How long will you breastfeed?
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| Mon, 03-08-2010 - 8:39am |
For those of you breastfeeding, how long are you planning to do so? I put this in the hot topics section because it seems to be a charged issue, particularly if you decide to breastfeed for an extended period of time.
Originally I thought I'd be happy to just make it to 6 months. Now I'm thinking I'd like to breastfeed for Noelle's first year. A friend of mine just told me she plans to breastfeed for the first two years of her baby's life. I've been looking at different arguments online about extended breastfeeding and am just curious about what others are thinking. It seems like there is also the balance of introducing solid foods at some point and also fulfilling the baby's needs for milk. I haven't done much research on this part yet so I'm curious what the BTDT breastfeeding moms think.
I think my husband will be supportive of breastfeeding for up to a year, but I'm not sure after that. And I know it weirds him out a little when a baby is very active and able to dive in for the feeding themselves (as opposed to this point where they are still pretty helpless). My mom supports breastfeeding, but I'm not sure if she'll be very supportive of it past 6 months. I don't think my mother-in-law understands breastfeeding at all and has already made comments with raised eyebrows about how "attached" I've been to the baby. Of course my husband's support is really important and my mother and mother-in-law a little less so, but I know it will be difficult to continue breastfeeding after losing the support of our parents, especially if they make many comments about it.
Anyway, this may have been discussed before on the EC board, but I was just curious about what those of you who are still actively breastfeeding have decided to do (if you've even decided yet!)
Lee
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I would really like to keep bf-ing for a whole year, but I'm not certain my supply will go for that long (as it is it tends to be slightly irregular). Isla's also refused to take a bottle of pumped milk so far so my schedule may dictate that I have to wean her quicker than I would like. I'm so unsure of how introducing solids works though that I'd love to hear from btdt moms too! Thanks for raising the topic :)
Carolyne & Isla
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Personally for us, I intend to nurse Sammie.... well, honestly, until she basically weans herself this time, though pumping will probably stop much sooner than that.
Tessa
Mom to 6 kids and 3 angels!
Most likely, I ill nurse between 18 & 24 months. I hope to make it until 18 with DD2, and will actively wean by 24 if she's not finished on her own. DS nursed 20mo, DD1 for 17, and both weaned when my milk disappeared during the first tri of my pregnancy with their younger sibling...so I might have to take a more active role this time around.
BM still has plenty of benefits well past 12mo, and having experienced two children go through all the changes that come around a year (starting to talk, walk, separation anxiety, etc), I can't imagine taking away something so essential to them - their physical and emotional comfort - abruptly just because they hit a date on the calendar. I would guess that when you make it to that point, you might feel differently about continuing to nurse - after all, you're just doing the same thing today, tomorrow, and next month as you've been doing yesterday, last week and last month, iykwim?
I know it's not for everyone, but that's how we raise our kiddos and they seem to have benefited! However, I really don't understand intentionally weaning before 1 year - who wants to pay for formula for another 6 months when you've already got a well established milk supply, perfect nutrition for baby, and you're just getting to the really easy part of nursing? Also, up until a year, solids are supposed to complement their diets, not make up the bulk of it.
:)
Rebecca
I plan on letting him self-wean. Lucas nursed until about 22 months. The only reason we stopped is because I was 4 months pregnant at the time and I had dried up. He had been dry comfort nursing for a few weeks already, so I thought it would be a good time to stop.
The first morning I had to tell him there was no more mommy milk, we both sat on the floor and cried. That was way harder than I ever expected it to be.
I feel lucky that my DH is so extremely supportive of breastfeeding. He would have preferred for Lucas to nurse past two years. He was also the driving force to keep me nursing when Lucas was a week old and I had cracked, bleeding nips and thrush. I cried through every nursing session - but he gave me the strength to keep going. I was better after another week, and I'm soooooo glad he pushed me to keep at it!
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The thought only occurred to me recently that if I stopped breastfeeding at 6 months then I would need to buy formula. That's a large part of the reason why I decided I wanted to go longer. I figured it was a little different switching to cow's milk with solid food than switching to formula instead of breastmilk. I guess it was my ignorance about a baby's nutritional needs after 6 months that made me originally decide that was how long I wanted to go. I'm definitely still learning!
Lee
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