My daughter just turned 3 and she still nurses before bed a few nights a week. I plan on letting her self wean. That may change though depending on how this pregnancy goes.
I am going to nurse dd until 2 and will do the same for this new lo. For dd she has a dairy intolerance so bm is the only kind of milk she gets now. I also know it's wonderful for all kinds of reasons including keeping her healthy. With that being said we adopted ds and he was ff. He didn't get sick until he was 18 months. He has a wonderful immune system. Bfing for me is just an extra special time we share.
OurBlessing From God Through Adoption
Our Blessing After TTC for 6 Years (natural birth!)
I chose 18 months, but it was actually 19. Not sure what type of comments you are looking for? My original goal was one year, then eighteen months. At that point I felt that we were both in a good place to stop, but it was another month before we did.
We did one year, and DS was already self-weaning at that time. If I'm being honest, I was ready to be done. I will aim for one year with this LO as well.
I think every woman should do what works best for her family. I thought I'd go over a year, but wasn't sure how long. I totally get why a woman would want to be done by that point, especially if she is pumping/working. I stay home, so for me, a year was just an arbitrary date with little meaning, and my son was nowhere near done at that point. I nursed until he was almost three and stopped both for my own freedom and pressures from my husband. I believe in all the research indicating that bfing continues to be beneficial well into toddlerhood. I will add that my son was in the NICU and we had some early nursing issues, so it just made sense for us to keep going since he seemed to benefit so much from it. I got pregnant immediately after we weaned, so I feel bad that now that he is wondering what the heck is up with my boobs. I also will add that although we were still nursing, it was once or twice a day for last 6 mos to a year.
Is this for how long you will or did or want to or think people should?
I'm still nursing at 13 months. My plan is basically as long as it works for both us, probably till around 2. If my sore boobs keep getting worse I may reevaluate that though, which would make me sad.
Thanks ladies. I really know little about BF, other than it's best for baby and I want to try.
I was talking with a coworker who I know BF and pumps at work and one day her break schedule changed. It was because she stopped BF at 12 months and that just never occurred to me. So I came here.
I voted 12 but it was actually 13. I so wanted to keep going but after a few days of him absolutely refusing, I knew he was ready to stop. I was sad. I would have kept going with his bedtime nursing for a long time if he would have wanted it.
I nursed DS for about 18 months, which is longer than I thought I would. My goal was one year, but it really worked for us and we kept going until it felt right to stop. I stopped pumping at work at 12 months and DS got cows milk during the day and breastmilk and night and in the morning.
I BF for 8.5 months. The first 4 were easy while I was home on leave. I pumped another 4 months once I went back to work. But I just wasn't pumping enough to cover what he was eating while I was working. I started supplementing with formula at 8 months and switched completely to formula at 8.5 months. I was so happy to be done with pumping at work.
SS I wasn't able to bf with dd. She was born with a very rare birth defect known as Pierre Robin. I did pump for the first month. But, with all of our time in and out of the hospital and doctors offices (multiple surgeries ) I just couldn't keep up with pumping after DH went back to work. I am hoping to be able to bf with this lo for at least 6 months, a year if I don't go back to work full time.
Still nursing dd at 9.5 months. Not sure when we will stop. If this pregnancy goes smoothly, I will probably tandem nurse both babes until they want to self-wean
SS I wasn't able to bf with dd. She was born with a very rare birth defect known as Pierre Robin. I did pump for the first month. But, with all of our time in and out of the hospital and doctors offices (multiple surgeries ) I just couldn't keep up with pumping after DH went back to work. I am hoping to be able to bf with this lo for at least 6 months, a year if I don't go back to work full time.
I had to look that up. I'm so sorry, but it sounds like everything worked out. Thanks for sharing.
I tried for 8 weeks, but my milk production was basically not existent (I could pump less than 1 Oz total every 2-3 hours, despite all the tricks to increase supply).
I'm still nursing DD at 12.5 months. I still can't decide if I'm going to wean her before baby #2 comes or not...but I'd like to decide soon!
Honestly, breastfeeding was the thing I was least excited about before she was born, but I knew I still wanted to try for both her & my sake. I set a long-term goal of one year but also some short-term goals of 2 months, 4 months, and 6 months. The shorter term goals helped it seem less intimidating to me in the beginning. Thankfully breastfeeding went smoothly for us (or about as smooth as it goes for anyone), and I have truly loved it despite the feelings I had toward it before DD was born.
