BFeeding past 1 year-Did you change way you feed?

[sparkymummy]

Probably a daft question here but all my firends are stopping Bffeding at 1 year and this feels real strange to me as surely my 13 month old baby needs Bmilk as much as my 11 month old baby did 2 months ago? Anyway, just wondering if you people who carried on got many comments from family and "friends" etc and whether you changed the number of feeds you were giving etc. At the moment I give my LO milk mid morning and mid afternoon (as well as eve, night and morning) but am wondering whether I should offer a snack and drink of water instead? Also if I were to not be around for one of those feeds will my supply really suffer (have never expressed and he's never had bottle so the possibility of a little more freedom every now and again is very appealing but I don't want to end up with no milk, or a starving/thirsty babe)

Right, I'll stop waffling now, just want to hear from all you mamas who kept going so I know it can and is done!!

[Jacanne]

I fed (and still do at 2ish) on demand at a year - as far as I know you should be okay if you skip the odd feed. When DD was 1 I was working 2 days a week and she didn't feed all day on those occasions (had cows milk from a cup instead - she didn't do bottles either) but I had no problems feeding during the day on those days that I was home.

I got a few comments from family the first time round but they didn't bother with DD2, lol. I would just quote WHO recommendations of feeding until at least 2 years at anyone who questions you. There are health benefits to feeding past 2 - Here are some good reasons to carry on that you can quote at people if you want. Failing that you have to develop the "do you really want to make something of this" look

[Jacanne]

lol, thinking about myself - I meant feeding past 1 not 2 (although there are benefits to that too)

[NotQuiteCockney]

From about a year, my DSes both discovered that I always have the boobs, and took to demanding feeds all the time, out of boredom or whatever. I also got a bit uncomfortable feeding in public (which is me being stupid, I know! Feeding in public is a good thing!). So from about a year, I tended to restrict feeds to my room or their room or similar locations.

If you've done a year of bf, missing a feed is unlikely to make you engorged, or have a bad effect on your supply. He could have a cup of cow's milk, some water, a snack, whatever.

At about a year, I think I was moving my kids to one nap per day, so moving to three or four feeds per day (first thing, last thing, and before and after the nap).

Well done on keeping going so long, and for keeping going.

Oh, I barely ever got comments, but I'm pretty thick-skinned. And of course bfing only really in private means not that many people know - I'm not that shy about telling people though.

[yellowrose]

sparky - depends on whether you are going to get them to wean or are fairly laid back about it and will allow them to self wean, although beware the latter may require you to bf a few times a day until the child is ready to give up, so we are talking another few more years

because i went for the second option, ds is still bf usually twice a day, morning and before bed. he will be 3 in June. he is the boss as it were so he has dropped feeds gradually. he dropped morning nap first at around 18 months i think and then afternoon nap around 6 months ago, so once those had gone, the bf associated with them went. up until around 6 months ago he wanted several bf's in the morning, was very demanding about it, but now hardly cares whether he has a morning feed or not !

all toddlers are different of course, but i suspect mine will give up altogther between now and 4, which is the average age of self-weaning. Like NQC, we stopped public bf a long time age, again not because i decided, but because he is such an active, energetic, won't sit still sort and blank refused to feed in public once he started walking (at around 13 months). he wasn't interested, too distracted !

i agree that 1 year is a strange cut off point. the WHO recommends AT LEAST 2 years for the optimum benefit for mum and baby (for mum this would include a reduction in risks of cancers).

[littleducks]

My dd is one in two weeks so I am watching thhis with interest, she feeds regularly in the day and a tad too regularly at night! I am struggling to get her drinking water though, she is physically capable drinking from a cup/sippy cup/straw/adult bottle but when served with a meal or offered during the day just throws it about [sceptical] so how much water would you say your baby is having? I am concerned about limiting feeds due to dehydration in the hot weather.

[yellowrose]

oh sparky, have just re-read your post, re. other people IGNORE them, they know not what they say !

re. baby starving from lack of bm and your supply, the amazing thing is i have not bf for a whole day before when i have had to go away, but alawys came back with bm the next day, your supply isn't as it used to be when you had a very young demand fed baby, so it doesn't suffer as much now. also they tend to get a lot of fluids from both food and drinks in between so no danger whatsoever of child getting dehydrated. ds is having water or juice when we are in the warm sunny weather ( i never gave him cow's milk until he was well over 1, but he still hates it will only drink it if it is a milkshake !) no need to gets boobs out at this age as they like have water/diluted juice in the park

[lemonaid]

Skipping feeds won't affect your supply much at this stage. I had to go away for 4-5 days twice between the ages of 1 and 2 and my supply readjusted fine with no expressing. So skipping the odd feed won't have any effect.

I don't think you "should" offer a snack and a drink of water instead mid-morning or mid-afternoon in the sense that that's definitely what you ought to do, but it would be a perfectly reasonable thing to do if you'd like to cut back a little on the nursing sessions without stopping nursing altogether.

For DS, little and often with water was the way to go at that age -- we always had a cup of water available during the day and he'd have lots of little sips that added up to a very respectable water intake.

[yellowrose]

littleducks, have you tried adding a bit of juice to the water, heavily diluted so 1:10 of juice:water ?

some toddlers won't drink water or cow's milk, but will drink diluted or pure juice.

[Jacanne]

Littleducks, my dd2 didn't start drinking fluids other than from me until she was about 1 and a half - it wasn't really a problem because I was happy to feed on demand. We tried lots of different cups though and found the free-flow Tommee Tippee ones to be the most successful. Both of mine started on diluted juice because they didn't seem to like water but have switched to water as they have gotten older.

[Tatties]

Ds has just turned 2 and I have always fed on demand. Any questions about it recently have been out of genuine interest, and tbh, I don't think anyone would dare challenge me about it now! Depending on your child, this year can have quite intense periods; so do come back for a moan if you are finding it tough. The book "Mothering your Nursing Toddler" is very informative and reassuring. WRT offering snacks/water instead - I would offer snacks during the day (usually when I am eating something) but ds has always very clearly expressed when he would prefer milk. Good on you for carrying on

[Tatties]

Oh Psychobabble congratulations! So pleased for you If you still have my email address (and the time of course) write and tell me all about it

[sputnik]

First and foremost you should do what feels right for you, regardless of comments you get. Everyone is different.

My take on it was this, after about a year I wanted to continue, but not on demand and in a way I felt comfortable with. In other words it became a kind of compromise between my needs and hers.

We gradually reduced feeds to morning, naptime and bedtime, unless DD was ill and off "normal" food, in which case she fed whenever she wanted. At about 18 months we cut the morning feed as it was causing her to wake at random times in the night. When we finally stopped it was 1 feed at a time and happened with very little fuss and problems, which surprised me really.

I don't regret for a moment cotinuing, I think it really helped get her through her first winter at nursery with no major infections (constant niggly colds excepted). I did have negative comments but basically ignored them and after a while people stopped asking. Good luck whatever you decide