How long did you BF and why’d you stop?
Printed From: OHbaby!
Category: Have A Baby?
Forum Name: First baby? Second or more?
Forum Description: Want help? Need support? Want tips? Men and women share advice and tips in this supportive community
URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=19736
Printed Date: 12 September 2025 at 9:55pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.10 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: How long did you BF and why’d you stop?
Posted By: Katherine
Subject: How long did you BF and why’d you stop?
Date Posted: 02 August 2008 at 12:50pm
|
I'd love to know how long you breastfed your babies, particularly your firstborns, for, and why you stopped. I'll go first -- Emma Rose was breastfed exclusively for 6 months, then breastfed/solids with the occasional bottle of formula until about 9 months. I knew that when she was about 11 months I was going to have to go away for a weekend without her as I had a personal obligation, so from 9 months I tried to express so I could store up enough milk so she could have expressed bottles while I was away. My plan didn't work very well as in almost two months of awful, exhausting expressing I only managed to get out enough to fill about four bottles! She breastfed right up until I left, but her interest had been waning for a few weeks, as the solids were really more what she wanted. When I got back from the two days away, she wouldn't have a thing to do with breastfeeding, no matter what I tried. All she wanted was bottles. I tried to express for a couple of weeks so that she could at least have expressed breastmilk, but was only getting an ounce or two a day with the pump (and I was using an expensive, hospital-grade Medela electric pump at that). My nipples were cracked, bruised, and bleeding from the pumping, I was miserable, and Em wasn't getting near enough to guzzle from what my boobs were producing, so I stopped. The end. My goal was to breastfeed her for a year, and I made it 11 months. I think if I hadn't needed to go away at that 11-month mark we probably could have gone for longer, but overall I'm happy we made it to almost a year! Wow, I don't think I've ever told that story before! So go on, share yours... |
Replies:
Posted By: peanut butter
Date Posted: 02 August 2008 at 1:06pm
|
I breastfed Tom exclusively till 4 months when he started on solids but BM remained his only milk source till 6 months. I started on formula for some of his feeds as I was about to go back to some part time work and assumed I would express as I never had any problem expressing early on (as in 200ml in 5 min!) but I was horrified to sit there for 20 min and only get 10ml. I talked to plunket who assured me it would get better if I expressed after every feed. HELL NO!!!!! I was far too lazy for that so I tried a bottle of formula......he went from waking every 2hours to sleeping through.....coincidence maybe but I liked it! I had also panicked a little as I had him weighed at the docs and he had hardly gained weight (although in hind sight I think their scales were wrong and I definately had a knee-jerk reaction). I kept him on BM with one formula feed a day and mixed them up a little, slowly he started dropping the boob and at 7 months was only having one feed a day (which I soon worked out was doing nothing so I stopped one day and havent looked back). I weaned so gradually that I had no engorgement issues at all. Tom was really happy. I took a bit to get my head around it but no regrets now.
My goal was 6 months and up to a year if all goes well. I was a bit bummed that I made it to 5 months 3 weeks but I tell myself I am being stupid. |
Posted By: mummy_becks
Date Posted: 02 August 2008 at 1:08pm
|
Andrew was till he was 3 weeks old exclusively, and then a mixture and BF and formula till he was 5 months and then he went onto formula. The main reason for that was that i was going back to fulltime work and he was going into daycare. And I also had supply issues with him, I didn't have enough milk for him to grow. Josh was a little different, I exclusively BF him till he was 6 months, at that stage we introduced a bottle of formula a day as I was taking him away with me to a band contest and if he needed feeding and I was on stage the person I had to look after him could easily feed him the bottle. He started at about 8 months to refuse the breast and just after 8 months he was on formula all the time. I wanted to feed him till he was 1 but I think that going away and having the bottle hindered that. ------------- I was a puree feeder, forward facing, cot sleeping, pram pushing kind of Mum... and my kids survived! |
Posted By: Mazzy
Date Posted: 02 August 2008 at 1:10pm
|
Wow Katherine, what a great story. You are a legend for doing all the expressing, it's such hard work.
