Jokerette's BFing journey ("Breastfeeding Kenny" - 19 months)

[broodyhen]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[CeeDee]

Glad you made it through. Your almost at a year!

 

[Jokerette]

My son is just about 11 months old and hes still breastfeeding wonderfully. I'm so glad the cuddles are back! As we approach his 1st birthday we also are approaching the end of my freezer stash. Since I stopped pumping 2 months ago he will run out of breastmilk at daycare about 12.5 months old. I want to slowly get him used to having whole cows milk during the day with his meals. I hope to continue breastfeeding morning and nights as long as it is working for both of us.

I started a few days ago giving him a tiny bit of cows milk in his sippy cup with his dinner. He only drank about 1 oz but he seemed to like it. We're going to continue doing this and slowly add in a bit of milk to his lunchtime sippy cup also. The rest of the day we will give him water in his sippy cup, and breastmilk until the freezer stash runs dry.

I know you are supposed to wait until 1 year before doing cows milk, that is why we are starting very slow and just getting him used to the taste. He seems to really like it!

I guess this is technically the end of our "exclusively breastfeeding" reign, since we are technically supplementing with cows milk. I'm very very proud of us for never needing to use formula I still cannot believe we made it this far!

 

[CeeDee]

That's awesome! Great job!

 

[sweetthang24]

Congratulations on your breastfeeding journey you've both done amazingly!

Your story was really interesting to read and hats off to you for persevering when it got tough. It must be liberating looking back at how you felt at each update, considering you nearly gave up early on.

I remember getting to 12 months with my LO and thinking " wow - we've done it!"

Brilliant accomplishment - well done xx

 

[Jokerette]

thanks sweetthang! Yes, it feels amazing... sometimes I jst can't believe I am here at 11 months and still going strong! I remember on day 7 talking to my MIL wanting to quit and she told me to stick with it and it would get easier and before I knew it I'd be at a year, and now that we are almost here I am just amazed. What a ride it has been. It's been full of ups and downs, but its all been so worth it. I kept telling myself that babies don't wean before a year, and that kept me going whenever I thought he was trying to wean early!

 

[Jokerette]

Well... my son is 11.5 months old and we are slowly starting the weaning process. I don't want to wean him completely, but I'd like to get us down to consistently just nursing morning and night with no middle of the night, or daytime nursing sessions or bottles around 12/13 months. Then we will play it by ear and maybe drop the bedtime nursing session next. I will leave the morning session as long as he wants it.

He has been losing interested in the before bed session and sometimes he barely nurses at all. But he still loves his 4am and 7am feeds.

I have a huge freezer stash so yesterday I gave him a pumped breastmilk bottle instead of nursing him. It was sooo weird. It was my first time ever giving my son a bottle myself. He gets them at daycare but never from me. It was bitter sweet.

I think my son is almost ready too... at daycare they can usually only get him to drink 3oz of pumped breastmilk. The rest of the day he drinks lots of water and he eats lots of solids. We also started 1-2 oz cows milk last week to get him used to the taste. So far he seems to really like it in his sippy cup.

It's a strange feeling... I want to continue breastfeeding as long as he wants, but I'd like to just get down to mornings so I have more freedom at night for babysitters etc without bringing my pump with me.

 

[Aimee4311]

I read your whole thread and it is inspiring! I haven't had any problems BFing, but I wonder how the challenges ahead will be- like teething!

My mom quit BFing me when I got teeth, and everyone keeps telling me I'll quit when Josalyn gets teeth! I'm so determined to prove them wrong!!

I don't want *anyone* telling me when I'm going to stop BFing, especially people who say there's no way that I can continue past teething!

Anyways, mini-rant done! Congratulations on making it this far and achieving your goal!! And thank you for updating the thread so people who are struggling can read your story and be inspired!

 

[Jokerette]

Thanks so much Aimee! The teeth were honestly not that bad! The bottom teeth are usually the first to arrive and those were not an issue at all. My son didn't bite until his top teeth came in which was 2.5 months after the bottom teeth. So I'm really glad I didn't stop!

 

[PepsiChic]

stalking! think I might make a journal like this, I think it might help me keep my sanity in those tough times, I still feel guilty i didnt make it to the 6 month mark with my first son, so im aiming for that, but I like how you did it week by week at first that sounds like a good goal to try first!

congrats on almost being at the 12 month mark, you've come so so far and i bet, have learnt so much about yourself and your son during this time. breastfeeding is such a special gift!

 

[Jokerette]

Thanks PepsiChic!!! Great job to you as well!!! If you make a journal I'll be stalking

 

[CeeDee]

Good job! I know I’ll feel the same when it’s time to wean. It’ll be bittersweet. I plan on also keeping the morning and bedtime feed for as long as she likes. I’m going to keep stalking to see how that goes.

