Breastfeeding until 2, share exp please!!

[tattlebaby]

I REALLY want to continue breastfeeding LO until she's 2 yrs of age, but I don't know how possible this will be. Before the summer break she had no problem taking expressed milk from her two bottles, but suddenly she's refusing to. Gladly still continues to feed from my breast, although for much shorter sessions than before, and is finally eating so much more. So I'm thinking..I can definitely continue to breastfeed her mornings and evenings, but now with work, I won't be able to breastfeed her during the day . Have any of you experienced this?..If so, what was it like for you and your baby? What are the chances that she'll remain in a healthy weight and not loose interest? Should I continue to offer the bottles anyway? Pumping only to dump..hurts so much! And maybe she's just ready to stop, despite all my efforts to continue. although it doesn't seem like it when she's at my breast. Hmmmmm…. Please share your experiences!!! Thank You so much!

 

[Quartz]

extended breastfeeding definitely involves cutting back feeds (weaning will be a gradual process) and it sounds like morning and evening feeds are what she wants. Your supply will adapt

 

[LoraLoo]

We never expressed but the feeds did definitely drop around 20 months old, and eventually to just morning and night feeds and then we stopped at 27 months. Even if she's just getting a small smount it's still great.

 

[Bex84]

My little girl bf until 22 months when she naturaly decided not to bf, I would have gone on if she wanted. I had a friend who bf her lo for same amount of time. Both by about 18 months only asked morning and night and then we found the night one natually dropped to just morning. My daughter only asked in day if she was ill and she would have been able to feed as much as she wanted. She had coconut milk as well as was not able to have dairy. She always put on good weight and hv never worried. Hope that helps. Happy to answer any questions. As long as have a good diet they wont loose weight

 

[_Meep_]

Once solid foods are well established, breastfeeding is merely a bonus as I understand it. Plenty of babies wean at around 12 months and are perfectly healthy.

 

[tattlebaby]

Ty! May I ask, what brand of coconut milk did you offer? I'm not comfortable with offering cows milk and looking for better alternatives.

 

[LoraLoo]

My Lo would not, and still won't- drink any sort of milk now 😕 and she's 6. She just refused any other type of milk after Breastmilk.

 

[Bex84]

I think it was called koko. It was from super market

 

[bundle4me]

Can u not give a follow on milk? Iv never gave it to mine but sounds good for them.
My son refused any kind of bottle till he eventually came off the Breast at 25 months but as others have said he cut down to morning and bed time by about 18 months

 

[Cangaroo]

DD1 took EBM well from a bottle, but I stopped pumping while I was at work when she was about 19 months. I just got feed up of pumping and she didn't need it so much. She continued to feed as normal on my days off, and was happy with morning and evening feeds on my work days. She did take cows milk at nursery, but I'd have been happy with her just having water when away from me if she'd preferred. She finally agreed to wean, with gentle encouragement, a few days after her 4th birthday.

 

[tattlebaby]

DD1 took EBM well from a bottle, but I stopped pumping while I was at work when she was about 19 months. I just got feed up of pumping and she didn't need it so much. She continued to feed as normal on my days off, and was happy with morning and evening feeds on my work days. She did take cows milk at nursery, but I'd have been happy with her just having water when away from me if she'd preferred. She finally agreed to wean, with gentle encouragement, a few days after her 4th birthday.

Wow that's AWESOME!!!

 

[Bevziibubble]

My LO wasn't a very big food eater so she always had a lot of breast milk. She eats much more these days. Still breastfeeding at 3.5 years old but she eats lots now and has cow's milk too sometimes.

 

[lily28]

my son is 2.4 yo , he has 2 or three feeds on the breast since 20 months old. He eats some yogurt and lots of almonds and cassius, sometimes cow's milk too as a snack. I wouldn't worry about milk after 24 months, if the child eats a normal diet with some dairy or green leafy veggies and nuts.
The milk supply adjusts just fine to the demand, if the child gets sick and needs more milk, she will just breastfeed more often. just bf on her demand.

 

[noon_child]

extended breastfeeding definitely involves cutting back feeds (weaning will be a gradual process) and it sounds like morning and evening feeds are what she wants. Your supply will adapt

This.