I fed DD1 for 15 months, including 6 months exclusive BF and then onto solids and BF. At 15 months we were down to two or three feeds a day (first thing in the morning, last thing at night before bed and the occasional midday feed if she wanted it). She was still going strong with feeding, but I was five months pregnant with DD2 at this point and really struggling. My energy levels were so low, no matter how much I ate or rested, so I decided to wean DD1 and give her back a happy, energetic mummy instead! The night feed was the hardest to wean her off, but it wasn't too bad. I wouldn't have minded feeding her until 2 years old (including tandem feeding her with DD2) but I wasn't prepared for the absolute exhaustion I got with growing a baby and feeding another one. I wasn't enjoying the breastfeeding anymore and was beginning to dread feeding times, which was the other reason I stopped. At 15 months she was already drinking water and cow's milk during the day so we didn't do formula, just weaned her off the breast milk and onto all solids/water/cow's milk. I'm loving feeding DD2 again now, and don't have a 'finish date' in mind, will just see how long we both want to do it. I will be sad when I've finished feeding her as she's our last (well, we think so) . ------------- Mum to two gorgeous girls! |
Posted By: LittleBug
Date Posted: 02 August 2008 at 1:11pm
|
I breastfed Chloe for around 3 and a half months. It started out okay, she latched on and fed fine when the colostrum was there, but as soon as my milk came in it all went downhill. She would latch on and off and on and off, and scream like she was in pain and get really windy, and power-chuck all of her feed up, so I was feeding her for what seemed like the entire time as she often needed "re-feeding" after throwing everything up. We discovered she was much better on a bottle of EBM, so for the first 3 months I mostly expressed which was really hard work. I tried to BF her for about 3-4 feeds per day and the other few feeds were expressed milk, but sometimes she would only have expressed milk if I was too exhausted to try and feed her. It would take around 2 hours to feed her and she would need topping up afterwards with EBM anyway. Everyone told me to stick it out as it got easier after 6-8 weeks, so I stuck it out (I was determined to BF her). However things just kept getting worse, and after expressing for several months my supply started to dwindle. I tried to BF her more and express less but she would just scream and arch her back after a few mins of suckling (apparently my flow was way too fast for her and gave her wind probs). I saw a lactation consultant 4 times and we tried postural feeding etc. but nothing seemed to help.
I decided to stop expressing at about 3 months, and just did 2-3 BF per day and the rest formula. It was all we could both handle. By the time we reached 3 and a half months, Chloe got tonsilitis and stopped feeding altogether, and I was too exhausted to keep expressing while she was so sick and screaming constantly, so that's where it ended. I gave it a good go and tried my hardest. My midwife offered a lot of support and the Plunket nurse said she's never seen anyone with that many problems BF stick with it for so long (I left out about the cracked nipples/thrush etc. as just about everyone has those probs it seems). So I didn't feel so bad about stopping, especially as she reassured me that the most important period for recieving breast milk was the first few months. Not that I had a choice about stopping unless someone was to have taken over care of Chloe so I had time to pump more while she was sick. I should mention that I was convinced I had PND until we stopped BF, and then things really improved for both Chloe and I. She started napping (as she had a nice full tummy) for more than 10-15 mins and we weren't feeding for what seemed like 22 hours a day. We were both a lot happier. I'm determined to give my next baby a good start too, and will also try to BF for as long as I can. I'm a bit apprehensive though, I doubt I could have BF Chloe for as long if I already had children to look after. However I'm hoping that the next bubba will be built a bit better and be able to handle my hugely fast milk flow!! ------------- Chloe (4 years) and Oliver (3 years). |
Posted By: Daizy
Date Posted: 02 August 2008 at 1:21pm
|
Keira was bf untill she was 18 months. In the early days i had to start topping up with formula cos she just wasnt getting enough from me. But I worked really really hard to boost my milk and within a few weeks we were able to drop the top ups. It was then exclusively breast milk untill she started solids at 4 months and even then she would still have feeds from me every 3-4 hours right up untill she was 1. We then gradually began stopping feeds as she ate more solid meals and started introducing Cows milk. Eventually by the time she was 18 months we were down to just one feed in the early morning. It became something we both did just out of habit and I was so ready to get some sleep back I just stopped one day and that was it. Was never that keen on having her have formula with the cost and effort of having to make up bottles so I fed her milk from me untill she was old enough to have cows milk in a cup.
