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Cincinnati Babies
Welcome to the world Finley Michael - born 2/13/2010
Baby Sister is coming soon!
?'s for moms who nursed past 12 months
How much did you/are you nursing per day? Did you have a "plan of attack" as far as cutting back nursing sessions (and if so, what was it) or did you let your baby self wean? Fin just turned one, and while I am in no hurry to make him stop, I was thinking he probably doesn't need to still nurse 4x per day, but am not sure if he'll cut back on his own our if I should encourage it somehow. The doctor didn't have much advice.
Welcome to the world Finley Michael - born 2/13/2010
Baby Sister is coming soon!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: ?'s for moms who nursed past 12 months
At 1 year Henry was still nursing 4-6x per day + a couple times through the night.
Now, at 20.5 months Henry nurses average 4x per day but no longer at night. He only nurses 'for real' when he wakes up in the morning (both sides and can hear him swallowing), the other times are quick, just one side, usually for just 2 or 3 minutes. He does that before nap, before bed and usually once in the late afternoon.
I let Henry call the shots. I don't offer to nurse, I wait for him to ask. Sure enough over time he nurses less often and for less time. I image by his second birthday we'll be down to just the morning session and not long after that, completely done.
You know though, with my daughter it was totally different. She was nursing a gazillion times a day at 12 months but had completely self-weaned by 15 months... she just stopped being interested all the sudden.
Who knows!
B was still nursing 5 or so x a day at a year, and since I was home for the summer, I didn't really worry about cutting out any feedings. He didn't seem to be in any hurry to drop any feedings, either. As I got closer to school starting back up, I did slowly start cutting out daytime feedings, because I didn't want to pump at school anymore this year. I had him down to morning, after school (before afternoon nap), and bedtime by the time school started (so at about 13 months), and then he dropped them himself after that. I wasn't in any hurry to stop either, but I found that he started to lose interest on his own. Good luck!
ETA: To cut out the daytime feedings, I just didn't offer it to him and would usually have him involved in something else, so he didn't typically ask.
Pretty much what Hannah said. Charlotte is 21 mos and is nursing 4X's time (give or take) but only 1-2X's per day 'for real.' At 12 mos she was still nursing about 4X's per day and then she gradually cut back on her own. At one point she was down to nursing 1-2X per day and sometimes not at all, but picked up the pace again due to teething and illness, and she's just been back at it ever since. I plan on letting her self wean, and the only reason I ever tried to encourage her to cut back was because I really didn't want to be tandem feeding when Lila arrived. When it became clear she just wasn't ready, I backed off (and obviously we are tandem BFing now, but it's really not as overwhelming as I thought it'd be). Although I've let her cut back on her own, I will sometimes say "Mommy's milk is all gone. Do you want a cup?" when she asks to nurse. A lot of times she just wants something to drink and doesn't really care if it's from a cup or the breast, so this works to deter her from nursing (however, if she really does want to nurse, I let her). You could try this and see if you are able to replace any feedings that way, but otherwise there is no need to hurry it if you are still fine with it. He'll probably cut back on his own.
Rylee nursed until she was 21 months. She was nursing 3 times a day after she turned 1. She dropped the bedtime session around 13 months so we were down to twice a day. Then she dropped the nap session when she gave up napping (20 mnths). The morning session was the last to go.
Parker is still nursing. He usually nurses in the early morning (5 am) before naps IF he naps... so about 3 days a week. He always nurses before bed. Sometimes he nurses during the night but I am trying to cut back on the middle of the night nursing sessions
I nursed Jack for 22 months. He was quite the nursaholic. He was still nursing throughout the day at 15 months, probably 4-6 times. Then at 18 months, I got pg so I tried to distract him and slowly he weaned by 22 months. There wasn't much left anyways, it was a really easy weaning experience.
Sawyer is still nursing at 17.5 months. I was trying to wean him a month ago because frankly, I am just really tired of it... that may sound terrible, but its' been 4.5 years that I have been nursing or pregnant.I'm ready to be back to just me. However, I let him nurse whenever/ how ever many times he wanted through all the sicknesses around here for the past month. It has helped alot, he didn't catch the tummy bug very bad, and through his strep, the only thing he wanted to eat was through nursing. Sooo, now my supply is back up, and we are back to weaning (and whining for it)101.
I am going to San Fran with DH April 1st for 4 days and I am hoping to be done by then.
That was a novel, sorry.
Just keep it up as long as you both want to, let him lead, don't offer and see what happens.
Good luck!
He eventually got down to 2x a day (morning and bedtime) I offered whole milk and by 15 months he really started loving it. He self weaned around 15 months. Worked perfectly for both of us.
I nursed 4 times per day with DS2 from 12 months until he started self weaning. Also the introduction of a sippy cup cut down one session and then when pregnancy kicked into the 3rd tri he self weaned completely.
HTH