BF - when did you stop and how

rottie06

My DD turns 1 (gasp) on Dec 1st.  For the longest time I thought I would be ready to stop BF but now that it is getting closer I am not too sure.  I really love that time to relax and be just her and I.  DD shows no signs of wanting to wean either.  When did you stop and how did you wean?  Thanks

Moesten

We weaned a week after DD's first birthday. At about 11 months I started replacing one or two sessions with a sippy of milk so that in the last weeks we only had 2 or 3 nursing sessions a day. And I just stopped those one day and replaced them with sippies. I was ready to stop at that point but I was surprised by how sad I was when the time came. Surprisingly, DD didn't seem to care and has never asked to nurse since. She transitioned with no trouble at all. 

shawnsweetie

I let me kids wean naturally. Rylee was 21 months and at 22 months P is still going strong. I do set limits on nursing because, selfishly, I don't want a kid on my boob all day. So between 12-18 months we went the distraction method where I tried distracting them if I thought they were going to want to nurse during the day. We have it down to bedtime, naptime and sleeping hours now.

Missbollinger

My goal was for a year but DS2 is 19 mo now and we are finally down to one nursing session a day and it was his decision.  I think we will be done soon but a huge part was my production is finally decreasing and it is turning into colostrum and I guess he isn't to keen on it.

Jscaggs

My supply dropped drastically around 10 months so we started to supplement with formula and then at 1 we made the transition to milk.  The hardest part was breaking her from the bottle and getting her to take milk in a sippy cup at night instead of a bottle at bedtime. We had made the mistake of giving her juice in the sippy cup before we broke her of the bottle, so when she got a sippy cup she wouldn't drink it unless it had juice in it.  It took her a week or two and then we had no problems.

margauxa1

Missbollinger:

my production is finally decreasing and it is turning into colostrum and I guess he isn't to keen on it.

 It turns back into colostrum?  I had no idea.  I hope that I can nurse until my DD is 1, and will continue bedtime nursing after that if I can...

Meg41208

When DD turned 1, we switched her to milk (we'd introduced it at 11.5 months) and we were down to 2 nursing sessions a day - in the morning and at bedtime.  I know I'm in the minority, but the bedtime nursing session was the one I loathed because it made me feel chained to bedtime and at that age, DD was a bear to put to bed.  So we dropped that one next and continued the morning nursing session for about a month until she decided she just wasn't interested anymore.

stacieann15

margauxa1:

Missbollinger:

my production is finally decreasing and it is turning into colostrum and I guess he isn't to keen on it.

 It turns back into colostrum?  I had no idea.  I hope that I can nurse until my DD is 1, and will continue bedtime nursing after that if I can...

I think Missbollinger's milk is turning into colostrum because she is pregnant. If you aren't pregnant, you should be fine.  

stacieann15

I am currently shooting for 6 months (and being hopeful to continue to a year). If you want to keep going, keep going! The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding until 2 (with other foods, of course) or beyond. I am sure part of that has to do with water conditions and other things in other countries, but there is nothing wrong with continuing to breastfeed after a year.  

Missbollinger

stacieann15:

margauxa1:

Missbollinger:

my production is finally decreasing and it is turning into colostrum and I guess he isn't to keen on it.

 It turns back into colostrum?  I had no idea.  I hope that I can nurse until my DD is 1, and will continue bedtime nursing after that if I can...

I think Missbollinger's milk is turning into colostrum because she is pregnant. If you aren't pregnant, you should be fine.  

This!  I am 6 months pg with LO#3 so yes it does turn back, I feel like I am an endless milk machine. 

Kle2922

I started weaning around 12 months and was done about a month and a half later.  My milk supply was seriously lacking at that point and she was loosing interest so it was obviously time. Good luck deciding, there is no right or wrong answer.

gandcnky

I stopped at 14 months, but mostly because I was pregnant and my doctor was encouraging me to cut down.  Right around a year (maybe a little before), I let him naturally cut out some of his daytime feedings (til then we were still nursing every three hours).  This was also because I didn't want to have to pump when I went back to school.  The last to go were the morning, afternoon nap, and bedtime feedings.  Bedtime actually went first, then the morning feeding.  We were still nursing before his late afternoon nap, but one day he started biting and playing, and I knew he was finished.  I wasn't ready to be finished either, so I say do it as long as you enjoy it!  I loved nursing and had a great experience.

Megs&Nick

The week before Allie's 1st birthday, my back went out (again, ugh) and I had to go one some pretty serious medications.  Those made BF a big no-no.  We pretty much had to cut her off cold turkey from nursing since it obviously wasn't something I planned.  I was on meds for almost 2 weeks but decided to pump and dump during that time to keep my supply up.  Allie received BM from my freezer stash or regular milk. 

When I was med-free, I decided to try nursing at night before bed, which was my initial plan after 12 months anyway.  She picked right back up where she left off.  We nursed at night only until she was about 15.5 months.  One night I went to nurse her and she looked at me and said, "No Mommy" and walked off.  I offered it again the next night and she looked at me like I had three heads and wiggled off my lap.  That was the end of our nursing days.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

ryry1977

Right around Cedrics 1st birthday he went from nursing about 10 times a day to no more than 5 times.  We are still nursing.  Not sure how we are going to completely stop though....will be watching your post!  I am ok with still nursing some, would still like to cut back a little more though.