Breastfeeding longer than 1 yr?

[tattlebaby]

I have a question that is still far fetched, but worth considering. LO will soon be turning 1 yr old, and my plans were always to breastfeed her until her first birthday. But after seeing how often my best friends baby gets sick, I'm reconsidering. Between a full-time job, school and the occasional supply dips, this first yr. of breast feeding has been the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life, yet I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. For those of you who have continued to breastfeed past that one year mark, how is it? how did you do it? I recently started thinking, if I were to continue to breast feed past her first yr. too,it won't be so demanding as the first yr. because she would have started eating foods a lot more, therefore requiring less and less of my breast milk..am I right? I currently have to make 3 full bottles everyday to leave with nanny while I'm away at work, almost always I struggle to make the third bottle. LO is now on her way to eating a lot more solids :happy dance:..so I'm hoping I can soon begin to relax a little when I don't make enough milk. So my question is…how possible is it to continue this journey? If you continued to breast feed, what changed for you? what hasn't? When do you offer the boob? Do you still have to make bottles? Is baby still interested? I'm looking for real answers..thanks for sharing!

 

[staralfur]

I stopped pumping around 15 months. She still nursed A LOT when I was home but she was okay without milk while I was at school/work.

I kept nursing her on demand until after she was 2 and she still asked to nurse several times a day. I eventually had to put restrictions on it because I felt like I was nursing my two year old more than some people nurse their newborns. Now she feeds once or twice a day (really pushing to cut it down to once permanently). She only asks when she wakes up in the morning and before her nap.

After a year the time absolutely flew. We had been doing it long enough that it was just a regular, easy part of our day. When she was 1 I had said I wanted to wean her before 2, but it just kind of popped up on us and she definitely wasn't ready yet.

Now that she'll be 3 soon I'm feeling very done. I'm not sure what has changed (maybe just my mentality) but nursing is uncomfortable now. Not painfully so, I just find the feeling really irritating now. But that didn't happen until she was about 2.5.

I did find that for the most part extended breastfeeding has been super easy. The only thing that has been really difficult is refusing to nurse her when she's tired. Her meltdowns are the worst I've ever seen and it makes me want to crawl into a hole and never come out.

 

[superfrizbee]

I BF until LO was 21 months and it was much easier after a year because I only fed her morning and night, unless she was particularly unsettled. I fed her if she woke at night too and it was the easiest way to get her back to sleep - she didnt wake every night.

 

[JenX]

I'm still breastfeeding at almost 21 months. I never pumped or gave bottles because my LO wouldn't take them and she's always been home with me. For us, it has been great because she has Cows Milk Protein Intolerance and I was able to nurse her rather than give cows milk or some other substitute milk. She was also very slow to get started eating solids, and since she was still nursing I didn't worry. She is still very interestested in nursing- too interested probably. I recently decided we will only nurse at home, and after she turns two I will probably try to limit it to just naptime and bedtime.

 

[SarahBear]

The great thing about nursing past a year is that when your toddler is going through a phase of not eating well, you know she's still getting good nutrition through your milk. The other thing is, you can taper off on the bottles to the point where you're not having to pump anymore. I stopped pumping a little on the early side because I worked from home and could nurse her during the day, even if it wasn't on demand. You'll be able to make a judgement based on your own child's needs of when you can stop pumping. While you're working, your child can have cow milk or water and be fine until you get back. Violet still heavily relied on breast milk for much of her second year. She even went on a streak of refusing to drink from a cup (starting at about 14 or 15 months)... thus she stayed hydrated with breastmilk. It didn't worry me and when she came back around to cup-use (about 17 months), it just took a tad bit of re-learning (out of practice with the cup!) and she's been fine with it ever since. She really didn't taper off the nursing too much until my milk changed from pregnancy. She almost seemed about ready to self-wean at one point but is back into nursing a lot. I'm guessing she'll be quite pleased when the milk returns. I also bedshare and only recently night-weaned due to very sore nipples on my part and a lazy latch on her part. Before this issue, she would still nurse at night.

