Breastfeeding beyond a year ??

[lizzmobile 11]

I breastfed Felix until 16 months. Stopped because he was biting me and I was pregnant and it really really hurt. Figured he was biting me because he was telling me he'd had enough.

 

He started again a week before he was 3 at a LLL Breastfeeding supporters group training session, and feeds sometimes, but not often, and never for very long.

 

Breastfed Andorra until 2 and a half, again pregnant and it really really hurt. I was extra sensitive this time She didn't want to stop though so I told her the baby would bring some milk for her. She was fine after about 2 weeks, but wasn't traumatised for as much.

 

Breast and bottle feeding Mylo and Oscar as my milk supply is insufficient due to them being in incubators for the first month and my not getting all the hormones I needed for milk production. They breastfeed before every bottle except the one in the middle of the night so they are getting the best of me. I will not give up and feeding Andorra helps to keep the milk supply going on the days when the twins don't feed so well.

 

Andorra who will be 3 in November feeds every day, two or three times. If she still needs milk, it makes sense for her to have my milk. And if she needs extra cuddles (SUCH a cuddly child; takes after her mummy!), then she can get them at the same time.

 

I don't have a problem with any of this. My children are happy, well adjusted and stable. They can feed for as long as they like as far as I'm concerned and I don't care what anybody else thinks. They will stop when they are ready and no longer feel the need.

 

(But I'm not having a Little Britain thang going on, so they can think again!)

[Jamie2006 10]

A decent doctor or health practitioner should tell you that breast feeding to four years old is normal and healthy.

[babychickens 10]

A decent doctor or health practitioner should tell you that breast feeding to four years old is normal and healthy. Sadly, we live in a world where giving children crap from a manufacturer is the best way to go. It isn't.

 

thanks. some of us couldn't breast feed, but it's good to know that giving my daughter crap is my only alternative.

 

a combination of exhaustion (i couldn't tell whether i was awake or asleep anymore, and even when i did get the chance to sleep i had to get up every 1.5hrs to express to try to improve my supply, on top of the normal feeding routine i was spending 6 hours per day expressing. after 6 or 7 bouts of full fever/pain/uncontrollable shivering/misery of mastitis, and a gash in my nipple that was so bad it made the midwives who saw it cover their mouths, RSI, and not being able to stand up properly because my back hurt so much from expressing so much, not to mention how much it hurt breastfeeding (i gave birth on paracetamol and codeine, i'm not a big softie) - i'd sit there with tears rolling down my face trying to stay still, whilst scrunching my toes up to distract myself from the pain (i have arthritis in my toes - scrunching them up really really hurts) just so i could breast feed as much as possible). Oh, and did i mention the 3 days the baby spend in the children's hospital with a tube up her nose to feed her (not bottle feeding because she was young enough that bottle confusion was a problem)? I tried INCREDIBLY hard to breast feed, and feel so guilty about having stopped despite all the problems that it actually makes me feel sick.

 

But again, thanks for letting me know i'm feeding my daughter crap. it's good to know what kind of mother people like you think i am. everyone else manages to be positive about breast feeding without actually saying how bad people who don't breast feed are, but go on - be as judgemental as you like.

[Jamie2006 10]

Sorry BC....thoughtless of me. I wasn't having a go at you...a lot of people seem to think breast feeding is wrong or weird or something. I was commenting on that, not suggesting that you are one of those people. I know it can be difficult and I have no doubt you are doing what you can, and that you are a loving mother.

[Moyesyside 10]

Im still feeding and Im 25 next year.