Breastfeeding the over 1yrs

[Lucy'smum]

Hi everyone,
Thought I would put the question out there to all the breastfeeding mothers out there that visit this site....
How many of you are still feeding there 1yr olds and over.
My lucy is now 14 .5 months old and we still love breastfeeding.
I now know that there are a lot more of us out there, then I fisrt thought...after joining the abf boards, but would love to start chating to you ladies about such issues as biting...feeding to sleep...breastfeeding while pregnant... etc....

So how many of you are there?
How many babies are you currently feeding?
How long have you feed you baby for. eg 22 months old, 4 yrs etc...???


:p :p

[H&B'sMum]

Hi Lucy'smum,
My Harry and I just love breastfeeding. His only 61/2 month but I've tried dropping a feed at our health nurses recommendation and he didn't cope at all. He is still on 6 breastfeeds a day and 3 solids a day. I'm also planning on b/f him when I go back to work. He will be at my work with me so I am very lucky to be able to do this. I don't think there is anything wrong with extended breast feeding if it is right for you and your child then keep doing it. If you want to ask other questions just post them in the appropriate thread. Have fun posting.

[JandK]

Hi,
My son fed for nearly 28 months. My daughter is 15 months and still feeding :) We love it, and they are both extremely healthy children.
My daughter still demand feeds day and night, I guess she would feed 7 or 8 times all up over 24 hours but i dont really keep track! She feeds to sleep often but not always. My son ALWAYS fed to sleep for the entire 28 months I fed him :o not many people in our social circle breast feed their kids past a few weeks, which I think is really sad seeing as most of them could breast feed no worries.
I've never had any biting issues I think its a bit of a myth that kids start biting you as soon as they get teeth. Ofcourse some would, but most dont IMO!
There is 4 years between my 2 so I haven't ever experienced feeding while pregnant, I'm interested to hear about people who have though.

[Lucy'smum]

HI JandK,
Thanks for your reply. Lucy still feeds to sleep, and she varies how much, often she will only have booby in the morning when she first wakes up then could go all day,well atleast to 2pm without any, but I found that if i want to go shopping etc she is much more settled if she has a feed before we go out, say around 10:30am.
But latley she askes for it all the time, probably 6 to7 times a day too, she taps her chin like blowing kisses...this means she wants booby,usually when she's tired or unsettled. As she is getting her molars she likes her booby more.....We developed the chin tap sing as we say "Lucy going to sleep now, blow kisses, say good night etc..."it started this way and I guess she just assosiates going to bed with feeding,and the blowing kisses developed into "i want booby" and we feed on my bed too.

We co sleep too so feeding in bed has always been our way of getting to sleep and our way of relaxing in the afternoon etc...

I'm also interested to hear from anyone feeding and pregnant as we are going to start trying for number 2 in the next few months...so may be someone can let me know what I'm getting myself in for... :p
Thanks again JandK
Bel :)

[Rosie]

Hi Lucy's mum
My daughter is 11mths and I am now 2mths pregnant. It hasn't affected my milk in any way but i am starting to get concerned with how i will wean her. I always intended to do this by around 15mths or so anyway. Now even more so as i already worry about when i will be in hospital and my husband having to settle Georgia as her way of settling is to feed and very rarely will she go to her cot without being almost all of the way asleep if not fully asleep. She now has one morning feed as soon as she wakes, a feed to settle her for morning nap (she only has 1 nap a day now) and another feed in arvo around 2.30-3.00 and then a feed to settle her for the night at 6.00. Usually also she wakes at least once a night, sometimes more often. I am going to phone the breastfeeding association for some advice on how to go about cutting down feeds to only night and then altogether and how to settle her without her or me getting upset. I guess I also must start letting dh do more with her, so they both feel totally comfortable with each other when i am not there to stop her crying! This is a great thread as it is all of great interest to me as well. So will keep you updated with how all goes. Talk to you soon. :)

[JandK]

No worries :)
Love the way she asks for it too ;)
Marini

[Lucy'smum]

Hi Kerri,
I've heard things like your nipples (while pregnant) can get extremly tender while trying to breastfeed #1. Has this happened to you ?
With your little one maybe you could try to drop just one feed at a time, like the morning one, just try doing something else to change the subject. I don't know your morning routine, but may be dh could get up with her and get breakfast together, or try a different time when dh can help you and do something together....
So she 'll be around 18months old when number 2 arrives....by then I've heard she may be so interest in other things like walking, talking etc...that she may not need it at all by then. If not I"ve heard you can stop while your collostrum kicks in and baby
# 2 starts feeding, then you can offer #1 a feed again.
Remember that a 18 month old is a lot easier to tell something too, then a 11 month old. I've also heard that constanty reminding them that "mummy will have to stop feeding you soon" etc.. can help ease them into weaning. It helps them understand what is going on.
Hope this helps.
Bel :p