 

[icegurl470]

Same deal, work full time, mommy full time, student part time. Life is busy. I pump 3x a day to provide enough milk for the following day. Third pump is the scantiest. Mine will be 11 months this week. I only planned on nursing for 6 months exclusively but she loves it and it got a little easier after she started solid foods. Shes had problms with constipation on and off so I didnt want to put her on formula. Anyway, I plan on nursing her in the morning and at night after she turns one, cows milk during the day.

 

[SarahBear]

Same deal, work full time, mommy full time, student part time. Life is busy. I pump 3x a day to provide enough milk for the following day. Third pump is the scantiest. Mine will be 11 months this week. I only planned on nursing for 6 months exclusively but she loves it and it got a little easier after she started solid foods. Shes had problms with constipation on and off so I didnt want to put her on formula. Anyway, I plan on nursing her in the morning and at night after she turns one, cows milk during the day.

Sounds like a great plan. Like my situation, that's a bit early, but it's certainly doable and your baby will love that she still gets to nurse when you're around.

Edit: Just realized that wasn't the original poster that I quoted.

 

[misspriss]

I was still nursing DS pretty heavily at 1, he was slow to depend on solids, he picked them up a lot around 15 months. I quit pumping during the day at 19 months when I quit working outside the home. By 20 months, he was pretty much just nursing at night, for naps when I am not working, and when he is upset.

He doesn't do cows milk, but after a year you could just stop pumping and do cow milk during the day then nurse at night and in the AM or something, some kind of compromise, that way you are still nursing but not as much so you don't have to pump.

 

[tattlebaby]

Thank you for sharing ladies! Right..so perhaps it makes total sense to breastfeed in the morning and pump maybe once in the day to make her bedtime bottle, which I've been giving her since birth. Although I would love to give up the pumping sessions too. I only do bottle at night so that I can make sure that she ate good before putting her down, and so that incase I need to step out in the evenings, DH can feed her and put her to sleep. But it would be so much easier to breast-fed both times. So question, for those of you whose baby's are 1 year old or over, when do you offer the cow milk??? Do you substitute this milk, for what use to be their daily original bottles of breast milk? with every solids feeding (in what i'm assuming turns to be a sippy cup)? or only if they ask for it?

How do you choose which cow milk to transition to? LO isn't 1 yet, but I'm sort of freaking out about the transition that will soon have to take place. Mostly because of my own allergy to regular cow milk (Lactose intolerant).. For this reason, I've been drinking only Almond Milk for as long as I can remember.

 

[misspriss]

If it is cow milk, it should be whole. I am lactose intolerant, but most babies aren't I think. All you can do is try. I prefer coconut for little ones for an alternate, more good fats.

 

[MommyJogger]

I stopped pumping around 15ish months, too, for my son. If it were just him, I actually would have stopped pumping sooner because he preferred water in his cup and to catch up on milk when I was around. I really only got to enjoy nursing to 18mo because pregnancy dried up my milk, but nursing after 1 was so easy compared to before 1. I found pumping to be a huge stressor. I find bf past 1 to be hugely convenient. I always have a healthy, filling snack on hand that he will never refuse if he's hungry. It has helped my very physical and hyperactive toddler wind down when he needs to. And when he's sick and doesn't feel like eating, he's getting easily digested, healthy fluid calories with antibodies to help speed recovery. It actually gets significantly easier about every 6mo in my opinion. Nursing a 6mo old is soo much better than a newborn and a 1yo is soo much easier than an infant. Even now, nursing a 2.5yo I find to be loads easier than a 2yo. It's starting to get mildly agitating and the rare occassion there's a meltdown over it, I do find myself going "Why did I do this, this sucks, it was a huge mistake", but more often things are going well and I feel like it was one of the best decisions for us and has prevented far more meltdowns than it has contributed to. There are good days and bad days, just like anything else. But no real regrets about it, I'm glad this was our journey.