I went back to work when LO was a year. She didn't take expressed milk to replace her daytime feeds, just ate more food. We got morning and pick up time and before bed feeds until she naturally dropped the morning one about 20months and the pickup at about 24months and then finally self weaned at 27months. She too didn't like cows milk to drink till she gave up the breast. But she had cheese, yoghurt etc.

 

[Marumi]

I am breastfeeding a 4 year old. In pregnancy I decided on baby led weaning and he very gradually reduced his intake.
The body will adjust to making a small amount of milk if you can only nurse in the morning and evening. My toddler nurses in the morning, after Kindergarten, in the evening and at bed time. Sometimes a bit less or a bit more. I have went 3 days without nursing even when I was gone and it wasn't a problem. I did not even need to pump.
We have been through nursing strikes too. I am glad I was able to nurse for so long. I think it really benefit him in so many ways. We love the cuddles still and he is very loving, gentle, loves cuddles and his "princess mommy girl"...and I think our nursing relationship shaped his character a bit too.
Despite all the attachment, he is also very independent btw. and social and outgoing.

 

[tattlebaby]

Wow!! Thank you to all who replied!!! How lucky are many of you..BF past 17 months :thumb up:. Here's my update, LO for the past 3 nights has been gradually asking for less and less breast milk. Weird!! I really swore she would go further than this. I almost want to think we might only be going through a strike. But I don't think so. She seems well and Nothing in her environment or daily schedule has changed. It just seems to be happening naturally ..HEARTBROKEN!!! I had other plans, but she is beginning the weaning process it seems and I need to learn to accept this. I'm bummed cuz she's only 17 months and granted she's eating a lot more now, and healthy too, but I just wanted to go all the way til 2 yrs of age. Although I know we've gotten further than many, I still can't help but to blame myself. somehow I feel like I pushed the whole Solids thing too much and that only led to this. Damn ppl with their advice! Am I being ridiculous? lol. We stand where we stand and theres no going back now. For those of you who your baby naturally weaned..how old were they, and how did the weaning process occur? How did you know for sure that you were at the finish line. I'm gonna cry when we go through our 1st entire day w/out nursing..its gonna hit like a ton of bricks.

 

[noon_child]

I heard that a good rule of thumb is that if your baby is under18months and refuses breast to assume it is a strike (if you want to continue) and over 18months that it is self weaning. Your LO is on the cusp, but if it is a slow cutting down it might be self weaning. My LO did this but then got a tummy bug, so milk suddenly became important again and she stuck with it a while longer.

 

[kksy9b]

We are nearly at the end of weaning my DS who is 17 months today. He started self weaning 3 days before he turned 16 months.

For us, it started when he allowed my DH to put him down to bed one night. I was running late with an errand and he was tired and went to sleep without nursing (something that had NEVER happened before). After 16 months of having a really really bad nighttime sleeper, we decided to go with it. Overnight he went from 5-7 nursings a day (we were at 3 for awhile but he got really sick for 2 weeks and so it doubled as he wouldn't eat solid food) to 4 - in the morning, before his nap, and 2 times overnight. The ones that dropped were all overnight and he did those on his own with just not waking up. Within a week he was down to 2 - once before afternoon nap and one in the middle of the night (so about 12 hours apart).

I never really pushed anything on him, just tried to follow his cues and do things very gradually. The only one I really ever "cut out" was his early morning. I didn't offer it one day and he was fine (as long as I went and immediately made breakfast when he woke up lol). The rest he dropped on his own.

He stayed at 2 sessions for a few days and then started sleeping through the night without waking so was down to one. He stayed with one session (before afternoon nap) for 2 weeks. Then a week and a half ago timing worked out to where he had to miss his nap and we didn't nurse. And while I was super emotional, he was completely fine! We went to ever other day for a week. We were going to have last Monday be our last day, but he is still pretty eager to eat when I offer. So we are at every 3 days until he loses interest. My goal was always 18 months so we should be pretty close.

It is difficult but I have to say I am incredibly proud of the journey we have had and it is nice to see him being okay with moving on as well. I definitely believe if you take things slow and gradual your LO will be fine; it is much more difficult for us. Take your cues from her and don't push anything that doesn't feel right. Best of luck hun. I know you are wanting to make it a little further, but if you are like us, it may take a month or two to fully wean and get you that much closer to where you were wanting