How long did ye breastfeed if ye did?

gaeilgegrinds1

I'm not even sure do I still count as a breastfeeder as I've only been giving him every second feed, bottle every second too. As we've decided to wait for number two I can continue or stop. Thought?

Khannie

The last 2 have been 10 weeks and around 17 weeks respectively.

You still count at every other feed btw.

100% a personal choice though. Really emotional one too. I'm glad I don't have to make it.

silverharp

As far as I remember UN/WHO recommend breastfeeding playing some role for 2 years, clearly personal circumstances can override this advice. My wife kept it up for 2 years reducing as she went along

Grawns

I started cutting down at 12 or 13 months and am down to one morning feed at 17 months. Am planning to stop at 18 months but I've said that before.:)

I had a very easy time of feeding and never had cracked nipples or blocked ducts or mastitis etc. I loved lying in bed with my baby feeding for hours while I watched tv, read or dozed. It was brilliant.

Breastfeeding doesn't work as a contraceptive once a certain amount of time passes and your period returns. It doesn't effect your fertility after a while too, it's either solids being introduced or baby sleeping throught the night, can't remember.

silja

Did 6 months with the twins (with the occasional half bottle of formula at night so I could sleep). Think I stopped too early.

Plan on 12 months and then we'll see with this one (I work from home so don't have to pump, makes it easier to keep going!).

deisemum

First one until he was 6 months and I was returning to work, didn't realise there were such things as lactation breaks.

Second lad until he was 15 months.

littlebug

6 difficult weeks with the first (preemie with reflux) and 7 months with the second. It's something I never found easy to be honest but if anything I wish I'd stuck it out a bit longer first time.

How Strange

2 years :eek: :eek:

OK I clearly need to educate myself on breastfeeding. In my naviety I thought you did it for about 6 weeks.

It's something I really want to do but I don't know if I'd be comfortable with a 2 year old being breastfed. Having said that I will most probably feel very differently when it's my 2 year old.

Finding a workshop on breastfeeding is definitely something I'll look into during the Autumn.

shell42970

I'm still nursing my 21 month old. When he was a baby my game plan was to wean him completely after he turned two, but he still enjoys nursing so much that I've decided to hold off and allow him to decide when he's ready to be done with it.

Babies (and toddlers) benefit a great deal from breastfeeding so if you're both inclined to continue with it, by all means do so. But if either of you is ready to give it up, that should be respected, too.

doodlenoodle

Could never do it fully, and always had to top up with a couple of bottles a day.
One of my twins stopped on her own at 10 months and I stopped with the other at 13 months. She was just using the breast to fall asleep, wouldn't use a dodi.

Whatever you feel happy and comfortable with. It is easier than making bottles, gives you a reason to rest and protects your child better...even the milupa commercial says so.

lynski

both mine self weaned at 6 mths - too soon.

deisemum

How Strange wrote: »

2 years :eek: :eek:

OK I clearly need to educate myself on breastfeeding. In my naviety I thought you did it for about 6 weeks.

It's something I really want to do but I don't know if I'd be comfortable with a 2 year old being breastfed. Having said that I will most probably feel very differently when it's my 2 year old.

Finding a workshop on breastfeeding is definitely something I'll look into during the Autumn.

Just take it one feed at a time and have a relaxed attitude about it.

pickarooney

18 months or so for the first one until he didn't want to any more. 12 months and counting for the second one.

ecaf

Interesting to see that those who stopped at 6 months thought it was to early!
I have no idea how long I'll do it for, even if I can do it at all. But I was aiming for 6 months, then I'll be back at work and I'm not sure how practical it will be after that. I know you can express but at the moment I have a very long commute to work, not sure if that will change, and if it doesn't will it make it more difficult to continue feeding/expressing?

If you thought 6 months was too short (in hindsight), then how long would you like to have done it for, if you were to go again?

gussieg

9 months though at that stage i was wary of the few teeth coming through!