Hopefully I'll be able to do the same with DD#2, 4 months exclusively breastfed and still going strong! ------------- 
 
|
Posted By: my4beauties
Date Posted: 02 August 2008 at 1:22pm
|
Rico I BF till he was 11.5 months. He started solids at 4 months, and then I started weaning him off the breast around 7 months, and he would have formula once a day, and I gradually increased it til he was fully FF. I always had it in my mind I would BF til he was 1 yr old. I started weaning him at 7 months to get him used to the formula, and also so he wasn't so reliant on me for milk.
I did the same with Gia. But I haven't started weaning Jett, and I'm not sure when I'll start either, mostly likely after he turns one. ------------- My babies: R (9),G (7), J (5) http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> 
|
Posted By: LeahandJoel
Date Posted: 02 August 2008 at 1:31pm
|
My milk didn't come in properly until Leah was about 5 weeks, so up until then I had been BF, expressing and formula top ups. From then until 14 weeks she was only BF, then I wasn't able to keep up so went to one formula feed a day and BF the others. Then at 5 months uped it to 2 formula feeds a day while BF the others. Leah self weaned at 7 months ( I cried for about 2 weeks over this!!) and was totally formula fed until introducing cows milk at 13 months. Am hoping this time round goes a little better and I am able to feed for longer but we will take it one day at a time! -------------  
 
|
Posted By: Kels
Date Posted: 02 August 2008 at 1:47pm
|
DD1 exclusively till 4mths when solids were introduced and she continued to BF till 15 mths when she self weaned on holiday in AKLD and has never touched milk since. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
Busy mum to Miss 15yrs, Miss 10yrs and Master 4yrs |
Posted By: Andie
Date Posted: 02 August 2008 at 1:51pm
|
I breastfed Ella till she was 9 months (had planned on a year). I didn't have a choice about weaning her - she self-weaned at that point and being the underweight little thing she was at the time, starving her of her milk for a few days until she took it was out of the question - she was already underfed as she'd been so reluctant to feed for a long time. We'd been prescribed Neocate to mix in with her solids by then, so after realising that no matter what, she would NOT take the breast now (this had been building for some time, but when she made that final move she made it good'n'proper!), I gave her a bottle of that, and she adored it from then on. She'd hated EBM too, and fought that (I'd expressed a lot and tried all sorts of ways to get breastmilk into her) - the issue for Ella was her allergy and the fact that even on my dairy-free diet, BM was unsuitable for her. This is why I like to explain to people who say "but breastmilk is the perfect food, that can't have happened" (which I hear a wee bit!) that it's different when the child can't tolerate it well.
I didn't feel sad about her weaning, as breastfeeding had been such a horrible experience for the both of us for the whole 9 months, and I found holding her while she thoroughly enjoyed her bottle a much more wonderful experience than holding a screaming, scratching baby to the breast, only to have her upset through the feed. This is why I passionately believe that Plunket, etc should be allowed to educate mums on bottle feeding as well as BF. They can still promote 'breast is best' but including the full picture would really help! ------------- Andie |
Posted By: gemsmum
Date Posted: 02 August 2008 at 1:59pm
|
My first took to bf so well. She was one of those kids that was born knowing what to do. She fed exclusively for four months, then solids and breast till she self weaned at 9 months. I was devastated cos I wasn't ready to give up. It was around the time we'd started introducing a little formula in a cup as I was gearing up to go back to work and Gem needed to go into daycare.
