- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Attachment Parenting
KCKappa
member
Extended BFing questions
KCKappa
member
DD will be one Monday (!) and is still nursing up a storm. I'm hoping we can continue until she's at least two, so I have a few questions for anyone who BF'd past one year:
- Did you introduce WCM or an alternative milk at 1yo? If not then, did you introduce it at some point later?
- Did you keep pumping/keep a freezer stash of BM in case of emergency or if you needed to be away for an extended time? We have to leave DD with MIL for two nights when she's 13 months old and I have just enough frozen BM (hopefully) for that. So if anything comes up afterward, I won't have any left and that makes me a little nervous...
- Did you find LO would accept solid foods and/or WCM in place of nursing when he/she was hungry and not able to nurse? I'm a SAHM, but MIL would like to start watching DD one day a month just for fun, and I'm wondering if I should send BM in a sippy (which would mean continuing to pump I guess) or if solids/possibly WCM might be enough for the 4-6 hrs we're apart.
Warning
No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Extended BFing questions
I'm answering quickly b/c I am six hours ahead of EST and I have to do bedtime soon.
I kept pumping until about 13 months and then went through my freezer stash until about 14 or 15 months. I still pumped occasionally if I had to be away from DD all day, but it was mostly for my own comfort. By the time my freezer stash ran out, she didn't have much interest in BM unless it was coming directly from the source. She was already refusing a bottle by then and she never really took to milk of any kind in sippy cups (WCM, soy or goat's milk, although I tried all of them). She did, however, really like Yobaby liquid yogurts and ended up drinking these if she couldn't nurse for a long period of time. If I remember correctly, two Yobaby yogurts have the daily recommended calcium for a growing toddler, but you might want to double check this.
I had to have a surgical procedure done when DD was 18 months old and was nervous as all heck about going for 48-72 hours without nursing DD at all. I pumped to relieve pressure, but couldn't nurse because of being away from DD and then because of the drugs in my system, and it all turned out fine. DD went right back to nursing as usual (3x/day at that point) when I was all well again and in the 3 days she didn't nurse at all, she didn't ask for any kind of milk.
I think in your case, regarding MIL watching your DD 1 day/month, your LO should be fine with regular solids while you're away. If she ends up liking WCM and you want to give it to her, great, but she should be fine going a 6-hour period without any kind of milk.
LO was/is dairy free, so we didn't do any "milk" transition o r replacement. She will occasionally have a sip of almond milk now, but not often.
She is fine for long periods without nursing - she does tend to eat more. We just make sure she gets plenty of water. I've had to do 2 separate three day business trips and she was fine. She picked up nursing right when I got back.
She still will nurse all.the.time if I would let her. I try to keep it to morning, lunch/nap time, dinner and night time. I was hoping she would go down to 2x a day, but that has not happened yet. But, she is also not a good eater. She would take BM any time before food of any kind. except cookies. So I have to try to get her to eat before I let her nurse, sometimes easier said than done.
My nanny has a boy who is the same age as LO and he is a great eater, doesn't get any regular milk that I know of, and nurses 2-3x a day.
Congratulations!
Did I introduce cows milk... no but eventually she had some and if I get coffee (which is rare) I get her steamed cow's milk.
I never responded well to a pump, when I leave her she gets offered water or a meal but I generally am not apart from her for more than 5 hours.
I can offer a snack instead of nursing, but I try to anticipate her wanting to nurse and offer the snack before she starts asking to nurse. If she is determined to nurse or tired she won't take much of a distraction.
Yes solids should be enough while you're gone for 4-6 hours, a 12 month only needs to nurse 3-4 times to get 'enough' milk. That being said my daughter rarely only nurse 4 times in 24 hours, sometimes she will get 4 nursing sessions before breakfast (we partially bedshare)
anyways I like to call what I do 'full term' breastfeeding since the WHO recommends it until at least 2.5.
Little Rose is 2 1/2.
DD has had WCM on occasion. She isn't a fan unless it is chocolate, so it is a very rare treat. I have not pumped since DD was ten months old. I have been able to work around her schedule since then.
She still takes in a lot of milk at the AM session, but mostly comfort nurses throughout the day as she likes. If we are out and about or on the days I work, she doesn't bat an eye. Of course she's signing for milk the second she sees me!
It is working well and DD is thriving.
didnt read previous posts so forgive if this is a repeat
starting around 12mo, DS was able to be away from me for 8-9hr and nurse just once. at around 14mo he was able to go the full 8-9 hours without nursing (and in fact when my sitter brought him by at lunch, he wasnt interested). Although when we are home together (which is most days) he will nurse on demand, usually 3-4 times during the day. He also refused to take my milk in a sippy (or bottle) before his first birthday, and would even go hungry and cry but wouldnt drink it.
now, if he's away from me, and he's hungry, he will take solid food and water. we have not introduced WCM and don't plan to. ( even now if he's hungry during the day, its food he wants, not milk.) he usually only asks for "numm-o" if he's upset, bored, or winding down for the night (or anytime he wakes up in the night, as well as when he first gets up in the morning). If he's home with me he will want to nurse either before or after his nap, but when he's at grandparents house he's fine without it and doesn't ask for it
Francesca Pearl is here! Josephine Hope is almost 3!
My DD couldn't have milk when she was an infant. I re-introduced all dairy to my diet in the months before her first birthday (and she did fine), so I introduced yogurt and cheese shortly after her 1st birthday. She had no issues, so I tried to introduce milk, but she wouldn't touch it. I gave her those Yo Baby drinkable yogurt things, which I would cut with whole cow's milk.
My DD did not associate milk with nursing at all. She cut down her nursing around 18 months, but until then she nursed a lot, even with me offering her a lot of other dairy with her meals.
I wasn't ever able to pump (excess lipase in my milk, plus DD would never take a bottle), so if I wasn't with DD, she had to get by without breastmilk. She did fine. Around 1 year my MIL started watching DD one morning a week. I would nurse her in the morning before I dropped her off, then she would just eat food until I picked her up after lunch to go home and nurse before nap. She was fine, and I never noticed a decrease in her interest in nursing because of the time apart.
After a year, I didn't really nurse on demand any more. Up until 18 months or so, I would pretty much nurse on demand if we were home. But if we weren't at home, I usually didn't nurse her. I would offer her a snack or something to distract her. If she were hysterical, I'd nurse her of course, but usually she was fine with me offering something else. The only exception was if she was tired -- she has always had a very strong nurse/sleep association.
Good luck, and congrats on nursing to a year!!!
Congrats!
All of the anti NIP and choosing not even to try breastfeeding posts on the 2nd tri and Sept '12 boards today are making my head hurt. It's nice to come here and answer a question about extended BF!
We nursed for 26 months.