Grawns

It's awful when they bite alright They learn not to pretty quickly though.
Once they are on solids at 6 months you could maybe just do the morning and night feeds. 6am, 6pm and 9pm. Depends if you take to it. It would be a long 6 months if you didn't enjoy it.

deisemum

ecaf wrote: »

Interesting to see that those who stopped at 6 months thought it was to early!
I have no idea how long I'll do it for, even if I can do it at all. But I was aiming for 6 months, then I'll be back at work and I'm not sure how practical it will be after that. I know you can express but at the moment I have a very long commute to work, not sure if that will change, and if it doesn't will it make it more difficult to continue feeding/expressing?

If you thought 6 months was too short (in hindsight), then how long would you like to have done it for, if you were to go again?

I'm a childminder and a number of my mindees mums continued breastfeeding when they went back to work, some went back at 7 weeks and managed but were organised. Others breastfed in the morning and evenings and supplied expressed breastmilk for all feeds while another supplied one bottle of expressed breastmilk and a carton of formula.

You're entitled to extra breaks (lactation breaks) at work if you're breastfeeding a baby under 6 months.

ecaf

Thanks, I suppose by six months they will be moving onto solids so I might keep up morning and evening feeds with them, and see if I can keep it going for another few months! Hard to say when you've never done it before, but its good to read other peoples experiences on it.

up for anything

I did six months on the first, only stopping because I had to go back to work and couldn't express. Two years on the second stopping only a month or so before the third. Then once I had the third, straight through until number four was two and half. I won't say I enjoyed or was comfortable with it the whole time. When I was pregnant with number four there were times I found my breasts and nipples in particular were screaming enough already but he wasn't letting go and deep inside I wasn't ready to either. I fed in tandem for a period of about six months at which stage the older one took to bottles (shoot me! I know he was too old). The 'baby' eventually decided he liked bottles at about 20 months and so fed him for comfort more than for sustenance till the end.

Breastfeeding is very personal and no one can really tell you whether you should or for how long you should continue.

Cat Melodeon

My son came off the boob himself when he was 9.5 months - we had a bad biting experience and I think I frightened him off, poor pet - but I'm still expressing for his milk feeds (he's 11 months). We're nearly totally on to the cup now, he only gets a bottle going to bed, so coming off the breast has been useful for that at least.

When I started I thought that breastfeeding was something that was done for the first 6 months and anything after that was for hippies. I think most people don't bother finding out about such things until they become parents themselves. Before that, breasts are really only a feature of our sex lives and it's a very big body image change that we go through during pregnancy and motherhood. I hadn't a clue about WHO guidelines and such and couldn't imagine myself putting a baby to my breast at all, right up until the first latch in the delivery room. I had even thought my sister was a complete weirdo for nursing her child until she was 1. Now my lad is approaching that age and I'm really sad that he isn't still nursing. I loved it, it was so easy once the first 6 weeks were over and I got a bit of confidence. Once I got into it my goals kept shifting, but he made up his mind not to continue so that's that (until next time!). I'll keep expressing until he's one and I guess we'll switch to cow's milk and other calcium sources then. I won't be bothering with any of that 'growing-up milk' malarky, a balanced diet is all that's needed (in my opinion - I'm sure it's great for some kids).

I am kind of looking forward to the next stage when he'll be less dependent on me and I can wear whatever I like without risk of leaking, but it's also very very sad that he'll be less dependent on me too. He'll be off to college next!

I agree with what other posters have said - it's a very personal thing. I think it's brilliant when someone gives it a go at all, even for the first couple of feeds of colostrum, especially considering the low rates of breastfeeding in Ireland and how socially unacceptable it continues to be. I'm glad it was such a positive experience for me and gladder that I no longer suffer from eye-pop when I see/hear of someone nursing their child for beyond the 2 years. Not everyone can manage that for whatever reasons, but those breastfeeders who do certainly make it easier for the ones who follow, not because it makes breastfeeding a 6-month-old look 'normal' by comparison, but because it makes breastfeeding itself look normal, natural and achievable, not 'ideal' or 'best' or somehow superior. It's just what it is, a mum, feeding her child. Maybe next time I'll get to do it for as long.