My dd is over two and we are still nursing. It's what works for us. I work from home so it was really convenient. I never pumped, but if I had to, I'm guessing I might not still be nursing, or at least not nearly as much. We still nurse 6-8 times a day (which is surprisingly SUBSTANTIALLY less than she used to).
I had every intention on doing extended breastfeeding with DS. Yup. That did not happen. Not even close. It lasted only several weeks.
I had issues from the start with bfing. I had no help in the hospital until nearly 24 hours after DS was born. By that time, I had already caved and gave a bottle. I could not get him to latch. The LC was less than helpful once we did see her. I requested to be seen again before we left on discharge day. I was seen by a more helpful one but was squeezed in between her appointments, so was not given the time really needed.
I continued to struggle. It was EXTREMELY painful and just seemed like he was not getting anything. He would always take a bottle after bfing. I soon discovered he took the same amount from a bottle whether he bf or not.
I was not encouraged by family to get help, they just told me it would get better. Never did. Finally at 9 weeks I went to a private LC. She gave good advice and helpful advice. But even she told me not to beat myself up, if we could not get it to work. She told me to give it to two more week trying her techniques and all the aides. She completely understood if I switched after trying and it not working. So I did just that. We were half formula / half bm at this point. I tried. It failed. DS just never got a good latch. I did learn that the pain was because of his poor latch and it was NOT normal. I also learned I was using the wrong size nipple shield on my pump. Who knew?!
I struggled. I went to pumping for another couple weeks and finally gave up entirely at 12/13 weeks. I was in my car pumping. I had not pumped for 6 hours. I felt engorged. I pumped for a long time with a screaming DS only to get 1 ounce combined. I got home and threw the pump at DH and told him to get it away from me. I felt like a failure. It took me a long time to not feel that way. Mom's that are so pro breastfeeding that they can not see the other side piss me off. As much as I got comments for BF in public. I got more when I was bottle feeding. It made me feel awful. That was when I finally grew a backbone. And got strong on my choices. I was not going to allow other mothers to put me down. Was this how I wanted our feedings to go? NO! What this what I expected? No. But it was the hand I was dealt.
BFing was all around awful for us. We were both stressed and frustrated. Feeding time was awful. I dreaded it. And my whole day was about feeding. When I finally switched to formula full time, feedings became better. DS and I started to connect better. Because our intimate time together was not stressful.
I plan to be more proactive this time with breastfeeding. Getting help from first feeding. I plan to attend LLL meetings starting before LO is born. But if we have to do formula again. I will know it is that is best for us. What is best for me, might not be best for you. At the end of the day, my child was fed, happy and healthy! Breast may be best, but formula is NOT poison.
*bumping under a new name since July 2014*
Married 9/4/11 BFP 4/5/09, EDD 12/4/09, m/c 7/31/09 BFP 5/27/11, EDD 1/17/12, DS born 1/16/12 BFP 8/16/14, EED 4/29/15, We are having another BOY!
Yup. DS is Tommy Pickles! Nothing like living with an escape artist. Just another cloth diapering, baby wearing mama.
We only made it 1 month. DS was born at 35 wks 6 days and was in NICU for a week due to having a low blood sugar. I was not allowed to attempt breastfeeding the entire time we were there so he was a week old the first time we tried. I was given a pump to use the first few days that no one could even show me how to use. Anyway, with no knowledge or instruction we didn't really stand much of a chance. I still get really upset thinking about it. I hope that I can use my past experience to make this time around much more positive.
SS. DS couldn't latch so I pumped for almost 6 weeks. And then I just couldn't keep up with him so we went to formula. I plan on trying to nurse this one, but I won't worry as much about supplementing w formula from day 1 if I have to.
We actually just stopped 6 days ago and my girl is 17 mths. My first goal was 2 weeks, then a month, then 3 mths, 6... You get the idea. It was actually very easy for us. I nursed her 5 min after I delivered her... I think that helped. I know it isn't as easy for others like it was for us.
I nursed for around 17 months. My son lost interest several months before that but I wasn't ready to quit, so I just kept offering. :-) It started to feel weird though, since we had always nursed on demand and now I was leading it. We very slowly cut out feedings until one day on vacation he didn't nurse at all and neither of us noticed. It was the best way ever to wean, I had absolutely no pain.