[Rosie]

Hi Bel
Yes I am finding that my nipples are getting fairly tender and sensitive! I am off to have a nap now while Georgia has hers, then I am going to phone ABA as I do plan to drop the afternoon feed first, then start getting her used to a cup to help settle her for her morning nap. She is 1yr old in a week and so should be ready to go on to cow's milk and I want to start slowly getting her weaned pretty much from now as I am finding being pregnant and breastfeeding is making me extremely tired (don't remember being this tired with first pregnancy- but then, I didn't have a little one to run around after!). I figure straight onto a cup would be better then simply onto a bottle which you would just have to wean off as well. She already handles her cup of water quite well, so will see what ABA has to offer and go from there. Thanks for your input too, it is all much appreciated. Talk soon. Kerri :D

[Lucy'smum]

Hi kerri,
I hope it all works out for you.

My Lucy went to sleep tonight without her "booby", well she had it but then kept crawly around the bed so I said no more you've had enough. Then kept saying " your a big girl now, you try going to sleep by yourself". She ended up sooking for a while and kept asking for it but I stayed stronge.....lol.....the she climbed up on my chest and went to sleep, not feeding just in her position, as if she was ....So fingers crossed this is a start....I must admit I had tears in my eyes while I was saying "your a big girl now"....but little by little, I now we need to stop eventially. I'm happy to keep on feeding her while pg...but would love to start dropping some feeds too...and I figure if I can start doing this before I fall pg then it we help in the long run.

Good luck with the ABA.
bel

[mamafelix]

yep another extended breatfeeder here. Felix is 21 months now and we're still going strong on the feeds, I've always said I'll keep going until one of us wants to stop, which hasn't happened so far. Also the World Health Organsation recommends that all babys are breastfed until they're two, so I guess that's always been in my mind as well.

In terms of pregnancy- I only got my cycle back 19 months after Felix was born, so I guess my breastfeeding ensured a nice big gap between babies anyway! Now I'm thinking about ttc again- i don't think I'll worry too much about weaning unless it gets really uncomfortable (which it may do- My nipples get really sore when I ovulate anyway...) I know quite a few women who successfuly tandem fed two babies... so it's definately do-able if you want to.

[Lucy'smum]

Thanks for your reply Zoe,
Its good to here of another one of us...
Good luck with the ttc......You were one of the lucky ones not to get there cycle back. straight away...I got mine at 3 months after Lucy was born and we fed nearly every 2 to 3 hrs at that point....so don't know what my body was thinking...obviosouly wanted to get pregnant again....lol....
It's weird since deciding that we are going to start trying next month, not next month as in November but as in the next "fertile" period..in december....WOOW
:eek: were has the year gone.....lol.....It's all I can think about...I might start a new thread....

bel

[Angel]

My DD still b/f and she's one month off 3 1/2. I never gave any thought to when I'd want her to stop as I knew it was the best thing for her and I was going to do it, end of story. But when others around me started talking about weaning their own I started reading more etc and decided that I'd let DD self-wean.

There's a wonderful article here if anybody wants reassurance with extended b/f:

http://www.got-breastmilk.org/naofweaning.shtml

DD doesn't feed everyday now, perhaps every other day and usually to sleep at night. We taught her to sign so she began by signing milk but we then started calling it Mummy Milk which I think is adorable. She now adopts the phrase for others and asks if her cousin is "having Aunty Karla Milk ?" which I find sooo cute!

I'm now 18 weeks pg with our second and have been pretty lucky so far I think. I'm under the impression that it's perhaps the MAJORITY of children who wean during their mothers' pg for one of several reasons so I have always expected that DD would self-wean during pg (knowing I wanted a larger age gap and that this would magnify the chances probably). I have a larger bust and have never really suffered from tenderness in any way. So I wasn't surprised when I didn't have breast tenderness in the first trimester, and when b/f didn't cause it either. This is one of the common reasons that mother's choose to wean their babies in the first trimester. I am lately having some bother though; it feels like DD is biting as she latches on which I don't believe she is. I'm often left quite sore afterwards and have to ban DH from making contact with 'that one' for the evening ;). I do think DD tends to request milk when she's VERY tired and her latch probably is less than perfect at these times so that is probably a contributing factor, but I am also quite convinced that I have increased sensitivity at the moment.

Other common issues are afterpains (uterine contractions while b/f) which can get a bit much for Mum, changing in the milk's taste (children can go off it), changes in milk supply, the change to colostrum later on can put children off, and also the tiredness that some women feel. In all honestly b/f hasn't left me feeling tired since DD was about 12 months old which is probably down to the reduced frequency of b/f as they get older. The longer they b/f the more calories you burn to produce the milk so the tiredness can't really be that related to the amount of energy that you burn, or maybe we just get better at feeding ourselves regularly by the time they turn one !!