Cam self weaned at about the same age and I'm guessing for the same reasons. I think they just found milk out of a sippy cup easier than the breast. He was a much more difficult feeder as he had quite a bad tongue tie and I really wasn't as upset when he gave up (after all I'd been pg or bf for 36 months!!) and was pleased to have my body back. ------------- http://lilypie.com">  
|
Posted By: Maya
Date Posted: 02 August 2008 at 2:05pm
|
I fed Maya to 10 mths, she had a couple of formula top ups in the first few weeks due to poor weight gain but after that she flat out refused to take a bottle so I couldn't have weaned her if I'd wanted to. At 9 mths she ended up in Starship as Fails to Thrive with gastric bleeding and had to be NG tube fed (long story) and I was advised by the paed to give up breastfeeding as traces of things in my diet were irritating her stomach and bowel. It took 3-4 weeks to get her fully on the bottle. I wanted to breastfeed till one year so I probably would have given it away soon enough anyway altho I was resentful at having the choice taken away from me.
Gremlins are a long story which I already posted in the breastfeeding thread but I exclusively breastfed them to 6 days, exclusively EBM fed them to 3 weeks, started formula top ups at 3 weeks and then weaned them completely off the EBM at 10 weeks. I never really thought about how long I planned to feed them, I was too busy just trying to do it! Am hoping to feed Chiara till one year, and exclusively till 6 months but will see how we go. Am stoked that she is 100% exclusively breastfed still, by three weeks the older three had all had some formula top ups. -------------  Maya Grace (28/02/03)
 (02/01/06)
The Gremlins:Sienna Marie & Mercedes Kailah (14/10/06)
Lil miss:Chiara Louise Chloe (09/07/08)
Her ladyship:Rosalia Sophie Anais (18/06/12)
|
Posted By: BaAsKa
Date Posted: 02 August 2008 at 2:11pm
|
I only BFd Bailey for a few weeks and then i struggled to express while trying to get him to latch on ...until 4 months then i gave up.
I breastfed Astin fully until 8 days old when i realised he was hungrier than usual and i didnt quite have enough milk so topped him up with formula. He went through stages of having more formula during the day then more BF during the day then at 6 months he self weaned. Im hoping to fully BF baby #3 until it is 1 year old. |
Posted By: FionaS
Date Posted: 02 August 2008 at 2:23pm
|
I fed Elle for 14 months. She was a really unsettled kid and in some ways breastfeeding was the one thing that went beautifully for us. She wasn't a cuddly kid whatsoever but would snuggle in during her feeds.
She naturally cut her feeds down gradually until we were down to 1 a day. It got to the point where she would refuse or only suck for a second so I didn't specifically offer and she didn't ask. It was a very natural end...she didn't miss it and I didn't get any engorgement. I really miss it (not that I want to breastfeed her now that she is 2 but I miss breastfeeding a baby). ------------- Mummy to Gabrielle and Ashley |
Posted By: MissAngel
Date Posted: 02 August 2008 at 2:26pm
|
I breastfed for 3 weeks, then we discovered that my milk supply was rubbish and the quality was equally rubbish. ------------- Alex, Thomas and Lily http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> 
|
Posted By: Mama2two
Date Posted: 02 August 2008 at 2:29pm
|
I breastfed Samantha until she was 9 months old at which point she self weaned.
The last couple of weeks was an unpleasant experience for both of us. She would scream and pull off constantly which meant she wasn't getting a good feed and I was so stressed! The only time I could get her to feed properly was a dream feed at night. A friend suggested a top up bottle of formula in the afternoon as I don't think I was producing enough to keep her satisfied. Anyway, one taste of formula and she rejected me completely. She loved it from the start. I was devastated as I had loved feeding her, but it was the best thing for both of us. She is still having a couple of bottles a day and still loving it. I feel quite proud to have b/fed for 9 months, but would have happily still been feeding her now if it was up to me. Unfortunately she has always been very strong willed and apparently had other ideas 
I do still miss the closeness and the cuddles though that come with b/feeding. With her now being an active toddler it would be nice to have that time to chill out together. I am lucky if I get a quick hug from her these days before she is off doing her own thing again. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
|
Posted By: MrsMojo
Date Posted: 02 August 2008 at 2:46pm
Apart from one day when I was in hospital (at 3mo) I breastfed Michaela exclusively until 5mo, she then started on solids and I went back to work fulltime. For the first 2 weeks back at work I tried to express her daytime feeds but I couldn't stimulate let down without her so we decided to put her on formula during the day and I continued to feed her morning, late afternoon and night as well as expressing a bottle (sometimes more) every afternoon when I got home. Somewhere between 10-12 mo we dropped the late afternoon feed but we continued feeding morning and night until about 14mo when she became disinterested in sitting still for her evening feed. I decided to drop that one and she didn't even notice. We continued having the first thing in the am feed for another couple of weeks until it became obvious she wasn't really taking any milk, just coming for a cuddle, so I dropped the morning feed too (but kept the morning cuddle )-------------  
|
Posted By: Candkids
Date Posted: 02 August 2008 at 2:47pm
|
s was breastfed for about 8-12 days i had planned to BF untill she was 1 but really my MW didnt really give me much advice at the time, she had latching trouble and seemed to be hungry all the time, my nipples were cracked, blistered and bruised and was in so much pain and felt so useless untill i realised that i virtually had no milk at all and thats why she was always screaming all the time and constantly hungry. so i switched to formula much to the utter disgust of the MW who said i just wasnt trying hard enough. ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">  DD 10.5yrs DS 6yrs DS 11mths 5 little angles watching from above |
Posted By: fattartsrock
Date Posted: 02 August 2008 at 3:05pm
|
Well....
