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?

Weird..

You’re asking why people switch from expensive fortified cowsmilk (formula) to standard cowsmilk as soon as possible?

If you haven’t already bought into the whole cowsmilk thing you can just carry on giving the milk designed for them. You don’t have to rely on another mammal..

@FTEngineerM - it’s not weird- quite a rude comment. Some of us make a positive decision to use formula and then regular cows milk and don’t bf at all.

@Parker231 I didn’t say formula was weird, I said asking the question was.

It’s completely logical why anyone would switch @ 12m.

@Lancssss

Because it's nice, bonding, pure tranquillity, nourishing, free, safe, plentiful - the limitless supply is always there. I never owned baby bottles. I've always been puzzled as to why mother's want to mess around sterilizing bottles, mixing and warming and all that.

”Fine but the second point isn’t relevant to a 12 month old and certainly isn’t kind to women who tried but couldn’t bf.”

How on earth is bonding not relevant to a DC past 12 months? I still do things that improve my bond with my 7 year old.

Because the second point, ie paragraph not second sub phrase, had fuck all to do with anything other than being shitty to formula feeding mothers

•If you haven’t already bought into the whole cowsmilk thing

You mean like people from the last 2,000 years?

I didn't intend to BF my kids past one, but carrying on ended up being easier than stopping. And I've no idea whether it's related, but I BF them both till they were 3.5, and now at 10 and 7, they're never ill. Flu, norovirus, hand, foot and mouth, chicken pox and Covid have run rampant through their schools and nurseries, and they've never had any of them.

@GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal

I didn't intend to BF my kids past one, but carrying on ended up being easier than stopping. And I've no idea whether it's related, but I BF them both till they were 3.5, and now at 10 and 7, they're never ill. Flu, norovirus, hand, foot and mouth, chicken pox and Covid have run rampant through their schools and nurseries, and they've never had any of them.

Im not sure this is a good thing tbh

Yes @LittleBearPad like the last 2000 years if you say so 😃.

You seem a little rattled by my comment? I’m not offended by Lancs being puzzled at why someone would both with it. It just means they have never been in my situation.. or yours, it seems.

@LittleBearPad

•If you haven’t already bought into the whole cowsmilk thing

You mean like people from the last 2,000 years?

The cows milk thing where people assume that children need to drink it. But somehow human milk is weird and people should justify feeding their toddlers that.

That’s not standard over the last 2000 years.

It isn’t being mean to formula feeding mothers to say that the whole premise of the ‘why would be breastfeed after 12 months?’ question is not good.

It is based in the idea that human babies should be fed cows milk and anything else needs to be justified.

Of course women have choices and formula feeding mothers will switch to (a cheaper and more readily available) breastmilk substitute after 12 months when their children’s needs can be served by that rather than infant formula.

But why do we think that cows milk should be the default and that breastfeeding mothers should be justifying why they haven’t switched.

@Mommabear20 I'm genuinely interested in your thoughts now on breastfeeding post 12 months
-what did you think before this discussion
-what do you now feel/think

Thanks

@BurntToastAgain

It isn’t being mean to formula feeding mothers to say that the whole premise of the ‘why would be breastfeed after 12 months?’ question is not good.

It is based in the idea that human babies should be fed cows milk and anything else needs to be justified.

Of course women have choices and formula feeding mothers will switch to (a cheaper and more readily available) breastmilk substitute after 12 months when their children’s needs can be served by that rather than infant formula.

But why do we think that cows milk should be the default and that breastfeeding mothers should be justifying why they haven’t switched.

I agree with this

But I am glad OP has asked the question as atleast it widens awareness

To be honest before breastfeeding my DC I had absolutely no concept of breastfeeding past 6 months I had never seen anyone else do it, no-one ever mentioned or talked about it that's kind of the problem. it was completely taboo for my mums generation - she was persuaded to stop at 6 months by family and health professionals too even though she wanted to continue because it was frowned upon so much back then

So I could pass on the antibodies from my Covid vaccine as we were in the middle of the delta outbreak and DS was still attending daycare. It trailed off naturally after that around 20months.
DD lost interest at 13months.

@MsChatterbox

It's recommended to feed until 2. Lots of benefits such as reducing risks of certain cancers etc if you feed longer. My main reason is my daughter feeds to sleep and resettles herself in the night latching on (we cosleep) and I cba for the upheaval of stopping that!