Hope my situation offers some reassurance to others.

[omy]

hi there i feed my son Oscar for 28months and was 6weeks pregnant when i weened him he would still be on if he had the choice

i only weened hm cause we got married and went on a honeymoon for a week and a half and he went to nanas i feed him the morning of the wedding and then that was it he did ask for it when i got back but i was dryed up so it was a no go

he never bit me and he feed like a newborn until the end some days he would feed 10 times or more i did get a few coments when i feed him down town like how could i feed a boy that long it must be sexual which was far from the truth some people are so narrow minded

i also didnt get my cycle back for 15months after having him and only fell pg when he had to be off the breast for 24hours due to illness and i fell that night so i was lucky to fall at all

ihave a new baby boy Flynn he is 7 weeks old and i am bf him and hope to for aslong as he is happy to Oscar got a little bit jelous when he saw me feeding Flynn in hospital he told me that they were broken so how is he aloud to be on there but he is fine now and loves to watch me feed his brother

hope this helps and happy feeding :) :) :)

[Lucy'smum]

Thats so cute how Oscar said they were "broken".....You were luckt not to get your cycle back for that long....and even luckier to fall pg the way you did.
Thanks for your reply...I'm sure Lucy will be fine too...onces to time is right.
Bel ;) :) :p

[soapermom]

Hello,

My son is nearly two, we have made it to our goal of reaching the World Health Organizations recommendation to nurse for at least two years! The more I learn about bf the more I realize the benefits are dose related and that it is biologically normal for babies to nurse for several years. So we have no plans to wean, besides, having a great tool to calm a toddler is something I would hate to miss out on! ;)

It is possible we may want to try for another baby before my son weans, if so I will give tandem nursing a go. I know of many moms that have done this successfully.

[willsmum]

I fed my son until he was nearly 2, and after about 18 months it was only at night - we cosleep and he would use his "booby juice" to help him get to sleep. We only stopped when I got pregnant and he said his booby juice tasted funny.

But one word of warning - he is now 3 1/2 and has just had a general anaesthetic to have several decayed teeth fixed and the dentist says it was probably due to the milk sitting on his teeth at night. Not exactly sure how to prevent this happening so given that I intend to feed number 2 for as long as possible does anyone have any ideas??

[mamafelix]

Hi Willsmum- I posted this under another thread as well.. not sure if it answers your questions though.. poor bubba hope he's feeling alright!

Breastfeeding doesn't cause decay as the the nipple is so far back... past the hard palate so the milk doesn't run over the teeth at all.
here's some links with more info:

https://www.askdrsears.com/html/10/t107300.asp
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/older-baby/tooth-decay.html
http://www.mothersnature.com/toddlers/info/dental.html
http://www.babyfriendly.org.uk/pdfs/torney_abstract.pdf (this one is a bit technical)

not sure about bottle feeding though.... this link has some info

http://www.drgreene.com/21_748.html

Basically the key is to start cleaning their teeth as early as possible... with a flannel if not a brush....

here's link on how to do it
http://www.aboutsmiles.org/bto3a.htm

hth!

[willsmum]

Thanks mamfelix. I started the other thread in case anyone with info missed my query in this one. He is doing fine now - had to have 3 fillings and one steel crown put in. He cruised thru the anaesthetic though which was a relief.

[Lucy'smum]

Hi Ladies thought I'd beter let you know I'm 7 going into my 8 th week pregnant now......and still feeding lucy and plan to even when bub arrives if she wants to.

I'm doing fine just morning sickness feeling hits me all day and night and smells turn my stomach but thats normal.

I'll keep you all informed of my progress.

[jaycobntyler]

Hi there
I breastfed my first son Jaycob (8) until he turned 2 and 1/2 and basically after about 18 months it was only the night feed and the occasional day feed, I found he would feed more in the day if I was sitting down. He pretty muc weaned himself when he was ready and I just think it was the best way to stop, I think by the time he was ready I was also ready to stop as well.
I now have Tyler (5 months) and he is also breastfed (I still maintain I am way to lazy to bottlefeed) and I dare say he will be for a while although I dont know if we will go past 1 year.
Both my boys are feed-sleepers and are both co-sleepers (although Jaycob is not anymore lol) but I just think it can be the nicest way to say goodnight after a long day and sometimes it is the best way to have an afternoon sleep.
I also love the fact that Tyler is thriving and its due to me!! its a real buzz knowing that my body has the ability to sustain him.
Also I am treasuring this time with Tyler as they grow up so fast and this is only a tiny part of his life