Breastfeeding passed 6 months/When do babies wean?

[Piglet's Mama]

Hi all,

I haven't been on here in forever - still recognise a few familiar names and faces though which is nice.

My little boy is nearly 7 months old, exclusively breastfed up to now, and we've recently started weaning, a mix of TW and BLW. We're co-sleeping too and he feeds anywhere between 1-4 times a night still; this doesn't bother me at all. He's a fab sleeper and literally grunts for me to whip my boob out, then hes latched on and sparko again.

He's a real boob fiend and I love our feeding journey together. But I don't know a lot about the next stage in terms of if/when/how he'll make the transition from boob to food, then to no boob at all.

When did you LO's wean off? I don't want to stop & it would be great to get to a year, maybe beyond, but what was the weaning process like for you? Did you introduce formula at all passed the 6 month mark for the purposes of iron or offer cows milk in bottles/beakers. Just interested in peoples experiences past the 6 month mark. Thanks x

 

[tinks77]

I think if your both happy to continue there is no reason not too. His feeding from you will gradually reduce as his food intake increases.
You don't have to worry about cows milk until 1 year and as long as his weaning diet & good he will get iron from the weaning as well as your milk

 

[Becky1]

My lo is 10 and a half months and I'm still breastfeeding. I introduced formula for his afternoon feed about 6 weeks ago as I'm back at work and expressing wasn't going well enough for me to get enough milk for him. I feed him am and pm. His pm feeds are quite short and not the sleepy way they used to be so I don't know if he's too bothered but he feeds for a few minutes before stopping.

He never took a bottle so we've gone straight to a cup and will do for the other feeds when I stop - I've no idea when to stop, I'm not ready just yet, maybe a year... We think he may have a cows milk allergy so need to wait for our app with the dietitian before moving him on to that.

I'd say carry on as long as you are both happy. After 6mths some hv recommend vitamins for baby as breast milk doesn't have these. My hv said as long as he has varied diet not to worry. xxx

 

[ScotchEgg]

I'm in the same place as you - just started food. I intend to follow his lead and carry on feeding on demand. I'll let him decide if feeds her shorter or he wants to drop them depending on how much food he's getting. I also offer water with food so he gets the liquid and learns about it that way. I will keep feeding as long as he'll take it (within reason) though.

 

[Piglet's Mama]

I'm in the same place as you - just started food. I intend to follow his lead and carry on feeding on demand. I'll let him decide if feeds her shorter or he wants to drop them depending on how much food he's getting. I also offer water with food so he gets the liquid and learns about it that way. I will keep feeding as long as he'll take it (within reason) though.

Yeah I'm exactly the same, but just don' t know any IRL who's at this stage, who's BF and is still BF-ing past the 6 month mark. We're giving water/diluted juice too with food but he doesn't have formula or cows milk, wasn't sure if it was worth it in terms of the additional iron content?

 

[BevG]

i give poppy water at mealtimes (8 months soon) and bf at naptimes, before bed, once maybe during the night and when we get up and any time inbetween she wants it lol. she has 3 meals a day and sometimes snacks too. i bf'd DD1 til just after 1 yr when she didnt ask for boob and i stopped offering as we had gone down to just the 1 morning feed then.

 

[GotMyHandsFull]

Mine have all breast feed between 8 and 15 months.

 

[BunnyN]

I think it is unusual for a baby to compleatly wean without being made to before the age of two. A few babies will self wean at about 18 months but most will happily continue past the age of two. WHO advises at least 2 years of breastfeeding. When allowed to self wean it is not unusual for toddlers to carry on feeding until 3 or 4 years old. Of course as time goes on feeds will be less frequent and quicker and solid food will be more important to them.

 

[Sarah13]

I only just weaned my son and 2.5 mainly due to heavy bleeding and complications in pregnancy. So its entirely up to you when to wean. My son never had any formula, i introduced cows milk as another drink at 12 months in a cup and not as an alternative to breast as breast is much better than cows milk. so thought I would just continue breast feeding until he weaned naturally. I loved our breast feeding relationship and was sad when it had to end but he seemed ready too and now I have a little premmie I have to concentrate on feeding!

 

[Goat]

I weaned lo off at 13 months as I was back at work full time and to be honest needed my body back otherwise I'd have been exhausted! I didn't force her but led her to stop feeding gradually, probably over the course of a week, maybe two. She dropped all her day time feeds with no problem. I tried to offer cows milk and she refused it. I then dropped the morning feed and to help with that I made sure I gave her breakfast right away. I spoke to my HV who said babies need about 350mg of calcium a day so I made sure she got that in her cereal and then with her daily yogurt.
Dropping the bed time feed was the hardest as she really used that as her wind down to get to sleep. I kept trying a bottle with milk then with formula then with expressed milk. But no. Then I bought all the beakers under the sun. But no. So in the end, I knew she was getting enough calcium, her appetite had increased massively and I even checked the amount of calories she was eating - 1100! So I knew she didn't need that bed time feed. Instead I read her a story, gave her warm water from a beaker, showed her the teddies in the cot and she very quickly got used to it.