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?

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.

For a whole host of reasons. Firstly it would be hard to transition to another type of milk (with less benefits) just for the sake of it. There is lots of information out there on the benefits for mother and child, and WHO recommend until 2 and beyond. I don't really see why it matters if they have breast milk or a cup of cows milk in the morning or before bed (which is when many older babies and toddlers have milk), whatever works for that child and family is good.

I found it easy, no need to sterilise anything and was only the bed time feed for mine by the time they got to 12 months. They stopped naturally around 16 months. Never wanted to breastfeed, loved it and was very lucky it was easy.
I didn’t like it when one of my friends was feeding her over 3 yr old, mainly because he would just go up to her and lift her top. But it was her choice and I never said anything.

I enjoy it and my lo still wants to. It's a big comforter when she's tired or ill. In fact when she's ill it's all she'll take. For me, I like the closeness and snuggles. She doesn't stay still for much these days so I enjoy it when she snuggles me to feed.

I thought breast feeding would just stop when DD turned one and I went back to work, only no one told her that. So I carried on because it helped with the separation, then with the onslaught of nursery bugs, then chickenpox, plus she had a dairy allergy that took several years in the EBF to grow out of. I finally stopped at 2.5 years after a losing a second child at 16 weeks and feeling like I needed my body back. I got pregnant again a few months later and I’m breastfeeding DS who’s almost 4 months old. I do plan to taper it off at 10-12 months and stop at a year this time. I am over it having giving up a decade to ttc, ivf, pregnancies, miscarriages, babies and breastfeeding. DH is going to be be on shared parental leave from 10 months so we will likely mix feed.

I think the question should be turned around. It should be: Why stop giving your child the milk of its own species and instead give it the milk of a different species?

I exclusively breast fed my two until 6 months and then continued breastfeeding until they were between 2.5 and 3 years. Breast milk is the perfect nutrition for babies and young children. It took the pressure off weaning because they were still getting their nutritional needs met. They liked it. It helped them to get to sleep. It felt like I was doing the right thing for them.

Because I didn’t want to give them milk from another species.
Human milk for humans.
Cows milk for cows.

The baby just wouldn’t stop feeding even though I was desperate to stop. Very demanding and it drove me crazy. I didn’t enjoy it and couldn’t switch to formula. I can’t tell you how stuck I felt especially as the baby fed constantly! I thought they would be able to taste in the milk how desperate I was to stop but no, they kept going! I eventually was able to stop the last feed at 2.5 years but that included almost 1 year of dropping feeds. No useful advice from breastfeeding advice groups, either. Plenty of advice to get you going and continue. So I keep feeding past 1 because a very determined little one just would not stop.

@Tornado70

Because I didn’t want to give them milk from another species. Human milk for humans. Cows milk for cows.

Are you dairy free? And your children?

I bf DC1 until about 2 - because she still asked for morning and evening feeds and because it was easy and comforting for her and nice bonding for us. I stopped because I was pregnant and it became incredibly uncomfortable to feed her. Feeds by that point were very short anyway, so it was very easy to wean her off it in a matter of days.

DC2 - I would have continued for as long as he wanted to, but he self-weaned at about 9 months. Unlike his older sibling, he'd never been a very enthusiastic bf'er...

@Lalliella

I think the question should be turned around. It should be: Why stop giving your child the milk of its own species and instead give it the milk of a different species?

Me personally? I made the switch just over 6 months in, so I could take a medication that wasn’t bfing-friendly, convenience (other people could care for DD), so I could finally share night wakings, because bfing sapped my energy, DD had no personal preference and would happily take either, because formula is complete whereas you have to supplement with vitamin D if bfing which I never remembered to do, because the overall health benefit of bfing is negligible so nothing to worry about

Other women will have different reasons

Because the pandemic hit just as she turned 1 and I felt the proven benefits for a child's immune system from breast milk is better than nothing at all. Plus a lockdown gave plenty of time to continue BFing an older child without weird looks in public.

@Ellowyn

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.

Because the health benefits for us both were better than a milk produced by another mammal.

Breastfeeding is the single most powerful and useful parenting tool I have. I don’t know how people manage without it. I have not encountered a single baby or toddler related problem that couldn’t be solved or improved with breastfeeding.

There are still lots of health benefits for both Mum and baby far past 12 months.

@Ellowyn

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.

I used formula from day one - I never wanted to breast feed. With a perfect prep machine and microwave steriliser it’s not time consuming and friends and family could give bottles. DH and I shared the night feeds so we could both get plenty of sleep. Different things work better for different people - we’re not all the same.

I noticed a big difference between my lockdown baby and older children. He needed that comfort of nursing more than the others and because I was there all the time he access to it more. He's almost 2 and I've just managed to stop the night time feed and now we're just once in the morning. It's very much habit though so I'm just going to continue until he's 2 because it's a milestone and then I'll stop. I'm 40 shortly after so I've got a small window (for no other reason than its a good place to draw a line through that part of my life). 2 of mine weren't ready to stop until 18 months at least. They both drank cow milk too but never got as enthusiastic as they did about my milk. My oldest wasn't too bothered and we stopped before a year. All kids are different.

[quote Lifeisnteasy]@grey12 saying ‘oh but people aren’t making an informed choice’ really just means you don’t think they’re making the right one, because if they were ‘educated’ enough they should be making the same decision as you[/quote]
After all my research, I bottle fed my first baby 🤨 and BF the others. So that shuts up your argument

What I was talking about is all the wrong ideas I heard along the way. Women scared that if they BF they can't leave the house, that extended BF is like BF a small baby..... I've heard sooo many that it makes me sad there is still so much misinformation. Education is the best solution regarding this. There have been many decades of women being actively led away from BF so we need to counteract that.

because the overall health benefit of bfing is negligible so nothing to worry about

800,000 baby deaths and 20,00 maternal deaths from breast cancer alone would be prevented worldwide each year if the majority of mothers BF ( Lancet 2016)

1000 of those baby deaths are from D&V in the US.
You are completely ignorant in saying the benefits are neglible.

I enjoyed it and the baby enjoyed it (including the twins who were breastfed). I never stopped. It was always the relevant baby of the five of them who stopped on me, all before or by about 18 months' old or may be a bit older for the twins.

@grey12 the information is out there & we need to trust women to make the right decision.

I think a lot of women have problems understanding some women just don’t value bfing as much as they do 🤷🏼‍♀️

I think a lot of women have problems understanding some women just don’t value bfing as much as they do

Why are you contributing then to a post which is specifically about extolling the virtues of "extended" breastfeeding? You have already had one of your posts deleted for laughing at others and are coming across very bitter and defensive.

Because breast milk is better than cows milk. Because it promotes a beautiful connection with your child. Because it soothes children. Because I and my children enjoyed it.