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D.C. Area Babies
Weaning?
DS will be 6 months in the middle of the month. I have been lucky enough to almost EBF. Just a few ounces of formula here and there.
I know they say that it's the first six months that matter the most in terms of them getting the breast milk. I am currently struggling with wether or not on want to wean him at six months of continue BFing.
I know there are positives to continuing (bonding, still getting immunities from me). I can see positives and negatives to starting formula as well. Positive being I am not "glued" to the baby (FWIW I don't have a supply in the freezer, I pump at work and have enough for the next day). Negative being the cost of formula.
How long did you BF and why did you chose to wean...just looking for other opinions. Everyone I know who did BF didn't have a choice in stopping becuase their milk production stopped....
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Re: Weaning?
i never had a stash either and i nursed for 2.5 years. i stopped pumping when DS was 20 months.
i pumped at work only. occasionally, if i was going to be away from DS on the weekend at a feeding time (rare), i'd pump a little at home too.
my freezer stash was enough for half a day. i woudln't call that a "stash!"
deciding when to wean was never really an issue for me, b/c i want my children to self-wean, which DS eventually did, without incident.
I day weaned at about 14 months and stopped pumping at work at 13 months (I had a bit of a stash). I weaned at 17 months, but at that point we were only nursing at night and for the most part only when she went down for the night. Day weaning was very easy. DD was totally ready, in fact, I took it harder than she did. Night weaning ended up being pretty easy too though STTN didn't happen till about a month later. Because I did it all so slowly I didn't have any engorement issues (and I had a pretty big oversupply). I night weaned at 17 months because I was 6 weeks pregnant just not feeling up to nursing anymore. I hope to nurse for 18 months with this next baby (but with a 2 year-old running around we'll see
).
I felt like the day-weaning was the most 'freeing' for me because I didn't have to pump and on the weekends I could go out/run errands with out having to be on a schedule. When to wean is a personal decision and you need to figure out what's best for you and your baby. If nursing makes you feel resentful then it's not good for either of you.
DD1 9.24.06
DS 7.1.08
twins due 9.7.11 lost twin A at
DD2 4.7.12
I've gone ten months with DS so far. I'm planning to gradually start switching him to cow's milk during the day at twelve months, and I'll continue nursing at night and in the morning as long as he's interested. (Well, I say that now. I might revisit pushing him a little bit to wean if he's still nursing whenever #2 comes along (not pregnant yet). I'll have to see when (if) the time comes whether I'm up to tandem nursing.)
I expect that daytime weaning will feel pretty freeing to me because DS has never been good about taking a bottle. (He'd only take pumped milk if it was just pumped, and he'd only take an ounce or two of that.) Even now that he's eating regular meals of solids (but is still nursing), being away from him during the day has gotten a lot easier than it was before we got into a routine of offering solids. If I'm away, DH can give DS an extra snack of solids and some water and usually keep him happy enough until I get home. Having the option of giving DS cow's milk will make it even easier for someone else to take care of DS.
Thank you!
You guys are giving me hope
I do like nursing him, but I feel so tied down on the weekends not being able to run errands unless I time the out right. Hopefully, once he starts eating solids that will change and I can make for a full year.
You can't beat nursing and looking down to see that great big smile on his face! Melts my heart.
I guess I will answer from a different side. I had to stop pumping at work at around the 6.5 month mark because it was really interfering with my work. Already being a mom had changed my career so drastically. Also, DD was never into nursing, I had continual clogged ducts, was locked to my pump, had no time in the evenings to be with DH because of the pumping, packing everything for the next day, etc. I used my freezer stash to get DD to 7.5 months and then nursed her 3 times per day. THat got to be too difficult to time the daycare bottles, etc. I nursed her only in the mornings until 10 months when I realized she just wasn't into it and neither was I.