Same! It would be a shit ton of grief to stop now and there are still tons of benefits so we are carrying on for now. She's two next month

Few reasons . . . Some more conscious/ intentional than others and I think the second related to what BF provides more broadly

1. I always intended to BF past 1 year old as I was aware of ongoing health benefits til 2 years

2. 1 year old seemed way too young to stop as BF was still the main way I got my kids to sleep as especially at night (I'd have been lost without the boob zzzzzz)

3. my children really didn't want to stop BF, so stopping was hard (especially true for my youngest - I attempted to wean as soon as she was 2 as I was over feeding her by then and it was soooo hard, I didn't manage to get her off the boob - and when I did it was pretty distressing with lots of tears daily for a week, I only continued as I was so over breast feeding by then - when she was nearly 3)

Another anecdotal contribution to say that my bf children are the ones who never, ever get really ill with viruses etc. when half the class are off sick mine are usually ok with a bit of calpol and sympathy. the youngest who I bf for nearly 3 years vomited for the first time the other day (aged 6) after eating too much junk at a party. She had never done so before hand. She was completely distraught and I only twigged why at the time she had never experienced it before.

My intention in bf for longer was to boost their immune system and also meant I didn’t need to buy their milk.

Always subscribe to the fed is best principle but we need to stop mocking women for bf 2 year olds it’s not unhealthy or weird (both comments I’ve had aimed at me).

Equally I know plenty of breastfed babies with eczema and who catch every bug going!

Would also add you wouldn’t know really who is bf their 2 year olds, as for some I imagine is only a thing done at night before sleep. It’s not common to see it in public, as it would perhaps only be necessary as a soother for a upset child. 2 year olds are often distracted elsewhere when out and about.

Bf doesn’t guarantee kids don’t get ill, it just boosts the immune system.

Eczema is not a virus and If the link to cow milk intolerance is the cause, then that is only when bf will help.

Because the second point, ie paragraph not second sub phrase, had fuck all to do with anything other than being shitty to formula feeding mothers

It only feels shorty if you wanted to bf and couldn't. I also wouldn't want to be washing bottles etc. It's bad enough the few times I have to express milk.

However, I've heard it's not that bad/time consuming using formula so there you go

Most bf mothers won't like the idea of using bottles - remember there's advantages and disadvantages to either option

It's the only thing to reliably get DC (2.5 yrs) to sleep and to get her back to sleep in the night when she wakes.
It has health benefits for her and me.
She doesn't go much for cow's milk (plus as pp have said, why give milk made for another mammal as opposed to milk made for her)
It stopped my periods coming back for nearly 2 years which was great.
It's the quickest way to calm her down and relieve her pain if she hurts herself.
I don't know how we'd go about stopping without it causing a lot of upset, it doesn't bother me to carry on so why would I stop her?

I never understand why people have to fall out over this issue. I was happy to breastfeed 5 children and am pleased my daughters like it too but if mothers want to bottle feed of course they can (in the West where they can afford it). Babies grow up fine in either route. I think it is a pity the UK as one of he worst breastfeeding rates in Europe and I was amazed last week when my daughter said at 6 weeks ( weeks not months) she is the ONLY mother still full breastfeeding of her NCT group!

I really enjoyed breastfeeding which is why I went beyond a year with it as the babies like it too but it is no big deal. If you don't want to do it don't do it. for me looking at my whole adult life that and pregnancy and birth are some of the high points of my life but other women hate breastfeeding or cannot do it and that's fine too. Just live and let live. I was breastfed partially and my siblings not at all and we all did fine.

But this is the point @Xenia - if you are truly pro choice, there is no ‘worst’ rate, it just is what it is.

@thebigpurpleone

Equally I know plenty of breastfed babies with eczema and who catch every bug going!

My family are very pro-bfing, and we are absolutely stuffed with autoimmune conditions & a lot of the females are obese.

My DH’s mother formula fed from day 1, and he is healthy as a horse - dodged covid in the house, has never had flu in the years I’ve known him, copes well on little sleep, is just very robust & energetic.

Yes I know that is just one example. But I do feel the benefits of bfing are massively overstated. And it does matter that they are, because that’s why so many women get very upset when they can’t bf - they truly believe they are damaging their child’s health by not doing so.

It doesn’t take anything away from bfing mothers to acknowledge that while there is a benefit, it is so small it is not worth getting depressed over.

No doubt somebody will be along to tell me I obviously have failed breastfeeding issues, I’m undermining women & trying to be nasty.

@Lifeisnteasy I completely agree.