How long did you breastfeed/do you plan on breastfeeding for

[Donna88]

Hi everyone;

I know I want to breastfeed this baby when she arrives; but I've been thinking about how long for. Looking online they suggest into their second year.

When I had my son I breastfed him until he was being weaned. I found he was using me for comfort a lot and getting very clingy, I was extremely tired as he would feed just to fall asleep on my nipple. It wasn't too hard to get him off the breast despite being single at the time and I wonder sometimes if I did it too soon; or if I'll end up doing similar this time.

I don't know whether I want to feed for upwards of two years but I have no idea how long I do want to feed for. What are your plans? Or what experiences do you have?

 

[WinterWolf]

I've never had a baby so my plans might change but I plan to stop around 6 months when she's ready to eat mushy foods. Might go longer if I enjoy it but definitely not past 1 year. I really don't like the idea of having a 1+ year old hanging off my boob haha. Not that I think there's anything wrong with it if that's what you want to do.

 

[Donna88]

I'm the same as you; I think after a certain age it feels a bit weird for me (although I know there's nothing wrong with it) however if there are more health benefits... I don't know. I'm very confused about the whole thing at the moment.

We want to start trying for our third in January either 2020 or 2021 - I know you can breastfeed while pregnant but I think I'd want to have weaned her by then just to avoid more complications with things like jealousy of a new baby... I'm wondering if I could manage to keep it up for the first year this time so we don't have to buy formula at all... my plan was about 6 months before now though

 

[Princess81]

I would go exclusively breast milk feeding until 6 months and then breastfeed probably for a year or 18 months, but I know plenty of people have gone a lot longer! X

 

[WinterWolf]

I'm the same as you; I think after a certain age it feels a bit weird for me (although I know there's nothing wrong with it) however if there are more health benefits... I don't know. I'm very confused about the whole thing at the moment.

We want to start trying for our third in January either 2020 or 2021 - I know you can breastfeed while pregnant but I think I'd want to have weaned her by then just to avoid more complications with things like jealousy of a new baby... I'm wondering if I could manage to keep it up for the first year this time so we don't have to buy formula at all... my plan was about 6 months before now though

I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds it a bit weird. I think you'll have to see how you feel once baby is born. Don't feel pressured to do it for a certain amount of time if you don't want to anymore. The benefits of breastfeeding do decrease the older the baby gets.

 

[Summerwine]

I’m currently 4 months into breastfeeding my little boy. Initially I was aiming for the 6 month mark, but if I can manage it I’d now like to get to his first birthday. Obviously that will depend on how we manage with teething etc so we will see, but I like the idea that I’d be able to move him straight to cows milk then and skip the formula completely!

 

[El1en]

I fed my first until 1, currently 4m in with baby 2. I'd like to go to atleast one again however last time when I returned to work I'd hoped to keep feeding on a morning and night but once I started dropping feeds in the middle of the day my supply dropped big time. Fingers crossed o can work it better this time so I can feed longer

 

[Elven]

I'm currently only 2 months into it, but initially planned to at least do 6 months. I want to start using the KIT days when LO is 9 months old, so will definitely stop by then as my type of job doesn't really allow for me to express milk.

I have been working on building up a supply of frozen breast milk though, so hopefully keep it going a bit longer!

 

[MissKW]

I exclusively breastfeed DS (My first) who is now 9 months. My original plan was to make it to 6months but when we reached that point I didn't feel like he was ready to stop at all, or me for that matter. It just seemed far too soon.
I then decided I would carry on at least to support him through his first winter, he will be 12 months by the start of spring so that's my current goal.

I too find him clingy and using me to sleep, but I think that's just how babies are and it's natural for them. Once he started eating more (just started 3 meals a day) he started feeding less as he didn't need it. So naturally over time he eats more solids, has less from breast and is gradually becoming less relient on me. You could always pump occasionally to combat this is you wished also if they are willing to take a bottle.
I am with the others and find it slightly creepy when toddlers are still breastfeeding, but doing research the longer you carry on the more benefit it has for you and baby (to a degree of course). That said I'm really not wanting to get to the point where he can speak and start demanding breast lol. So I will definitely be stopping before he hits 2yo. I think he should be getting pretty much everything he needs nutritionally to support his own immune system etc by then anyway, but I know some people who have fed until babies were 3yo.

Just set yourself a target and you can always alter that if you feel different at the time as I did. Breastfeeding is the most amazing thing you can do for your baby so the longer it lasts the better I didn't realise the full benefits when I set my first goal of 6months, not just for immune support but also the gut, brain development and everything else so I'm glad I carried on. You will know when it's the right time though

 

[Gemsy]

I did until 6 months last time, and I plan on doing similar this time, but will just see how I feel. I ended up combination feeding a bit at the end, as it worked better for me with working.....I got a fair amount off expressing, but its hard work so I added a bit of formula in.
For me, I felt like I really was ready to get my body back by then, but I was very sad to stop, its a real emotional wrench.

 

[Summerwine]

I’ve just passed the 6 month mark with my little boy. I’d always said I’d like to do 6 months but actually I’m just not ready to stop yet. I’m now hoping we can make it to 12 months so we can skip any need for formula. I won’t go past the 12 months though, I’ll be ready to have my body back by then!

 

[MoominGirl]

We are now nearly 2 months into exclusively breastfeeding. I won't lie, it has been so tough to start with and my feelings have changed a lot. We had a very slow start not to mention the nipple pain and the latching issues so it was hardly the bonding experience I had hoped for!! I thought I'd quit many times but now at almost 8 weeks, I finally feel like we're out the other side and I can actually see myself wanting to do it exclusively for 6 months and then hopefully to a year which was what I'd initially aimed for. I've never wanted to go over a year as I plan to go back to work then and I also feel a bit weird about toddlers breastfeeding.

One thing that has changed was that we had always planned for me to express so OH could do a feed but we've now found that it was far more work for us to do this without much benefit - we had hoped it would get me a bit more sleep but in reality it just wasn't happening. We decided it was actually easier for me to do all the feeds from the breast and that was something I never thought I'd say!! Also OH wasn't that bothered about not doing a feed as there really are so many other ways for dads to bond.

 

[Kholl]

My first nursed until she was 3.5 years old. But the last year or so of that was just 2-3 times a day for only a few minutes each. It reduces in frequency drastically as they get older, it's not like you're nursing a toddler round the clock!

My second I nursed until he was 2.5 and my third is almost 2.5 and she is still nursing, but only very occasionally. I think when I have more milk when my next baby arrives she'll want it more... hard to say.

My first 2 I had to wean myself, they would still be nursing I swear! but I was tandem feeding and got this awful aversion when the older would nurse and I just couldn't take it anymore. I knew they wanted to keep going but it was bad for our relationship overall at a certain point because I was dreading it so much. With my youngest now, I am having that aversion feeling already so I am minimizing the amount she nurses. Fortunately she rarely asks and when she does nurse, it's for a matter of seconds.

I imagine I'll go past 2 years again this time as my kids tend to want to nurse for ages, and I do enjoy it too, especially when they're sick and not eating/drinking enough. They'll always nurse!

 

[BexTez]

I’m currently still breastfeeding my 14 month old and just got my BFP so not sure what will happen now!!
I’ve heard sometimes milk just stops when pregnant, ideally I wouldn’t want to tandem feed but my daughter loves it and is boobie obsessed so I don’t know if she’ll give it up easy!

I only wanted to BF for 6 months too, once the baby is here you may feel differently!