i asked my sister today what made her stop bf-ing her 2 boys. she bfed her 1st born (now 5) for 13 months, gave up all dairy (he has a lactose sensitivity which is getting better as he gets older), never pumped or gave formula & did BLW and she was only 20, with no support network or anything- i am 100% proud of her & even tho i'm 3 yrs older, she's my guru when it comes to all things baby, lol. she gave up coz it freaked her out that he had a full set of teeth, was walking at 9mths & starting to talk & he was heavy (29lbs at 12mths!) to hold, a fidgit & kept biting & kicking her by accident & when he started trying to hook her boob out whenever he wanted, wherever they happened to be, she was like, nah that's it thanks! lol.
with her 2nd at age 24, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong & she had a c-section, was totally on her own (her ex buggered off when she refused an abortion- what a git!) got mastitus in the 2nd week, had cracked & bleeding nipples, then they both got thrush, then her c=section opened up & she ended up in hospital with infection & bleeding, while i looked after her eldest... she pumped while in the hospital the best she could, but got mastitus again, then got 2 poisonous cysts in 1 boob n had to have them drained & was on iv anti-biotics so she was no longer able to bf her baby... all that in 6 weeks! On the 7th week, she came home & came to stay with us & she was like, screw this! she had to think about her health & happiness & the happiness of her other child, as well as her new baby, so she stopped bf-ing & gave formula.... both her & her 2 little boys thrived & are very happy n healthy.
while she is sad not to have been able to bf her 2nd boy for longer, she says she doesnt regret anything. i asked her if she was proud of herself. her response was, "what's to be proud of? so long as your child gets milk, oes it really matter where it comes from?"
that really surprised me tbh, as i thought she would be proud of herself, but inatead, she was totally not bothered either way!
then she added, "i'm proud of you tho coz you're a wuss usually!" yeah, thanks sis!!!