if you stopped bf/pumping?

mfgale09

i was hoping to make it to at least 6 months ep, but the last week my supply is getting less and less and i haven't changed much so not sure what to do. if i decide to stop soon i am worried the boys will get sick or something. they haven't been out much and it seems bad timing to stop bm right when we start to go out more! did anyone notice more sickness without bm? I know formuka is fine but not the same as bm. also i know any bm is good..and they already get at least 1/2 formula..is there an amount where there aren't really enough antibodies to help much anyway (maybe there is no way to know that)?

 

everam01

I've heard that even 1 bottle a day is enough to get helpful antibodies.

Luckily we're almost done with cold & flu season!

thiswillbe

Well, it may have just been a coincidence, but the first week the kids were entirely without BM, they got their first cold (prior to that they'd each been getting about 4 oz of BM a day). They were in daycare, though.

autumnlala

I'm at the same point as you and I'm about to stop bf/ pumping.  Only one of mine would nurse so I pumped some for the other, and my pediatrician told me that even one bottle a day is good for the antibodies.  So if you don't WANT to stop, really any amount is good!  But if you're ready, I think six months is a reasonable time to stop.

 

For what it's worth, my babies got tons of colds about a month after they started day care, and they were getting tons of BM at that point!  It doesn't give them enough immunity to overcome other sick kids or siblings passing on germs.  But we should be almost at the end of cold and flu season.

Kb103109

I stopped pumping when my girls were about 9 weeks old because I had a really hard time with it and my supply was just terrible.  They are not in daycare, I am a SAHM, but we are always out.  They have never gotten sick at all.  I do make sure that anyone that holds them or touches them uses hand sanitizer first and I never let strangers touch them.  Everyone and their mother has to stop and try to touch them while we are out and it makes me crazy.  Now we go out and they stay in their car seats and the seats snap into the stroller and I keep them mostly covered and when people ask to see them I tell them that they are sleeping and I don't want the lights to wake them up.  It keeps people from trying to touch them.

AlwaysSunny925

I stopped pumping when the boys were 5 months old.  That was approx. 6 weeks ago and they haven't been sick yet.  Mine are preemies though so we are very conscious about germs - hand washing, people who are sick aren't allowed over, etc.  We also pretty much keep them in the house except for doctor appts and walks around the neighborhood.  Ocassionally I've brought them into stores but I keep them covered so people aren't tempted to touch.

snoangel79

This assumption about breast milk being so much better than formula always bothers me. My doctor says formula is much better than it used to be. I fed my daughter all bm for the first month she was alive but my supply just sucks and I'm at the point where she is getting one bm feeding in a 24 hour period. 

I was breast fed and as a child always got sick... Also got cancer at 23 so breast milk is not the save all end all... Just to let you know...If sh*t is going to hit the fan it will regardless of being breast fed or not. If your kids are in daycare that to me is the place where regardless of being breast fed or not they will pick up something... My kids are at home, my MIL and mom will take care of them when I go to work part time.