 

[AC1987]

Aww I'm a little jealous how you were able to get such a big freezer stash! Mine is soooo puny! I think I might only have 50oz saved up.
I wish I didn't start using formula earlier but for my sanity I did as I was too exhausted.
However I'm happy to read how well its been going for you

 

[Jokerette]

Aww I'm a little jealous how you were able to get such a big freezer stash! Mine is soooo puny! I think I might only have 50oz saved up.
I wish I didn't start using formula earlier but for my sanity I did as I was too exhausted.
However I'm happy to read how well its been going for you

its not too late to keep adding to a freezer stash, and 50oz is great too! It all depends on how much your little one needs during the day when they are away from you. You could add in an extra pumping session at night before you go to bed and after a week or so you will probbaly see increased supply at that pumping time. At 8.5 months my son only wanted about 3-4 oz of breastmilk bottles during the day so it made my freezer stash last twice as long as i planned! Good luck'! youre doing great!

 

[Princesskell]

Hope you don't mind me dropping by, I saw you on zombiekittens journal and thought we had a lot in common.
Your son was born on my birthday, I am still bf'ing my little girl at just gone 12 months (just weaned her down to 2 feeds), I am a full time working mum and also wtt till next October!! Xxx

 

[Jokerette]

Welcome PrincessKell! Wow we do have a lot in common! Great job on going to 12 months BFing so far! yay us!

 

[Jokerette]

I cant believe it! We have officially night-weaned! At 11.5 months I finally have a baby who sleeps 10-12 hours at night between feedings.

The great part is that after a few days of him not eating in the middle of the night his bedtime feeding actually increased. It's like he knows he has to fill up before bed. So this is just fantastic. I'm beyond happy!!! We are successfully weaned down to two full BFing sessions (morning/night), plus he gets a bottle of EBM during the day at daycare. He is also continuing to do very well on his cows milk and is now drinking about 4oz per day of cows milk. I'm so happy!

------------------------
HOW WE NIGHT WEANED AT 11.5 MONTHS
A couple of people have asked me how we night-weaned, either in PM or on other threads, so here it is:

I fed on demand all night long for a long time.... To be honest i do think it created a bit of a habit, but at that same time I didnt mind that habit. A lot of people told me to stop feeding him in the middle of the night after 6 months, then 9 months, but I didnt listen. I figured if he was waking and he ate readily then he obviously needed either the nourishment or the comfort and as his mom I gave him that. it only took 5-10 minutes then we were both back asleep.

Around 8 months old we did the delayed response, never letting him cry totally, just gave him a bit of time to fuss, and that ended up having him drop down to only one night feed. we didnt let him cry hysterically, i just didnt run to him and scoop him up to feed him the instant he made a tiny noise. I just followed my gut and reminded myself that breastfeeding is also about comfort

Eventually when we decided to totally night wean my son was 11.5 months old. I didnt really mind getting up and feeding him once around 3am, but my husband really encouraged my to night wean saying a full nights sleep for both me and my son was important. Eventually I realized he was right. So, we waited for a night that he did a really long stretch on his own, then the NEXT night we started the night weaning / sleep training. We used the delayed response method. We decided to give him 10-12 mins of crying/fussing on his own before going in to soothe him. We have a video monitor so we watched closely. We have tried straight CIO and it was just too hard for us, we also tried the no-cry solutions but that didnt work either, and the feber style seemed to confuse my son more by having constant checkins. So we sort of did something in between. I tried very hard to listen to my sons fussing and if he got hysterical my husband went in right away and soothed him without feeding or picking him up. But for the most part we tried to let him fuss on his own. I was not comfortable letting him cry hysterically to the point of choking/gagging for breath, but I was okay with trying a bit of light whining for a couple nights. We planned on having my husband go in to soothe if needed so that he wouldn't look for milk.

I was amazed. The first night he woke around 2:30am he cried/fussed for maybe 10 mins, then stopped for a few, then cried again, then stopped. the whole thing lasted maybe 45 mins off and on. My husband planned on going in to check on him if he got too upset or if he cried for too long but it never got to that. I honestly think he was ready. The next night around 3:00am we did the same thing and he cried off and on for maybe 10mins. After that night he has slept through until usually 6am most mornings!

We decided anytime after 5am I would feed him and that would be his morning feeding, but we always try to keep him in his crib until 7am. So, if he wakes to feed at 5am I feed him then put him back to sleep until he wakes up again around 7am. then I do NOT refeed him at 7am. I think this has worked really well too because my milk supply was getting very confused when some days i fed twice in the mornings sometimes once, so now he just gets the one feeding in the morning.

There have only been a few times since then that he has woken up crying in the middle of the night and now i usually know that it means something is wrong (ear infection, teething, etc). I will sometimes give him a minute to cry, or other times if hes hysterical i will go in and rub his back or rock him. But i no longer feed in the middle of the night and he no longer expects it.

 

[Aimee4311]

Woo! What a good baby! Congratulations! enjoy the extra sleep!

 

[Princesskell]

Fantastic! X

 

[CeeDee]

Great!