So, long story short, it was a tough decision but for me it was a quality of life issue. It did improve my quality of life and formula wasn't expensive (we used Costco), but I am not regret-free either. My DD just never really cared one way or the other about nursing and that made it harder to sacrifice my quality of life so much at home and at work, so I made it past the 6 month mark and then gradually stopped. You also don't have to do all or nothing - you could do what I did and stop during the day and still nurse mornings, after work, and before bed. Good luck - the decision isn't easy but in the long run, whichever you decide, you will have a healthy, happy baby.
I BFed DD until she was nine months. I might've weaned her earlier, but she refused bottles until about eight months - when she took a sippy instead, and then accepted bottles (she was backwards...). It was really frustrating to live my life in two- or three-hour increments for those first months because DH is military and all baby duty fell on me while he was away; I was burning out. But by the time she was on solids more, things changed so much. I was only BFing her four (somtimes five) times a day, for like ten minutes at a time, and on a predictable schedule - so life was much more manageable. I'm now glad I stuck with it a few more months, especially when I started buying formula and couldn't believe how much it cost per week. I couldn't wait to get her on whole milk!
DS shares his sister's hatred of the bottle but also has no interest in solids. I had no goal besides making it to at least six months, so it looks like I'm going to BF him for a while longer.
my original goal was 6mo, then it was 8mo b/c the baby's BM intake needs do not change even if he starts solids at 4-6mos. When I made it to 8mo, I decided to go to 9mo. DD would not give it up, so I kept going. I stoppped pumping 3x a day and eBFing at 11mo when I only BFed morning and night. But DD was still eBFed b/c I had a huge stash. It lasted me until she was 14mo old, when we slowly introduced cowmilk. I completely stopped BFing when she was 14mo old and I was 14 weeks pregnant. I went a lot longer than I ever thought I would but I have no regrets, of course! I know it's controversial whether or not there are real ties, but with us, DD got her 1st ear infection a month after I stopped BFing.
Aww! Then why stop? My kid is only a little bit older than yours, but I have no intention of weaning until 12 mo, unless I end up with supply issues. I don't think there's anything wrong with formula, I just don't see why we should give it to him when he can have the real deal for free!
In terms of feeling tied down, I often go 4-5 hours on the weekend without nursing or pumping - it just means I'll pump a ton when I get home! I also have a pretty decent freezer stash that I've built up by pumping once before bed and I feel like it gives me a lot of flexibility and hopefully, like mstavish, I can stop pumping at work early. I do hate pumping at work.
It is probably different for everyone, but I will say that DD started getting her ear infections and colds while she was still EBF'd with no change once she started getting formula.
The other reason why I was thinking of weaning is becuase I pump 3x a day 3 days a week at work and 2 days a week I work longer and pump 4x a day. I think I am just ready to be done pumping.
I know that if I stop pumping and give him formula that my supply will go down and I won't have enough for him....
My son got his one and only (so far!) ear infection after I stopped breastfeeding. But my friend's daughter had tons of ear infections both while BF and while using formula. every kid is different.
i haven't read all of the replies....but have you tried spacing out your pumping so you don't feel so tied down? i was worried that my supply would drop when i started pumping less and it didn't. i did start eating more oatmeal at that time, so that could have helped. Personally I breastfeed until he was about 18 months old. I did slowly wean from 12 months till 18 months...I stopped offering to nurse and started giving him milk in his cup after he was 12 months, I would only nurse when he seemed to need it and at bedtime. It was a very gradual process, and he finally stopped "asking" a couple of weeks ago.. The last feedings to go were the ones at naptime, he actually didn't seem to mind dropping bedtime, or any other day time feedings, but getting him to stop nursing at naptime was very hard. I thought I would be sad to stop, but the gradual slow down really helped me (and DS)accept it and not be sad.
You have to do what's right for you though, good luck with your decision. Personally I wouldn't want to quit BF and start FF if BF is going well...just the idea of making bottles in the middle of the night sounds painful! Cutting back on daytime nursing and adding formula during the day for a bottle or two, but still nursing at nighttime doesn't sound too bad.