How long are you, personally, open to breastfeeding for?
This isn't meant to be judgemental at all I am just curious. Obviously people and situations change and it's hard to know how you will feel in the future but right now, today how long would you consider nursing for?
For me, I don't think I will want to nurse a 3 year old. If we make it that far, I plan to be done by his 3rd birthday. No real reasoning, just how I feel.
I weaned my kids at 14 and 13 months so I guess that's my answer. I am not opposed to nursing longer, but they showed signs of readiness at that age and I was certainly ready to have my body to myself again, so I rolled with it.
Post by Velar Fricative on Feb 3, 2015 15:26:32 GMT -5
I was open to anything when DD was little but my goal was a year. Fell short of it and weaned at 8.5 months.
Frankly, DD is 16 months now and I've been pretty happy for a while now with not breastfeeding for several reasons (despite some overall disappointment and initial sadness with how things turned out), so for this baby I will still try my darndest to breastfeed for a year but I'm pretty sure I will actively work on weaning around this baby's birthday. I just no longer have an interest in the idea of nursing a toddler and definitely foresee wanting my body back forever by a year.
We went to 20 months. Neither DS nor I were ready to stop at one year. I was ready around 18 months, but he wasn't (I wasn't unhappy nursing at that point, but was feeling "done"). At 20 months we were only nursing before bed, and he was suddenly more distracted and less interested, so I took that as an opportunity to stop. It worked great for us.
C weaned herself around 18 mos and that was good for me. Breastfeeding was difficult for me due to constant supply issues and pumping at work was a PITA so the freedom was amazing. I will likely shoot for the same time frame with a second.
Post by Ashley&Scott on Feb 3, 2015 15:27:34 GMT -5
I never in a million years thought I would nurse a 3 year old. M turned 3 a few weeks ago & still nurses before bed. I'm not sure when we'll stop, I've been fine with stopping for a while now but it's still very important to him. I was hoping it would be child led, but so far each time we've cut a session it's been my choice. I'm working on easing him into a new bedtime routine now so it won't be such a drastic change when we do stop nursing before bed.
Well I'm at 25 months right now. I'm hoping by her 3rd birthday she weans on her own. If she doesn't, I don't know what I'll do. I mean I only nurse her once a day so it's not like it's time consuming for me or anything. Then again I never really sought out to nurse for 3 years. For some reason I feel really strongly about doing it on HER timeline, not mine.
J just turned 1 and he's not showing signs that he's over nursing. I think he's gotten more attached to nursing since he's gotten old enough to appreciate it - KWIM?
I'd like to continue for several more months. I might stop if it looks like it's complicating TTC.
While we're on the subject, did anyone else end up w/an unfortunately unbalanced, established supply? I look like Dolly Parton on the right side and Keira Knightly on the left.
Post by longtimenopost on Feb 3, 2015 15:29:55 GMT -5
DD and I went until just after her 2nd birthday. She still asks sometimes but doesn't get upset when I say no and redirect. With this LO I plan to nurse/BF until 1 then just BF when we're together for as long as seems right, but probably around 2 again.
Post by MadamePresident on Feb 3, 2015 15:30:03 GMT -5
I'm not sure. My 2 years old loves nursing so much, but I'm kind of mentally done nursing her. I have managed to cut back to 3-4 times a day. if i had to say an age maybe 3 1/2. That would get us through one more winter.
I don't know. I am currently nursing DS and he is 18 months. However I am working on weaning him since I am pregnant (I know I could continue if I wanted to). I just dropped the nursing session before bed, so right now we only nurse in the morning. When he was a newborn, I thought there was no chance in hell I would still be nursing at this point. I was hoping to make to 12 months, but figuring I'd be okay if I made it 6 months. So we will see how things go with baby #2. Once I stopped pumping a little after 8 months and introduced formula for daycare, I enjoyed breastfeeding so much more.
My plan with DD is to have her weaned by next March, so we can go on a delayed honeymoon and I won't have to pump. She will be 16 months old of we make it that far.
We weaned at 20 months, and at that point we were both done. A couple months later, I was like "i missssssss it" and wished I hadn't stopped, but really, I didn't see myself nursing past 2. I have no problem with others nursing for however long they want, but DD is so focused on me in general, that I didn't want her to have another reason to only want me.
We just dropped a session, now we are at three times per day. I plan to continue to drop sessions to be done by the end of this month, so around 12.5 months. I'm ready to have more freedom. I'm a little sad but also really proud of myself for making it this far.
J just turned 1 and he's not showing signs that he's over nursing. I think he's gotten more attached to nursing since he's gotten old enough to appreciate it - KWIM?
I'd like to continue for several more months. I might stop if it looks like it's complicating TTC.
While we're on the subject, did anyone else end up w/an unfortunately unbalanced, established supply? I look like Dolly Parton on the right side and Keira Knightly on the left.
I did :/. Good news is they evened out when I weaned. Bad news is they evened out to Kiera Knightly size.
I'm hoping to breastfeed for 12 months, then wean. My RE won't see me back until I've weaned the first, and I was hoping to do a FET at ~15-18 months for #2.
I weaned my first two right around a year each because I was pregnant again. By the time I was nearing the one year mark with my third, I was just so ready to have myself back to myself. I was a just a few months shy of five straight years of pregnancy and/or nursing. One year is good for me.
Jennyanydots, I went back to work at 10.5 months. I did pump for about 2 weeks, but she didn't care what was in the sippies, so I stopped and only nurse when we're together. She never took a bottle, so there was no bottle preference. Straw cup by day, boob by night.
Post by cincodemayo on Feb 3, 2015 15:41:01 GMT -5
My goal with #1 was just to get to a year but I was open to longer. I knew I wouldn't want to go much past 18 months because it was affecting my sex life and H and I leave DS with my mom or SIL once a month or so and didn't want to worry about nursing. Unfortunately my supply nosedived and I was dried up by 10.5 months.
My goal with #2 is make it to that year mark but I highly doubt I will go longer. I love nursing but love not nursing too.
IDK? I'm looking forward to being able to nurse without pumping after M turns one, but I don't think I'll want to nurse for a long time after that.
Soooo much this re: pumping.
I've never really thought about it, actually. I'm open to doing it past a year but probably not past 2. I'll let G take the lead on it and see what happens.