When and why did you wean your baby off breastmilk?

[DaisyAnne]

I know most all of you still BF, but for your older kids when and why did you stop BF? LO is 9.5 months, and we're not intending on stopping anytime soon, I'm just curious how often things like biting, drying up, etc. occur enough to make you stop sooner? (Not looking to cause a debate- no judgement here on your reasons!)

Right now, I don't really have a plan for when to stop , but I can't see it happening when he's a year old unless something changes. I also think I'd like to think about having another baby before *too* long, which may be before we're ready to stop BF.

 

[Casey3]

I don't really have a plan either.. we're at 20 months, my goal was 2 years but at this point I can't see that happening, he's a boob addict lol. My plan is to let him self wean, but I don't think I'd want to nurse past 3/4 maybe? I'm not sure.. we've just been playing it by ear I definitely want to wait til he is able to talk about it, at this point he barely talks and he just wouldn't understand why I wouldn't let him nurse if we were to stop.

 

[MommyJogger]

No plan here, either. Hoping to make it to at least 2 years. We're ttc and I'm hoping that once I dry up in pregnancy, he'll still enjoy suckling and will go on to tandem nurse after the baby is born. If not, I'll probably still give him breast milk in a cup at meals until he's at least 3, longer if he prefers it over cow's milk or almond milk. I will refuse to nurse after he gets his first permanent tooth, but I have no idea how I'd go about that. I'm hoping that milk is (at most) a very small part of his diet after that anyway (and I doubt it will even be an issue at that point; you don't actually see many kids who don't self-wean before then).

 

[teal]

My son self weaned at 18 months. I have no idea why. I didn't encourage it and continued to offer but that was the end. It was very sudden, literally overnight, so I ended up with mastitis right at the end xx

 

[cath]

I stopped when DD was 12 months old. I had gone back to work when she was 12 weeks old and pumped 3x a day at work to keep her exclusively BF and I had just had enough. I loved feeding her but I wanted my body back and I couldn't wait to see the back of the pump.

 

[Bevziibubble]

I don't plan to wean until Holly is ready. She doesn't eat many solids, so breastmilk is still her main source of nutrition, plus she gets so much comfort from it, I'm happy to let her self-wean when she wants to.

 

[kerrie24]

With dd I weaned her at 22 months because of pressure from others,including my own family,saying she was too old to still be bf.It was horrible forcing her to stop when she didn't feel ready and it was a weak thing for me to do.

Ds2 I knew right from the start I would allow him to self wean which he did a couple of months before his 3rd birthday

 

[seaweed eater]

I thought I would be encouraging LO to stop around age 2, but a week ago he suddenly went on strike and I think we may be done. He's been in daycare for 7 months and seems to have learned to prefer bottles (which we had a hell of a time getting him to take in the first place!). I'm planning to EP and keep offering to nurse at least until his birthday, and until I feel ready to stop, which I don't at the moment.

 

[ChimChims]

With my first I dried up at 9 months. With this last baby I intend to go until she self-weans... hopefully very long term. I'm thankful to see that I'm not the only one with an over twelve month old who is still mostly breastmilk. She's started eating when we eat now, so I know it will slow down, but we still nurse all through the day and through the night too.

 

[DaisyAnne]

What's the experience like BFing past 1? I mean in terms of people's reactions? I have friends and family with babies who are the same age, but at the moment my LO and I are the only ones intending on BFing past 1...

I know in the US, it's recommended to BF until AT LEAST 1, but many have the idea you just stop when they turn a year old. I have no intention of stopping anytime soon, unless something changes of course.

 

[ChimChims]

Literally three days after she turned one I was in the nursery and saw they had rearranged it. I mentioned that I liked it, and the lady replied back that oh, the nursing chair was now visible out the nursery window. Then she said "Oh, I suppose you won't be doing that anymore though, will you?" It was a hundred percent friendly, but shows that the 'cut off' everyone is taught so religiously is definitely in place. Not long after that I got a semi-rude comment about nursing past age one.

I have to say though, I find that I am somewhat a militant (though completely non-combative) nurser. I'll be doing it until she's in college if I have milk and she never stops. lol Not really, but you know what I mean. I don't intend to hide it at all this year, but if people get more cranky about it around ages 2-4 it may become something we just do at home. I'm honestly not sure if people nurse kids that age through the day anyway, or if it is just a morning and evening routine.

