Why do people breastfeed past 1year old?

[Mommabear20]

Not a bashing thread, I'm genuinely interested in peoples reasons!

My DD was formula fed and once she was a year old and could drink cows milk, she stopped formula completely and no longer uses bottles at all.

So my question is, if you have breastfed your DC past 1 year when it's no longer needed for their nutrition, why do/did you continue?

My daughter is 18 months and still breastfeeds around three times a day, sometimes more but I try to discourage her doing it more than that.

I have carried on because it comforts her and also helps to get her to sleep sometimes. It's not been an issue for me and if it became one I would stop.

Breastfeeding is more than just for nutrition, it's for comfort too.

Benefits of breastfeeding don’t stop when a child is 1.
Why would you swap human made milk for cows milk when you don’t need to? Humans make milk suitable for their baby, cows make milk suitable for baby cows.

It makes sense to keep going does it? I formula fed for what it’s worth.

I haven’t been on a bf thread for ages. Good to see they never change

I fed all 3 of mine...... I loved the bond and the closeness. It was however very testing at times when they wouldn't take a bottle, I couldn't express easily and I felt that DH had it easy as a result.

Mine seemed to just stop themselves at around 11/12 months, and went straight onto cows milk. I was OK with that, it felt like a fitting time and I'm very aware that I was lucky with mine that it didn't become a form of comfort.

Ds was happy and thriving being bf. It was convenient and worked alongside him trying solid foods. He stopped when he was ready at 18 months. No stress so I just went with what he wanted.

@JanuaryPinks

But you didn’t “answer it” - you haven’t done it yourself. All you’ve done is go through other people’s posts and argue with the reasons they gave for why they continued to feed past 1 year. Like, why do you care about this if it’s not something you did personally?

I answered PP’s post about emotional bonding. And many posters have asked why people bottle fed so I’ve answered that too

Because I wanted to.
Because DC wanted to
WHO advised 2 years

@LittleBearPad, I’ve not been unpleasant. We are being ticked off for not being kind (“Pipe down, ladies”) to women who couldn’t breastfeed on a thread which is simply a long list of why it’s so fabulous to breastfeed.

My dd would not stop, I remember the last time, 22nd June 2006! Almost 22 months!

Breast milk is designed for infant humans, cows milk for infant cows.
Why switch to cow’s milk, which you have to buy, rather than just feeding your child yourself ?
I continued feeding for many reasons- family history of allergies and autoimmune diseases was a big reason why I wanted to feed until 2, plus how easy it was. After a certain point I carried on because my dc wanted to and I didn’t mind either way.
There is a huge amount of social pressure to stop breast feeding, that i feel comes from the hypersexualised nature of our society, and the view that breasts are an adult, sexual thing rather than there to feed a baby.

@Lifeisnteasy - the fact you had at your fingertips a study about the relationship between breastfeeding and bonding, plus the fact you jumped to post it despite my original post being nothing to do with that whatsoever, suggests to me that you’ve got some unresolved issues here. Hope you’re ok.

I didn't make the decision in advance that I would keep breastfeeding past six months, one year old, or any other arbitrary cut off point. We took it one day at a time. It seemed vaguely ridiculous to just decide 'Right today's the day you're not getting any more breast milk', especially when breastfeeding was going well and neither of my children showed any signs of wanting to stop. If either of them had started fussing or were disinterested, of course I would have stopped sooner than I did, which was at roughly 3yo.

@Tee20x

"You don't hit the 12 month mark and say right that's your lot & hide your boobs forever more."

Haha, this made me laugh 😆 👍🏼

[quote Orphlids]@LittleBearPad, I’ve not been unpleasant. We are being ticked off for not being kind (“Pipe down, ladies”) to women who couldn’t breastfeed on a thread which is simply a long list of why it’s so fabulous to breastfeed.[/quote]
I never said pipe down ladies but I think comments like the following are made by people who are stupid, unkind or thoughtless.

I've always been puzzled as to why mother's want to mess around sterilizing bottles, mixing and warming and all that.

[quote JanuaryPinks]@Lifeisnteasy - the fact you had at your fingertips a study about the relationship between breastfeeding and bonding, plus the fact you jumped to post it despite my original post being nothing to do with that whatsoever, suggests to me that you’ve got some unresolved issues here. Hope you’re ok.[/quote]
Or the ability to use Google?

I breast fed (combi fed) until 2 and a half, she was happy, I was happy, continued health benefits and a lovely bonding experience.

@LittleBearPad lol, why assume I can use Google when January could assume I’m on the verge of a mental breakdown regarding my breastfeeding failure and subsequent bitterness issues

January, I’ll leave you to fret over my state of mind and mothering prowess.

He wouldn’t drink cows milk and I loved our special bonding time, and obviously because i couldn’t get him to sleep without it.

[quote Lifeisnteasy]@LittleBearPad lol, why assume I can use Google when January could assume I’m on the verge of a mental breakdown regarding my breastfeeding failure and subsequent bitterness issues

January, I’ll leave you to fret over my state of mind and mothering prowess.[/quote]
I thought it was probably more likely and I think you’re bearing the brunt of some shitty posts

It's always going to be nutritionally better to drink human breast milk intended for babies, than cows milk meant for....cows.

I think my answer is, why wouldn't I? It has plenty of benefits and my children were still wanting it then. The drawbacks of it being annoying as hell sometimes don't really compare to the benefits.

I tend to find that people find it difficult to understand until they do it. A friend of mine acted extremely weirded out about it until she had her son and is now feeding him beyond 2 years old. Ha!

@LittleBearPad I’m not in the childish ‘bitty’ camp nor am I in the ‘breastmilk will make you immortal’ camp, so I get the worst of both 😱 thanks for the support (and not speculating on my mental health - seems to be a popular pastime on here!)

@Mommabear20 what were your reasons for switching from formula to cows milk at age 1? Do they all apply to bf?

I obviously don’t know your specific situation but some reasons could be, cost, ease of purchasing, storage, faff of sterilising …

None of these are issues with breastfeeding, so for me to stop bf and start giving my child cows milk in a cup I’d actually be costing myself more money/time/effort.

My dd happily bfs in the morning and then when I get home from work and at bed time. She eats food and drinks water during the day. If I wanted to leave her for a while she could either drink cows milk or expressed milk. I would likely want to express as I’d be uncomfortable if I changed my routine too drastically.

Yes, all the health benefits for mum and baby mentioned above! Confirmed by WHO who recommend carrying on til 2. But largely because it was by then an integral part of our relationship - comfort, nutrition, soothing, bonding. I stopped both times at 2 only because it was down to one evening feed and the odd occasion in the day, and otherwise normal food and water or cow’s milk. I loved those bedtime feeds, but by age two wanted my husband to be be able to put the children to bed once in a while.

Still bf at 20 months. I love the comfort it brings dd and the bond it gives us.
Oh and I have no idea how to stop!