I didn't really want to BF, and was only going to do it for 6 weeks or so..but when I found I was one of the tiny tiny number of women who are physically unable to BF, I was gutted. I had had no change in breast size through the whole pregnancy, no leakage or anything ,then no milk at all. DS wouldn't latch on anyhow, would arch his back and scream and fight away from me, it was very distressing. I stayed in hopsital for a week, on the big breast pump hourly to try and get anything (ten mls/20mls tops) and Jake was on a naso gastric tube being fed anything I could give him, and after 4 days, formula. I went on the Domperidone tablets and after about 3 days we had some luck getting milk in. I stil needed to be on the breast pump often to try and stimulate my body into making milk on its own. However, Jake wouldn't latch and was still on a NG. We tried him on a bottle and he was happy with that, so we were able to go home, and I had to keep expressign milk and taking the tablets, which I did. Jake was fed EBM and havign formula top ups for 6 weeks, then at one session with my wonderful LC, he latched on, withthe help of sheilds, and we were away laughing. I had to continue pumping and taking the tablets for the whole 10 months I fed him. He self waened at 10 months, mostly I suspect as I had returned to work and he was havign a bottle more often and it was less work for him to get the milk from the bottle instead of mummy. I had intended feeding him till he was 1, but I am stoked that I got that far considering all our hurdles. Incedently I had made a deal with myself that I would have expressed and bottle fed for 3 months if he didn't latch on, Before Charlotte was born, I had some appointments with the LC to put a plan in place for feeding her, and to ask that my records be marked that I wasn't to be discharged until feeding was established. Once again, no change in breast tissue size or leaking, but we had decided I would go the domperidone route again if I got no milk. However, joyously (it was like winning lotto) after 3 days, my milk came in and how! we had no problems feeding and no problems with milk this time around, My LC said it was becasue of the dedication I put in with pumping etc last time around. I am delighted to still be feeding Charlotte and plan to "give it away" when she turns 2. Looong story. Sorry! ------------- The Honest Un PC Parent of 2, usually stuck in the naughty corner! :P |
Posted By: pepsi
Date Posted: 02 August 2008 at 3:35pm
|
I had originaly planned to bf until Alyssa was 12 months old, but she was such a big fan of it, I didn't have the heart to wean her at that time. I ended up just letting her keep going..
