When and how did you stop breastfeeding

[babyandadog]

And why?

Started dropping a feed every few days at 5 months, completely done by 6 konths.

I couldn't wait, i enjoyed breastfeeding but i was so excited to get my body back! I could go shopping for new proper bras, new clothes and felt like myself again after 14 months of pregnancy and breastfeeding

10 months for starting nursery and going back to work. Did it gradually and it was fine. Used formula and bottles for a couple of months before switching to cows milk and a cup.

@babyandadog anything pre 6 months is the most difficult, then it all seems to die down between 6 months and a year... Then it finally gets to the enjoyable after a year as you think less about it as they're not feeding 12 times a day. Do what makes you feel good!

@LifeIsBusy the last month or so she has begun drinking cows milk and always refused anything else before that. She had some before she went up for her bath but I think she's just so used to me feeding her after her bath and before bed. How did you know your DS was ready? I definitely don't think she is really now. Although she isn't fussed about the morning feed now which she always had to have. Also night feeds...can't imagine how I'd stop them either. I was thinking the older she gets the harder it might be to stop but perhaps the older she is the more she will understand..

Is it normal for people to breastfeed for this long? Seems like everyone has bf for ages.

@ilkleymoorbartat I'm not sure what the average is but I feel like I've not had much choice in the matter! DD never took a bottle, refused pumped milk, never wanted formula and also cow's milk for ages and screamed the house down if I didn't breast feed her. I do want to stop now and probably because of my experience am amazed that people managed to stop at around 6 months.

I stopped night feeds at 18 months which was tough. We started giving her milk in a cup at night which she hated but it did work, and she soon started sleeping through.

Day feeds stopped at 2.5 years because I was pregnant with baby #2 and that made breastfeeding really uncomfortable and unpleasant. Luckily at that age it was relatively easy to explain why.

Number 2 is 8 months now and I think sn e will be much easier to wean, she is far less interested in it!

I always said i'd stop at 4 months as i found it tough. Then I got to 6 months as sleep got a bit easier as I started co sleeping. My ds is now 27 months, it doesn't feel hard any more, just lovely!

@alldayeveryday200 My DS doesn't chat yet and he was using it as a way to communicate that he was hungry. He would run up to my lap and throw himself in bfeeding position. So over the summer rather than offering a feed I offered him snacks or food. He'd often take them and then not bother me again so we figured out the difference between hunger and comfort. He mostly just wanted a feed before naps or at bed time. We coslept with him from about a year, he was in his cot, raised to the height of our bed and attached to our bed. He slept so much better there and stops waking so often. So we waited until he slept all night (so I knew he could) and consistently before shifting him back to his own room and I sent my wife in to get him if he woke up. She'd offer him a cup of milk and he would take it and go back to sleep (this was a short period of time). Pre all of this he would never have accepted her in the middle of the night so again another indicator he was happy and ready to wean. Then over the period of a couple of weeks he just sort of stopped.

23 months. I had an operation for something non breast related and told him doctors were taking milk away, when I got home from op he accepted the story and never asked for it again!

@alldayeveryday200 your LO sounds quite similar to my DS. I went back to work when he was 4 months and pumped at work but he hated taking a bottle. He would drink what he absolutely had to and nothing more and then would spend the entire night partying between 12-6 (hence the move back into my room).

We ebf til 14 months.
Naturally cut back from around 11 months.
I went back to work when ds was 10 months, pumped at work for a month, but that got difficult, gradually transition him To cows milk.
We were down to bedtime and first thing feed around 13 months, I swapped the bedtime feed with a bottle of cows milk at 12 months.
He eventually stopped feeding himself at 14 months because he started sleeping through, so used to just give him breakfast first thing.

I'm glad we stopped when we did.
Felt the right time.

@ilkleymoorbartat

Is it normal for people to breastfeed for this long? Seems like everyone has bf for ages.

No, it's not. According to Unicef, in England only 24% of babies were exclusively breastfed at six weeks. 17% in Wales, and 13% in N.Ireland. 81% of women try breastfeeding after birth, but the majority give up pretty quickly. We've got some of the worst rates of breastfeeding in the developed world, it's appalling.

OP - I'm giving up now, and DD is 13 months. We're down to a feed every few days. She's not fussed really unless she's upset, but I'm tapering off gently because she's teething and it's such a good source of comfort.

I went back to work 2 days a week when DS was 6 months and my mum looked after him. I couldn't express much so she gave him some formula on those days and bf'd the rest of the time. When he was 9 months I did 4 days a week at work so the childminder and my mum gave him formula on those days only. Then when he was 12 months, I stopped feeding during the day and just did morning and evening and 20 times in the night. When he was nearly 2, I decided to stop altogether and by that point, he understood enough that I could let him know what was going happen. I reassured him he could have a drink of milk from a cup in the night and I'd give him lots of cuddles. He had a couple of nights of having a bit of milk from a sippy cup in the night then wasn't bothered after that.

At 5 months. Had no problems whatsoever, smooth sailing but I didn’t enjoy it and I felt by 6 months I could give it up guilt-free. Made it to 5!

She grew a tooth and bit me, hard. I pulled her off and looked her in the eye and said "that's it babe, you had your chance". And I went back to work.

DC1 - 12 months - I wanted to start TTC and I didn't want to be pregnant and breastfeeding
DC2 - 11 months - lost interest all by herself
DC3 - 8 months - moved him onto formula in a desperate attempt to make him sleep better (it didn't work)

It was much easier than I'd expected all three times!

5 months because I couldn't cope any more, and 4 weeks because I panicked!