Parents Forum

1dayatatime · 10-20-2007, 12:46 AM

My curiosity is getting the best of me. I only breast feed till my son was 4months old. I've seen others breastfeed kids over two. My opinion....if the child can ask for it there too old to be doing it. Let the fireworks begin....

jenilouise · 10-20-2007, 01:57 AM

I believe in child-led weaning and have been successful with it in the past. The WHO recommends b/f for the first 2 years. I haven't quite made it there but I was close with Hannah (21 months). They decided when it was time to quit and by that time we were down to just at naps and bedtime anyways.

Kaytee · 10-20-2007, 07:45 AM

Problem with stopping when they can ask for it, Nichole was asking for it at 3 months old. Then what do you do?
I think the minnimum anyone should nurse is for 12 months!!! Bare minnimum! **disclaimer** referring to woman who can breasteed**

after that it is truly up to the parent and child involved. I would love to do child led weaning but my daughter would be coming home for spring break to nurse!!! lol
We have had to do don't offer don't refuse weaning first, didn't work the kid was nursing more hten a new born!!! So I had to start refusing her. It was hard for a day, but then it was nothing to her. We started with 3 times a day and whenever she needed to at night (she was 15 months old). She night weaned herself at this point and we continued with day nurses. I dropped another one about a month ago. So we now nurse morning and afternoon (night was not as important to her). I will drop the afternoon one in about a month or two.

Trina · 10-20-2007, 07:53 AM

There are many different views on this. We all need to respect other parent's decisions. That said, I definitely think a child is too old to BF if they're old enough for preschool. Although I didn't BF for this long, I don't think I would have gone past 2.

I nursed my DS for 6 mos.. I would have liked to have gone longer, but he was a BIG baby and was nursing every hour. My supply simply couldn't keep up, and he didn't care whether it was breast or bottle. LOL! DD was a totally different experience. She never ever took a bottle, no matter what we tried. She nursed for 16 mos, but surely would have gone much longer if I didn't gradually wean her. The don't offer, don't refuse method worked well.

Kaytee · 10-20-2007, 08:12 AM

I worked it worked for us!! lol

It is a hard little line though. When I became pregnant I knew I was breastfeeding, I even refused the free sample of formula that comes in the breast feeding support bag (different rant there). My goal was 6 months minnimum, then by the time she was 2 months old I knew I would go to a year, but the goal was to start weaning her to a sippy of expressed milk arond 9 or 10 months, then have her fully weaned by 1. lol didn't work!!

She up and refused expressed milk, would scream and throw the cup!! So I just thought we would wean at 1. Didn't want to nurse a child after 12 months!! Then 12 months came and it wasn't such a big deal anymore, then it was well by 18 months at the latest!! Well here we are at 21 months old and still going. I keep thinking there is no way I will nurse past 2, but at the same time that is less then 3 months away.

adean · 10-20-2007, 08:43 AM

Definately a personal decision. I nursed my first child for 6 months. I went back to work at 10 weeks and pumped for an additional 3-4 months. With my twins, one latched, one did not. I couldn't just nurse one as I would have ALWAYS blamed it on not nursing if the one baby got sick. Whether or not you believe in the arguments for nursing, you still hear those in the back of your mind. I pumped for 1 month with the twins. They were full term - for twins, 37 weeks - so after that we moved on to formula. It was great - as my husband could participate as well. It made it much more enjoyable. Until they developed formula allergies. We ended up on Nutramegin...(sp) and had to spend over $600 a month! At that point I questionned my decision not to keep trying with nursing!!

Too long...when the child asks for milk and nussles your chest!

Kaytee · 10-20-2007, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adean

Definately a personal decision. I nursed my first child for 6 months. I went back to work at 10 weeks and pumped for an additional 3-4 months. With my twins, one latched, one did not. I couldn't just nurse one as I would have ALWAYS blamed it on not nursing if the one baby got sick. Whether or not you believe in the arguments for nursing, you still hear those in the back of your mind. I pumped for 1 month with the twins. They were full term - for twins, 37 weeks - so after that we moved on to formula. It was great - as my husband could participate as well. It made it much more enjoyable. Until they developed formula allergies. We ended up on Nutramegin...(sp) and had to spend over $600 a month! At that point I questionned my decision not to keep trying with nursing!!

Too long...when the child asks for milk and nussles your chest!

My child asked and nuzzled my chest when she was 6 months old

jenilouise · 10-20-2007, 11:27 AM

I can't do the stop when they ask for it thing either because Natalia is four months old and when she wants to nurse she'll tug at my shirt and say "nana".

adean · 10-20-2007, 11:52 AM

Sorry - not what I meant - I said it wrong. My neighbor nursed a very long time....her child was 5!! I was referring more to that. NOT an infant. Obviously a 4 month old or 6 month old is more than acceptable to nurse. Again, it is a personal choice. My own situation, I didn't nurse past 6 months but I would have gone to a year if I wasn't working.

jenilouise · 10-20-2007, 11:58 AM

Wow 5 is a long time.

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