Anyone breastfeeding an older baby?

[dinosaur2010]

I breastfed my first daughter for 15 months, but really after about 12/13 months I stopped enjoying it so much. It started getting irritating and there were times I actually had to unlatch her just to get away for a minute.
So I probably aim to go for around the year mark this time.
How are you ladies finding it?

 

[staralfur]

I'm breastfeeding my 28 month old. I don't enjoy it but I don't detest it. It's just sort of a regular part of my day/taking care of her, just like flushing her potty and getting her dressed.

I did find that the comfort nursing started to get really irritating as she got older so I keep it down to 3x a day maximum and each nursing session is very brief (as soon as I know she's not getting any more milk I unlatch her).

 

[Marie000]

I started finding it hard at a little over a year old. By 16 months old, I started cutting the on-demand daytime feeding and reduced breastfeeding to before nap and before bed time only. It kept me sane.

 

[Night Flower]

Does it just get uncomfortable as they get bigger? Why do you ladies dislike it?

 

[Oswin]

I'm nursing my three year old. I've been through some nursing aversion, but that's just me. I'm still fine with nursing him now.

 

[dinosaur2010]

Does it just get uncomfortable as they get bigger? Why do you ladies dislike it?

I just started finding it really irritating. Not all the time but when she'd want to comfort suck for ages. I guess it was a bit of an aversion.

 

[Warby]

I am breastfeeding my almost 19 month old. I've never breasted this long before. He loves nursing!

I find it very irritating, almost painful, when he nurses right around when my period is due. Not his fault, just that my breasts get really sore and tender.

Mason is old enough now that he lifts up my top when he wants to nurse.

 

[BigAl]

I felt exactly the same Dinosaur, after about a year I just wanted him off me. Probably didn't help he only wanted to nurse at night, every goddam hour.

Does it just get uncomfortable as they get bigger? Why do you ladies dislike it?

For me it wasn't discomfort, more of a personal space issue I guess. It just made my skin crawl at times, guess that must be an aversion.

 

[embeth]

I am still nursing my nearly 1 year old. Fed his brother for 2&1/2 years. Am ready to stop really but he will not be happy! Doesn't feed much in the day but has taken to feeding/comfort sucking on and off all night long it's driving me mad. He co sleeps so it's hard to stop
him. Going to try and cut it right down soon tho xx

 

[dinosaur2010]

I've got a wedding in May next year so aiming to have stopped bf by then (dd will be 12/13 months) so I can actually have a few drinks!! Luxury!! That is of course unless I'm pg with #3!! lol

 

[Moolia]

By 6/7 months I am so ready to get my body back! I personally can't see how people can breastfeed toddlers; they've got teeth and can talk and are like mini people! Ha ha! Not judging at all as each to their own but I personally couldn't do it!

 

[annio84]

My DD just turned 1 recently and i have been finding it hard recently.For 1 thingit's almost unbearably painful the week leading up to AF. Also I've been dairy free since she was 4 months due to CMPI and I really want a pizza and a decent cup of tea!

 

[StarrySkies]

I'm still breastfeeding my 13 month old.

I BF two of my other children and they had self weaned by 10 months so I'm a bit overwhelmed by feeding still at this point if I'm honest. For some reason I thought she may have been the same and I would have stopped feeding by now.
She is still feeding quite a lot in the day and through the night and it's so tiring. She doesn't seem to be showing any signs of wanting to stop (or dropping any feeds for that matter) either. She's really clingy still (always has been) so I'm finding it a bit challenging at the moment. She's always pulling at my top and helping herself now as well which can be embarrassing lol.
I'm hoping she stops by 18 months. I'm just playing it by ear at the moment, see how it goes so to speak. I'm just so Bloody tired 😩

 

[Kirstiedenman]

I absolutely love breastfeeding but i felt the same at 18 months when there was comfort sucking all the time! Luckily for me i fell pregnant and he self weaned but my second son is only 8 months and i already feel over touched he is a very sick baby though so i will bf as long as he needs but i feel what you are saying, i am lucky though in the fact he doesnt suck for comfort if anything if he is not really hungry for boob guaranteed he will not feed even when i offer. I feel awful for feeling this way him being only 8 months but i do have days where i look at him and think i could breastfeed you for another 2 yrs but they are not very common.

 

[justmeinlove]

Me. Currently awful as she's teething, using me as a pacifier and my nipples are So painful! :-\ normally though, it's fine, I think it's sweet and if I snuggle her when she's feeding, she giggles 😃

 

[patch2006uk]

I'm not currently feeding an older baby, but my eldest weaned at just turned 3 and I hope to do the same sort of length for my youngest, too. My eldest night weaned at 15 months and I didn't comfort feed him after about 12 months. I never allowed him to grab at my clothes, because that didn't feel appropriate. I knew I wanted to continue feeding for a while, and I knew some behaviours would have made that less likely to happen due to my own comfort, so I did put some rules in place from quite early on-fiddle necklaces so I didn't get pinched, cuddles rather than milk if they just fell over, etc.

They don't suddenly grow up. I didn't see much difference between nursing a 2 year old nd nursing a 3 year old, because I fed him every day and they grow slowly (until you look back at pics and wonder when they got so big!)

 

[CupcakeBaby]

DD is almost 16m and I still enjoy feeding her.....most of the time.

She's a quick eater and currently only has boob 3-4 times a day so it's only like 20 minutes out of 24h that I'm doing it and when I think of it that way it's hardly any effort at all really.

 

[CupcakeBaby]

Also I'm a bit of a worrier and it's nice to know if she's had a fussy food day that she's still got lots of nutrients etc.

 

[Oswin]

I've got a wedding in May next year so aiming to have stopped bf by then (dd will be 12/13 months) so I can actually have a few drinks!! Luxury!! That is of course unless I'm pg with #3!! lol

You can have a few drinks when you're a bfing mum

 

[AriBerri]

Still feeding my 26 month old (disregard my sig, I haven't been on here in a while haha)! She's no where near ready to wean, she comfort feeds at the drop of a hat (literally, she gets upset about weird things). Usually I'm perfectly fine with it, the only time it bothers me is if she's distracted and she gets a lazy latch because it feels uncomfortable or if we're in public and she gets upset and starts crying for "boobies". Usually in the latter situation I just try to find something to distract her with and move on and everything is fine. But if she really needs the comfort, IMO, she comes first so everyone else can just avert their eyes if they don't like seeing a toddler being breastfed lol. Since before she was born, I always planned to follow the WHO's recommendation of continuing on until at least 2 years old and then after that just letting her wean herself. She sleeps in our bed so she's not night weaned either but she only rolls over and nurses a couple times a night (unless she's sick or something) so it doesn't really bug me at all. If anything, I love the morning cuddles I'm definitely gonna cry and miss it when it's gone.

Right now though I'm thinking about night weaning because I'm back in school and it'd be nice to be able to put her to bed without boobies so I can do my schoolwork at night and be able to spend more time with her and her dad during the day. As she is now, if I crawl out of bed, she usually tosses around after anywhere from a half hour to an hour and a half and notices I'm gone and starts crying.

But, like pp said, I don't notice her being a tiny human because it just feels regular and, to me, she's still the "baby" until I look back on her old pics and see how big she's gotten. Teeth and words don't matter, she's still a tiny, helpless thing that just wants my comfort and closeness and the sense of security that feeding provides.