If you've nursed past 1 year, come in.

littlev

DD is 10 months so we're looking down the barrel of her first birthday.  I'm wanting to continue bfing for now, but I'm curious what that looks like past 12 mos.  She is already eating a lot of solids, and that will obviously be increased at that point, plus she'll be able to have WCM (or a milk alternative since she is currently MPI).  How frequently do you nurse a babe 12+ mos?  I was thinking just morning, naps, and bed (and occasional comfort if needed).  I'd like her to eventually be able to go down for naps and bed without nursing first, but how do you transition out of that? Any of your experiences would be great.

jess!ca

We are still going at 14 months, and DD is also MPI. Aside from loving nursing way more than I ever thought I would, the MPI is a reason we are still going.  DD still nurses pretty frequently when I am home.  I think she likes to nurse a little, go play, and then come back and nurse a little more.  If we are just around the house, I don't care.  During the day I still send two 4 or 4.5 oz bottles with her to DC.  She also eats 3 meals and 1 snack a day and drinks water with meals.  She nurses when she wakes up in the AM, before bed at night, sometimes 1X overnight (she's been sick so we are back to that for comfort and decongesting her...) and sometimes a quickie when we get home from work/DC.  The kid loves her BM!  For now, my plan is just to keep going as long as I can / she wants / we are both happy.  I still pump 1-2X a day at work, and have recently begun dipping into my big frozen stash to supplement if I don't pump enough.

desdemona39

DD eats a ton of solids with lots of variety. She also nurses on demand, usually 2x during the day and 1-2x at night when I work, and lots more on the weekends. I stopped pumping at work at 11 months, and my body has adjusted quite well. I don't get engorged when I work all day, and I still have plenty of milk when I'm home.

I nurse her to sleep for naps and bedtime- it's a quick and easy way of getting her to sleep and I have no intention of fixing what isn't broke. She has no problem sleeping for my MIL (who watches her) or DH if I'm not there, but when I am there, she won't settle for anything but her favorite beverage.

I have tried giving her cow milk, goat's, rice, almond, coconut, and soy milks, and she won't have anything to do with any of it. But my pedi said that as long as she's nursing 4x daily, not to worry about it. She does eat yogurt and cheese, and loves spinach and broccoli. Alternate milks aren't really necessary at all.

tokenhoser

DS still nurses a lot when he's in the mood. I just nursed him for probably an hour out of the 3 we were home before he went to bed. Off and on and off and on.

He goes down for naps without nursing and goes to bed awake.

I just follow his lead. I'm at work full time, and I don't pump. Nursing when together is what works for us. I'm thinking of night weaning soon, though, as his sleep sucks.

jlsimon56

I nurse after work and before bed and once overnight on weekdays.  I nurse at wakeup, mid-morning, after nap, before bed, and once overnight on weekends.  I stopped pumping at 14mos.  My body adjusted well.  I was pumping 1x for a month prior to stopping.  LO is starting to eat more but she's not really a big eater.  I send 6oz of thawed BM to daycare and she refuses most of it.  Like her mom, she loves her water! 

We just started sleep training to get LO to fall asleep w/o nursing.  We talked to the pedi about it at LO's 15mo. appt.  Pedi said it doesn't matter if LOs fall asleep ok at daycare, b/c it's a different environment.  She also said that we cannot just cut out nighttime nursing w/o teaching LO how to fall asleep on her own - that's cruel (she said).  So we changed LO's nighttime routine from: dinner, bath, lotion, PJs, quiet play, books, nurse, bed.......to: dinner, bath, lotion, PJs, nurse (or sometimes nurse then PJs, ha!), quiet play, books, bed.  The quiet play is at least 30 minutes, never longer than 60 minutes.  LO has done extremely well with this change.  DH reads the stories now and puts her down drowsy but awake - so she doesn't have me there for the nursing association.  She fusses sometimes.  We started this 2 weeks ago so I am still going to her in the night.  Last night, she wanted water in her sippy cup.  I think we are getting there. 

jcsumm0

DD nurses on demand.  I SAH with her, so that is usually about 7x a day.  I think that is more than the typical nursing toddler in the US, but pretty normal from what I've read of other cultures where extended BFing is the norm.  She eats a lot of table food as well, although I am glad that she is still nursing, especially on the days when she doesn't eat much due to toddler whim or teething or sickness.

Around 15 months I started putting her to bed awake at naps and bedtime.  We nurse first, then read books, then she goes in her crib.  She plays and looks at some books for a few minutes and then falls asleep.  She never cried--it was a lot easier than I thought, especially for a baby that nursed to sleep for EVERY nap and bedtime for 15 months!  She does still wake at least once a night to nurse.  I want to cut that out, but I've been putting it off....

rboisvert

DD is just about 18 months and I couldn't begin to tell you the average number of times we nurse.  It's all about her wants.  She often will do the pop on pop off stuff a lot over the evening and we still nurse at night (co-sleep).  Just going with her lead has worked for us.  That said she's now at a point where if she's asking to nurse somewhere it's not convenient like the check out line I don't feel bad and she understands me asking her to wait a bit. 

bumpuser2505903

My DD is almost 18 months and we nurse 2-3x per day. I work and stopped pumping at 12 months. She basically demands we nurse upon wake up and then we usually nurse again as soon as I get home from work. Sometimes we do another session before bed, sometimes not.

She's been getting her molars for the past six weeks and been requesting to nurse a lot more than she had before. I just go with the flow. On the weekends she'll occassionalling nurse when she wakes up from her nap.

katiewhompus

Right now we nurse in the morning, for her nap(s) (sometimes 1, sometimes 2) and then at night. She also gets up quite frequently at night to comfort nurse, especially with molars coming in.