How long you plan on BF?!

trac101s · July 2013

I am a FTM, and I am planning to breastfeed if he latches on and everything is successful.

I will be returning back to work after the six, maybe seven weeks (It'll be around Thanksgiving). I will be working full-time, and still plan on pumping again if all goes well.

My question is how long to mother's usually tend to breastfeed there babies?!

PepperBug · July 2013

I think you will get wildly different answers from many people. My advice would be to try your best and see what works for you. If you want to avoid formula entirely, you will need to go for a year. A lot of people stop at a year, but you can go longer if it works for you and your baby.

I intended to breastfeed until I went back to work at four months, but it wound up working out so well that we continued until he was 15 months. At that point, he was down to one nursing session before bed and my supply just tanked. And that wound up being the right time for us to stop.

blu-eyedwife · July 2013

Everyone has different goals and even with those "goals" the reality can change the situation.

I was planning on breastfeeding till he had teeth.

But he didn't get his first tooth until 10 months, so then it made sense to just continue to 1 year.

But at 1 year, flu season was upon us, so then it made sense to continue until 18 months.

But at 20 months he got sick and DH went out of town, so we added back in the nursing session we had dropped, and at 21 months I'm still nursing once a day.

aylafsu88 · July 2013

My original goal was 6 months. Once I made it to 6 months I realized that I enjoy bonding and cuddling with LO during our nursing sessions. I then moved my goal to a year. We recently made it to one year and I have decided to let LO self wean. I plan to introduce milk soon as I will no longer be pumping at work. I will continue to nurse LO in the AM and PM until she decides to wean or my supply dries up.

miniray · July 2013

I had originally said at least 6 weeks, then 3 months, then 6 months. He's now 16 months and we're still going strong.

ETA: I also work FT and pump while at work. I went back to work at 6 months PP.

JJ_13 · July 2013

I'm 7 1/2 months in. I pump at work, EBF at home. I plan to pump until 12 - 14 months and BF in the morning and evening until LO self-weans.

patrickandkim · July 2013

I went back to work at 12wks, but was on medical leave for 1012wks shortly after returning from maternity leave. BFing has gone great and we have had no need to supplement....this was not my experience with my last baby. LO is 11months today and I plan on weaning whenever is she ready. Hopefully that will not be until she is at least 2!

KdgTeacher · July 2013

My long term goal is 1 year. Right now, it is to make it to the allusive "miracle 6 weeks" that everyone talks about.

ETA: I go back to work in Nov, so LO will be 4 months old and I'll pump at work.

linzeek44 · July 2013

shell041783 said:
My goal is to EBF for a year and then after that as long as we both want.

This is us too. We are at over ten months so we are close to a year but neither of us is ready to wean.

capinjen152 · July 2013

I did 7.5 months with ds1 which included some supplementing at daycare before U finally gave up. I could never keep up. My goal had been 6 months and I was happy just to have made that.

This time things are better. I have 200 oz in the freezer and growing, so I'm hoping to make it to a year.

Pink724 · July 2013

KdgTeacher said:

My long term goal is 1 year. Right now, it is to make it to the allusive "miracle 6 weeks" that everyone talks about.

This is the same for me.

katie6/26/04 · July 2013

With older ds we stopped 15 at months when he decided he was done. I would have gone until 2 if he had wanted to. I will go at least one year and see what dd wants to do after that.

michelleonthecoast · July 2013

I'm almost at 6 weeks which was a huge goal for me! :-) I'm so proud of myself for making it this far.

I'm not sure how much longer I will go. If I wasn't having weight gain issues with LO I could probably easily get to 6 mos. I could fit pumping into my work schedule up until then. My schedule changes in Jan and it doesn't allow time for pumping so I would probably stop at that point no matter what.

hpoff33 · July 2013

Until you start the breastfeeding journey, it is really hard to pin down just want you might be able to do. I think it is better to commit yourself to trying to breastfeed and doing all you can to get started on the path. Then take a look at how long you want to go.

I definitely had a rough start and really just wanted to make it to 3 months. Did that, so I said next goal was 6 months. Reached that one and here we are 10 months later. I am fairly confident we will make it to a year at which point I will see where we are and take it from there. My husband and I want to have another baby soon and so that might influence how long I go for. Who knows. I do love the special bonding time with my son and when nursing is going well, it is a highlight for me.

Good luck on your journey!

starsinger17 · July 2013

I plan on breastfeeding until 12-18 months. I originally planned to breastfeed from 9-12 months but now that we're almost to 9 months I don't see the need to stop just yet, but I'm thinking 12 months feels right for us. He's showing a lot less interest in the breast and a lot more in solid foods any way so i'll probably slowly cut down on feeds (he only gets 4 boob feedings now anyway) over the next 4 months and then be done.

MissesRootbeer · July 2013

With DD #1 I BF until she was 14 months, then she weaned herself. With DD#2 I'm EP since she was in the NICU but she's slowly getting the hang of BF. I want to go at least a year, but will have to decide when we get there.

Mellisa412 · July 2013

My goal was 6 months and now as that gets closer is 4 months I am thinking about trying for 9 months.

jensriot · July 2013

My goal was 6 months for all three. At 8 months with DD1 I was ready to be done, so I weaned her over about 6 weeks. When DD2 was 7-8 months I went on vacation and ended up really dehydrated and my milk was just gone. She didn't seem to miss it, so we just moved on. Things are going well with DS, but I just feel a bit over it. I'll probably keep going to 8 months, but we'll see.

Mandmeesh · July 2013

I had said "at least a year" from the beginning...and I definitely feel that's attainable. LO is already 15 weeks and there have been no hiccups so far (refusing the bottle, but that makes bfing even easier!

)

I've really come to love nursing with LO a lot, so we'll get to a year and then see how it goes

How long you plan on BF?!

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