going through ivf again and my protocol includes drugs that might hurt him if we don’t). I would have preferred to wait until he was 2 but my age and egg quality isn’t on my side unfortunately. The good thing is because of his age we can skip formula and go straight to cows milk.

DS I stopped at 13 months. He was combi fed and by 13 months we'd dropped all bottles and night feeds. He was just feeding morning and bedtime and I stopped cold turkey. We were TTC number 2.

DD I stopped at 17 months and that was her choice. She was EBF (personally found that so much easier than combi feeding) she dropped herself down to just the morning feed and then started to refuse that. I was happy to go as long as she wanted to go

My DD is nearly 12 months and only feeds first thing in the morning and as part of bedtime routine. I don't think she'd care if we stopped as she never really asks for it.

I found breastfeeding all-encompassing until she was about the age your baby is now, then suddenly it was easy. She took much less time to feed so it was actually much faster than messing about with bottles. Not trying to persuade you either way, but if that's something you're thinking about it suddenly becomes much less hassle!

I stopped with my first at 14 months, because I was pregnant again and it was making me feel queasy.
I just weaned down - 2 feeds a day to 1 feed and then just stopped.

Never really “weaned”, stopped at 6 or 7 months. He was pretty much exclusively breastfed but I wasn’t sentimental about it, it just stopped one day.

I stopped at about 2 yrs with my three. But honestly, OP, please don't feel bad if you'd like to switch now. You've given your baby a fantastic start with the last four months and managed to get further along than most people in Britain. At four months your baby's digestive system will have matured a lot and will be fine with formula now. It doesn't have to be all or nothing either unless that is what you want; you could combi feed for a while too if you'd prefer that. If you do decide to swap to formula, best to start dropping one breastfeed at a time, giving a good few days before you drop the next. This will give your supply a chance to gradually reduce so that your breasts don't become engorged.

No it isn’t bad! My friend stopped at 6 months on the dot, and she couldn’t wait!

I’m currently feeding my two year old and trying to stop; it’s harder as they get older I think!

Two years and nine months. Feeds were infrequent and she’d not fed for a fortnight before the last feed - barely anything came out so she just gave up!

At 2y 8mos, she decided she didn’t want anymore. Had a week or so of her saying she could still have it “sometimes”.. just the psychological crutch of knowing it is available and then she dropped it.
It was a lot of hard work, but also satisfying to let her self wean.

6 months exactly. I always had supply problems and had to top up and spent $1000s on lactation consultants etc. then we both got hand foot and mouth - he couldn't feed, I couldn't eat (I had to eat about a million calories a day when BFing) and my supply just completely dried up.

I'm sad I couldn't do it longer, but honestly, it was so hard, and tiring and painful that I'm just glad I made it to 6 months.

I've been trying to stop the bedtime feed for a few days now. DD 16 months was fine with DH doing bath and bedtime but as soon as he took her into her room she kicked off mightily I just can't see her stopping it. Any help? Mix the routine up? I'm out of ideas

@alldayeveryday200 have you tried feeding her a cup of milk at bed time? She also might not be ready. My DS was weaned at 19 months (few months ago) but he definitely wasn't ready before but I guess they're all different.