Also, I had an extremely tough start to our nursing relationship but I am SO glad I hung on!
I nursed until 6 months (from 4 to 6 I was pumping and starting to supplement with formula). No matter what I did, I simply could not produce enough milk for my huge girl. She is 22 months and wears 4T size clothes. I beat myself up for a long time about 'failing' at breastfeeding. At six months I went completely dry. It took a long time to get over it. But you can only do what you can do.
I did for about 4 months and unfortunately my milk was just not coming in. was a hard decision to supplement but it was the best choice. I hope to fully BF baby#2.
I breast feed my DS for 12 months. I would have gone longer but it seemed like he and I were both ready to be done. Toward the end I quit pumping because it was beginning to be a waste of time. I was no longer producing enough milk, despite all efforts. Fortunately he seemed to start losing interest, so it was mutual and the transition was easy for both of us.
I thought I would breast feed for a year, but I hated it. I ended up breastfeeding until he was almost 4 months old, then I switched to exclusively pumping for about 3 months. I actually liked pumping more than breastfeeding, and my son didn't miss it one bit.
All that being said, I plan to try again with this baby. My goal is to breastfeed for 6 months with this one. We'll see.
I made it 9 months (7 of which I only pumped - that sucked!!!) and by 9 months my supply had died off and I just quit. Going to try and not fall down the rabbit hole of exclusively pumping this time. I'll be seeking out lots of help in the beginning to help with the issues I had (oversupply and crazy fast let down that practically drown my boy every time he wanted to nurse).
11 months and still going. The plan is to nurse as long as DD wants too. I'm pretty tender right now though so we'll see. I'm also stubborn... We'll probably grit our teeth (hopefully just me, not DD - ouch!) and proceed as normal :-)
I nursed DS until he was 11 months. I stopped when I got a stomach bug and got very dehydrated. It totally dried me up, or else I would have gone longer. It's hard to make a plan, because you will see that there are so many phases they go through. Sometimes nursing is easy and sometimes it's harder, but it can change on a month to month basis. My biggest advice to anyone planning to nurse is to set goals, but go with the flow and be flexible.
I breastfed for 11 months. My ideal plan was to BF until she was 18 months or so, but I dried up shortly after I went back to work (teacher) even though I pumped at work. I think it was the stress that did me in. It was actually really hard for me to stop at first because I felt like I had failed in some way, but looking back I am just thankful that I tried at all, and was able to nurse for 11 months.
Re: Breastfeeding poll for BTDT: How long did you and why?
I thought I'd go over a year, but wasn't sure how long. I totally get why a woman would want to be done by that point, especially if she is pumping/working.
I stay home, so for me, a year was just an arbitrary date with little meaning, and my son was nowhere near done at that point.
I nursed until he was almost three and stopped both for my own freedom and pressures from my husband.
I believe in all the research indicating that bfing continues to be beneficial well into toddlerhood.
I will add that my son was in the NICU and we had some early nursing issues, so it just made sense for us to keep going since he seemed to benefit so much from it.
I got pregnant immediately after we weaned, so I feel bad that now that he is wondering what the heck is up with my boobs.
I also will add that although we were still nursing, it was once or twice a day for last 6 mos to a year.
November Siggy Challenge: Selfie Fails
Hidden for the sake of your eyes!
My Ovulation Chart
I was talking with a coworker who I know BF and pumps at work and one day her break schedule changed. It was because she stopped BF at 12 months and that just never occurred to me. So I came here.
November Siggy Challenge: Selfie Fails
Hidden for the sake of your eyes!
*** BFPs and Loss Mentioned ***
TTC since 08/2012
BFP 12/28/12-- EDD 9/19/13-- M/C (d&c) on 1/31/13
7/15/14 -- IVF #1
ER on 7/26/14 -- 15 R, 8F
ET on 7/31/14 -- 1 transferred (4aa); 4 frosties!!!
BFP 8/5/14-- EDD 4/18/15
Beta #1 (14dpo): 223, Beta #2 (17dpo): 898
First u/s -- 8/28/14= 1 beautiful baby with a hb of 131
10/25/14- It's a GIRL!
11/24/14- DX with Complete Placenta Previa (Stage IV)
1/12/15- Placenta Previa has moved to Marginal!! (Stage II)
A15 January Siggy Challenge-
I wasn't able to bf with dd. She was born with a very rare birth defect known as Pierre Robin. I did pump for the first month. But, with all of our time in and out of the hospital and doctors offices (multiple surgeries ) I just couldn't keep up with pumping after DH went back to work.