 

[MommyJogger]

We offered coconut milk in an open cup with meals when my milk dried up. He got offered it in cups at some meals at daycare before that, but not regularly. If you're still nursing, it's perfectly acceptable to offer water with meals and no milk at all, only if offering milk is something you want to do.

 

[misspriss]

Yeah I just offer water, no milk or alternate. DS has plenty of yogurt and cheese, and nurses at night.

 

[SarahBear]

We never really used a sippy cup because the one we tried, didn't work well for a baby and we didn't want to buy and try a bunch of different ones and we didn't want to use plastic. So we just put it in an open cup. The one we used to use was a kid-sized stainless steel cup. We now just use regular ceramic mugs. Anyway, we would give it if she asked or offer it with meals. We also offer milk. Now that she's older, we'll occasionally offer juice. We will also offer tea (herbal).

 

[tattlebaby]

If it is cow milk, it should be whole. I am lactose intolerant, but most babies aren't I think. All you can do is try. I prefer coconut for little ones for an alternate, more good fats.

Oh so, I can choose to give LO (Whole) Almond Milk or Coconut Milk vs. Cow Milk? I thought it had to be Cow Milk.

 

[tattlebaby]

Yeah I just offer water, no milk or alternate. DS has plenty of yogurt and cheese, and nurses at night.

Oh I see, I forgot about that (Cheese & yogurt)..which type of cheese do you give your LO? How about the Yogurt does it contain cow milk?

 

[tattlebaby]

I stopped pumping around 15ish months, too, for my son. If it were just him, I actually would have stopped pumping sooner because he preferred water in his cup and to catch up on milk when I was around. I really only got to enjoy nursing to 18mo because pregnancy dried up my milk, but nursing after 1 was so easy compared to before 1. I found pumping to be a huge stressor. I find bf past 1 to be hugely convenient. I always have a healthy, filling snack on hand that he will never refuse if he's hungry. It has helped my very physical and hyperactive toddler wind down when he needs to. And when he's sick and doesn't feel like eating, he's getting easily digested, healthy fluid calories with antibodies to help speed recovery. It actually gets significantly easier about every 6mo in my opinion. Nursing a 6mo old is soo much better than a newborn and a 1yo is soo much easier than an infant. Even now, nursing a 2.5yo I find to be loads easier than a 2yo. It's starting to get mildly agitating and the rare occassion there's a meltdown over it, I do find myself going "Why did I do this, this sucks, it was a huge mistake", but more often things are going well and I feel like it was one of the best decisions for us and has prevented far more meltdowns than it has contributed to. There are good days and bad days, just like anything else. But no real regrets about it, I'm glad this was our journey.

Awesome, thanks for sharing!

 

[misspriss]

If it is cow milk, it should be whole. I am lactose intolerant, but most babies aren't I think. All you can do is try. I prefer coconut for little ones for an alternate, more good fats.

Oh so, I can choose to give LO (Whole) Almond Milk or Coconut Milk vs. Cow Milk? I thought it had to be Cow Milk.

Yeah I just offer water, no milk or alternate. DS has plenty of yogurt and cheese, and nurses at night.

Oh I see, I forgot about that (Cheese & yogurt)..which type of cheese do you give your LO? How about the Yogurt does it contain cow milk?

You can choose to give your child whatever you like, the fats in whole milk are preferred. Almond milk is very low in fats. Coconut milk has healthy fats.

He had Colby jack, string cheese, cheddar, etc. The yogurt is whole milk Greek yogurt, full fat. Most at the store are low fat, you have to check labels.

 

[SarahBear]

It drives me nuts how hard it can be to find full fat greek yogurt in some stores. The store near us though has lots of good options.

 

[tattlebaby]

when did you guys introduce yogurt and cheese? Did you give it alone or with something else?