Did you bf one child longer than another?

[spiralizeme]

I breastfed DD1 for 5 months but I plan to breastfeed my next baby for much longer.

I kinda feel guilty for this.

If you breastfed babies for different lengths of times, I'd love to hear.

Thanks in advance xxx

Yes.

First daughter self weaned at around 8mths.

My son weaned from daytime BF around 11mths but still fed at night until around 18mths

Second daughter weaned around 10mths (was pregnant again and my supply dropped a lot).

Third daughter still feeds a handful of times a day and several times at night, she's just turned 1.

Baby 1 six weeks, she was a tiny 3lb 11oz at 35 weeks due to pre-eclampsia and just struggled to feed, plus my milk never really came in properly because I had been so unwell. Baby 2, 6 months was more interested in solids once he got started as the advice back then was wean at 3 months, baby 3, 9 months, baby 4, 14 months and I would have continued but as she was very obviously ready to give up and continuing would have been for my gratification and not for her benefit. By baby 4 I had really got the hang of things too. I was very sad that she was the last baby I would feed and after being inspired by a famous painting of a mother feeding her child a local artist painted us. At this point she had pretty much got fed up, bit my nipple and then peed on me, obviously the painting shows none of that but a funny story 😀

First 3 for a year each, last one for just over 2 years. No guilt, it was just what worked best. Weaning guidelines had massively changed between the last 2 as well.

First 3 for a year each, last one for just over 2 years. No guilt, it was just what worked best. Weaning guidelines had massively changed between the last 2 as well.

@PinkFizz1

For my non allergic DS I moved onto a 6 months plus formula at 6/7 months from bfeeding. He wouldn't take a bottle at all so used a sippy cup at first then once he decided it was ok he started using a bottle too.

DD1 for 15 months, stopped because we were planning a second pregnancy and I wanted a few months where my body was my own.

Fed DD2 to 23 months, down just to bedtime and had to stop due to a frozen shoulder which made it too painful.

No regrets either way and lord knows they don't remember!

Yes, I had to because I had a mental health emergency during BF DC2 so I had to wean at 14 months to go on medication that they wouldn't prescribe unless I weaned (despite loads of evidence it was safe). I BF DC1 until 23 months when he self-weaned. I do feel guilty but it was unavoidable, I tried literally everything to get them to prescribe meds without weaning and they just refused.

Bf DS1 just over 2 years - was really hard giving up that bedtime feed. I was adamant that I wasn't going to do anywhere near as long with 2nd child but then after I stopped bf'ing DS started catching every cold going when he never did before! Could be total coincidence but it made me u-turn my view!
DS2 will be born in a few months and to be honest I'm just going to go with the flow. I'm not setting dates or times or anything like that- you stop when it's right for you or when baby self weans and it doesn't matter if there is a difference in timing between how long siblings weaned. They won't know and they won't care. Remember - happy Mum = happy babies so do what works for you!

DD1 was bf until she was 18 months, after getting the basics right it was just really easy and natural. She pretty much self-weaned.

DD2 was premature and her birth and early weeks were fairly traumatic. I expressed and fed when she was in SCBU but she was on formula top-ups from birth, and I fully switched to formula before she was 3 months. I’d have loved for it to have gone differently, but there were so many things going wrong at that time that it honestly felt like the best choice for my mental health.

she’s now 2, healthy and thriving, and I really don’t think anyone would be able to guess how they fed just by looking. Over the course of parenting there’ll be plenty of times when you feel guilty about something, so give yourself some slack on this one.

Yes, my first for 6 months and second for 16 months. Would have liked to have fed DC1 for longer but I tried to introduce mixed feeding and it didn’t work out because DC preferred a bottle of formula and gave up on my milk!

Yes. DS for about 4 months because I went back to work and DH became a SAHD. DD for a year on MAT leave. Unfortunately it was needs must.

Breastfed dd till she was 3.
Currently breastfeeding baby ds, he’s nearly 6 months old - I hope to do it for the same length of time, fingers crossed.

If you look up the research you'll see that there are cumulative benefits so it doesn't make sense to deprive your second of these out of guilt for your first. It's a bit like pushing a child down the stairs to even things out because one fell down the stairs on your watch. That would be insane.

People will say it doesn't matter how long you breastfeed for, but the research doesn't back that anecdata up. A lot of the benefits are invisible, such as to the immune system, so that's also why people will say it made no difference and their kids are fine regardless. I say all this as someone who combination fed my first by the way!

Yes, EBF DS for 3 months and then stopped as it was impacting mental health and my supply was low. Currently EBF DD, on month 4 finding it much easier but would prefer to combination feed but DD won't take a bottle

About the same (9ish months), a few weeks early with DS2 as we switched to diary free formula. My minimum goal was 6 months no weaning for both, which we managed, anything after that was a bonus.

For DD1 I breastfed for 4 months, it wasn't without its challenges and it took a serious impact on my mh looking back.
With DD2 I went in with more of an open mind, I still desperately wanted to feed her myself but we had issues with latch, bleeding, her managing to stay awake long enough for a feed, her weight and it also was beginning to take a massive toll on my relationship with DD1 as I was sat with a baby stuck to me constantly and wasn't able to be there as for her as much as I had been. We managed 3 weeks and I made the decision to give up, I felt so so guilty for giving up so soon but we've all been a lot happier for it and I'm glad I made that choice.
My advice would be to keep an open mind and go with what works for your family as a whole, great if you can feed your second for longer but don't feel guilty about doing what works for you either way.

DS 1 EBF for 6 months, stopped as due back at work & difficulty pumping (nurse, long shifts/critical care, also had to start Mat leave early due to me not being well) . DS 2 10months EBF then stopped for back to work
DD 18+ mths EBF, wasn't going back to work (medical reasons for me) so easy to continue for longer, she warned naturally at this point or I would have continued longer.

You don't really get to control it so of course?!

Mine had very different lengths of time BF.

I couldn't bf either of mine and beat myself up over it. I expressed with my first for 9 veryyyy long weeks. My second had 2 weeks expressed and then I got poorly and ended up back in hospital and my milk dried up. Still feel sad over it now. Were our own worst critics

First to 4 months second until 19 months.

The second born is the one that catches every bug going whilst the first has a steel plated immune system.

It would have been very easy to fall into a trap of feeling it was my fault of it had been the other way round but ultimately I think any benefits are at a societal level rather than an individual level.

Dc1 19 months- self weaned.
Dt 13 months - I felt guilty but couldn't manage physically or psychologically any longer.
In hindsight I shouldn't have felt guilty because we can't give all our children the same things all the time because things change, finances change, circumstances are not always the same. With dc1 I went back to work at 6 months, with dt I went back at 13 months because circumstances were different.

The longest I fed one of my children for was 4 years the least was 18m. No I don’t feel guilty at all and wouldn’t waste my time feeling guilty about it 🤷🏻‍♀️

16 months/18 months

I fed DS1 for 20 months, stopped because I was 3 months pregnant. I kind of knew you could tandem feed everyone I knew made it clear they thought that was really weird so I bowed to pressure and stopped. I was also worried tandem feeding would affect my bond with the new baby. No idea why it would, but at the time I worried.

I fed DS2 for 3 years.

Baby 1, 11 months. Self weaned
Baby 2, 14 months, wouldn't eat solids just wanted BF all the time. I cold Turkeyed her
Baby 3, 2 months. Found out ExH cheated, stopped eating, milk dried up
Baby 4, was very I'll at birth, fear of not BF and guilt. . . 3years!! It nearly killed me 😂