I am hoping to be able to bf with this lo for at least 6 months, a year if I don't go back to work full time.
November Siggy Challenge: Selfie Fails
Hidden for the sake of your eyes!
November Siggy Challenge: Selfie Fails
Hidden for the sake of your eyes!
Honestly, breastfeeding was the thing I was least excited about before she was born, but I knew I still wanted to try for both her & my sake. I set a long-term goal of one year but also some short-term goals of 2 months, 4 months, and 6 months. The shorter term goals helped it seem less intimidating to me in the beginning. Thankfully breastfeeding went smoothly for us (or about as smooth as it goes for anyone), and I have truly loved it despite the feelings I had toward it before DD was born.
I had issues from the start with bfing. I had no help in the hospital until nearly 24 hours after DS was born. By that time, I had already caved and gave a bottle. I could not get him to latch. The LC was less than helpful once we did see her. I requested to be seen again before we left on discharge day. I was seen by a more helpful one but was squeezed in between her appointments, so was not given the time really needed.
I continued to struggle. It was EXTREMELY painful and just seemed like he was not getting anything. He would always take a bottle after bfing. I soon discovered he took the same amount from a bottle whether he bf or not.
I was not encouraged by family to get help, they just told me it would get better. Never did. Finally at 9 weeks I went to a private LC. She gave good advice and helpful advice. But even she told me not to beat myself up, if we could not get it to work. She told me to give it to two more week trying her techniques and all the aides. She completely understood if I switched after trying and it not working. So I did just that. We were half formula / half bm at this point. I tried. It failed. DS just never got a good latch. I did learn that the pain was because of his poor latch and it was NOT normal. I also learned I was using the wrong size nipple shield on my pump. Who knew?!
I struggled. I went to pumping for another couple weeks and finally gave up entirely at 12/13 weeks. I was in my car pumping. I had not pumped for 6 hours. I felt engorged. I pumped for a long time with a screaming DS only to get 1 ounce combined. I got home and threw the pump at DH and told him to get it away from me. I felt like a failure. It took me a long time to not feel that way. Mom's that are so pro breastfeeding that they can not see the other side piss me off. As much as I got comments for BF in public. I got more when I was bottle feeding. It made me feel awful. That was when I finally grew a backbone. And got strong on my choices. I was not going to allow other mothers to put me down. Was this how I wanted our feedings to go? NO! What this what I expected? No. But it was the hand I was dealt.
BFing was all around awful for us. We were both stressed and frustrated. Feeding time was awful. I dreaded it. And my whole day was about feeding. When I finally switched to formula full time, feedings became better. DS and I started to connect better. Because our intimate time together was not stressful.
I plan to be more proactive this time with breastfeeding. Getting help from first feeding. I plan to attend LLL meetings starting before LO is born. But if we have to do formula again. I will know it is that is best for us. What is best for me, might not be best for you. At the end of the day, my child was fed, happy and healthy! Breast may be best, but formula is NOT poison.
BFP 4/5/09, EDD 12/4/09, m/c 7/31/09
BFP 5/27/11, EDD 1/17/12, DS born 1/16/12
BFP 8/16/14, EED 4/29/15, We are having another BOY!
Yup. DS is Tommy Pickles! Nothing like living with an escape artist.
Just another cloth diapering, baby wearing mama.
BFP #1 4/10/12 D&C 6/5/12@ 12.5wks EDD 12/17/12
BFP #2 9/10/12 CP 9/19/12@ 5.5wks EDD 5/21/13
BFP# 3 12/3/12...Lukas James born 8/15/13
BFP# 4 8/4/14 EDD 4/13/15
DS couldn't latch so I pumped for almost 6 weeks. And then I just couldn't keep up with him so we went to formula. I plan on trying to nurse this one, but I won't worry as much about supplementing w formula from day 1 if I have to.
Also, I had an extremely tough start to our nursing relationship but I am SO glad I hung on!
I beat myself up for a long time about 'failing' at breastfeeding. At six months I went completely dry. It took a long time to get over it. But you can only do what you can do.
All that being said, I plan to try again with this baby. My goal is to breastfeed for 6 months with this one. We'll see.
>