But yah, the reaction to it was immediate. I just figure I'll stay verbal/open about it in a kind and informing sort of way - lots of helpful/informative comments about how it is now recommended to AT LEAST age two, and lots of mommies are getting on board. lol For those who can't have polite conversation about it, they'll just have to settle for agreeing to disagree bc I won't be swayed. I even have my emergency fenugreek and oats supply, just in case my body should randomly start to slip. rofl

 

[MommyJogger]

Yeah, stopping at 1 is still seen as something you just do. A lot of reaction I get is along the lines of "but you're too normal to still be breastfeeding. Are you one of those? Aren't you worried he'll just keep going?" It's been a good opportunity to have frank conversations with other moms who are currently nursing younger babies and moms of older babies who honestly wish they'd continued a little longer. They're not as shy about asking their own strange questions if they think you're a bit of a freak.
I'm pretty militant about not changing our behavior in public just because he's turned 1 and gotten a bit more acrobatic. Kind of difficult when he's running up at the playground signing frantically for milk and a lot of jaws drop when the boob comes out, but I don't feel right asking him to postpone feeds without a real need to until he can fully comprehend the reason I give him.
I think reactions are going to become linearly more hostile with his age, though. I get the feeling most people think we must simply be in some transitory phase because we're still so close to the year mark.

 

[scoobydrlp]

I'm not really sure when we'll stop, although LO seems to be trying to self-wean right now (or at least is cutting waaaay back) and it's way too early in my opinion. I'm cutting back her table food to encourage her to accept more feeds. Before this happened I hoped around 1 year to get her down to one morning and one night feed, and then do cows milk during the day. This is solely because I work full time and am extremely tired of pumping 3x/day.

 

[Pearls18]

We stopped at 9 months, it was a natural stopping point for us. He was getting really fussy on the breast, wouldn't concentrate, bite, take a long time but would happily guzzle down a bottle (from 6 months I stopped expressing and he had formula if I was away for a few hours etc) then I went back to work, decided one day would be our last feed and that was it, he never asked for it again. Next time my minimum goal again is 6 months, ideally aiming for 12 months but no pressure either way, we'll see what happens, 6 months is a must for me though, no matter how much he bites, fusses before then it's only BM until we wean.

 

[SarahBear]

Violet is only 10 months old and I don't have a second, so I can't speak from experience, but originally I was wondering how far past 2 I'd be willing to go. In the end, it makes the most sense to me to let Violet nurse the full length of time she's supposed to (let her self-wean). I do, however, want to have a second by the time she is 2.5ish. The pregnancy may or may not lead to her weaning.

 

[SarahBear]

I'm not really sure when we'll stop, although LO seems to be trying to self-wean right now (or at least is cutting waaaay back) and it's way too early in my opinion. I'm cutting back her table food to encourage her to accept more feeds. Before this happened I hoped around 1 year to get her down to one morning and one night feed, and then do cows milk during the day. This is solely because I work full time and am extremely tired of pumping 3x/day.

A lot of babies go through nursing difficulty around 8 or 9 months, it seems. I know Violet finds it VERY difficult to nurse unless she's in the mei tai. She just can't sit still long enough. So these days there are two ways we nurse. The first is in the mei tai, and if she's basically asleep, I can do side-lie nursing. She will not nurse any other way. We pretty much only do nighttime nursing on the bed. All other nursing is in the mei tai.

 

[minties]

I stopped nursing (and still regret it) Thomas when he was 17.5 months. I was pregnant with Sophie and had a really bad nursing aversion. I would grit my teeth and feel like screaming every time he latched on.

By then he was only using my right breast; the left had almost dried up. He was also only comfort nursing to sleep, he wasn't at all interest in any actuall feedings.

 

[tuckie27]

I stopped putting her on the breast at around 8 months. I gave her expressed milk for a few weeks and then I was all dried up. I'm so sad about it but my reason was mainly biting. She got 2 teeth right at 6 months and bit me off and on for 2 months straight. I tried everything in the world but she was too young to understand. I miss it so much but my nipples couldn't take it anymore

 

[pinklightbulb]

Eamon at 12 months on FOB's insistence

Liam at 7.5 months on the HV's insistence that she would call SS if I didn't FF. (Long story. Very long. And I'm still angry today that I caved in to her shit.)

 

[monte3375]

We stopped at 9 months, it was a natural stopping point for us. He was getting really fussy on the breast, wouldn't concentrate, bite, take a long time but would happily guzzle down a bottle (from 6 months I stopped expressing and he had formula if I was away for a few hours etc) then I went back to work, decided one day would be our last feed and that was it, he never asked for it again. Next time my minimum goal again is 6 months, ideally aiming for 12 months but no pressure either way, we'll see what happens, 6 months is a must for me though, no matter how much he bites, fusses before then it's only BM until we wean.

what kind of formula did you give?