She was fully weaned I guess at about 19 months? I knew I wanted it done with well before the new baby came along and with the pain of it all during pregnancy I couldn't wait to stop so it gave me extra incentive. Luckily she was totally ready as well so it worked out perfectly! |
Posted By: Rachael21
Date Posted: 02 August 2008 at 5:08pm
| Jack was exclusively breastfed until solids at 4 months. He never had any other milk until 14 months. I stopped bfing at 13 months and he refused cows milk for a month there. We stopped because he was biting and wasn't too interested, I was 5 months preg and it hurt and I got real bad agitation (really weird, for the time they are on you just hate everything about breastfeeding apparantly your bodies way of telling you to stop so the growing baby gets all your nutrients). He had a few random feeds as he kept getting sick after I stopped. I've given him a few cups of EBM when hes been sick just to help with the immunity. |
Posted By: Tiff
Date Posted: 03 August 2008 at 9:36pm
|
Rohann, was set to be a fantastic breasfeeder. She latched on perfectly straight away and I had no real pain or discomfort at all. However at her weigh at 1 week she had lost a fair bit more than her 10% and there was felt the need to look into why this was happening considering how good she was at feeding and how often she was feeding. The long and the short of it was that I had I had no milk, infact I never even went through engorgement. Suddenly it all made sense, this was why Rohann only slept twice the whole time I was in hospital and why when home she was still hungry even after feeding for 30 mins minimum on each side and if she wasn't feeding she was crying and very rarely sleeping (though she did sleep well at night, probably because she was exhausted).
Luckily I had a fantastic midwife who straight away got me onto drinking Complan, drinking lactation tea, massaging fennel oil into my breasts after every feed and we hired a big breast pump which I would use after every feed for 20 mins on each side, she also got me into see the lactation consultant at the hospital. After 3 days of doing this I felt Rohann really needed some help before my milk came in (as it had now been 1.5 weeks of virtually no milk - I trialled expressing without feeding first to see how much milk there was and after 30 mins I got 10ml of one breast and 15ml off the other). So I started topping Rohann up with formula but not with a bottle but in the form of a lacta feed (when you have a tube on your breast giving her the milk while she is sucking off you), well, she was a differen't baby - she actually slept!! The LC appointment was interesting, I was doing everything right and it turns out that I don't have enough breast tissue (apparently it doesn't matter how big your breasts are but it's what they are made up of). It's thought that this was a result of a problem I have with my AF that was attempted to be fixed when I was 11/12 with a cocktail of different hormones and probably why my breasts don't look like 'mature' fully develpoed breasts. There was a medication I could try but unfortunately it was probable that it conflict with another medication I was on that was important for me to take. This was also to expllain why I'd had no changes to my breasts etc while pregnant. So anyway after 1.5 weeks of doing all this, it was realised that my milk wasn't going to come in, so I had to make the very sad decision to formula feed. I found this very emotional and cried a lot, as I felt I had this bond ripped away from me and it was as though I had no real choice in the matter as my body had let me down so badly. However I continued to give her 1 lacta feed a day to keep the closeness up, but it was very fiddly so after a month I tried just feeding her without the formula but she wold get so frustrated with me, and I eventually gave it up. Wow that was a long answer for a short question!Sorry for the novel!!! ------------- http://lilypie.com">  
|
Posted By: chonny
Date Posted: 04 August 2008 at 2:53pm
|
I fed Vincent exclusively apart from at 12 weeks where i had no milk & he had two bottles of formula then i relaxed & my milk improved & we were fine. He started going down to 2 feeds a day (one morning & one night) at bout 15 months i guess. About 18mth he would sucka couple of times then prefer his dummy (at night) and wouldn't really want it in the morning. Eventually is topped offering & he wasn't asking. He did three weeks later & i offered it. He sucked for ten mins as obviously needed mummy time. He knows what they are, & sometimes if in the bath with him he asks for it & i let him but he only ever puts his mouth over the teat & then pulls away. I was kidn of gutted when he gave up (totally bout 19mth) as i really wanted to try the whole tandem feeding thing with bubs D. & i lvoed the closeness. I haev kind of missed it but he is still cuddly so i still get that. Can't wait to feed this new one. Am hopign the start is a lot smoother this time round tho. Had to use breast shields & see LC last time until bout 7weeks. -------------   
|
Posted By: EmDee
Date Posted: 04 August 2008 at 3:32pm
|
I bf Ollie exclusively until about 5 months when he started solids. I also returned to work fulltime at this point and he started having EBM a couple of times during the day and feeding from me morning and night. I was expressing at work, however after a month was hardly getting anything so switched to formula during the day. I kept bf him morning and night until he was 16months. At this point I was 4 months pregnant and was cringing when he came near me so made the decision to just stop one day.
This time around (I return to work when Lily is 5 months too) I plan on expressing at work, but this time I am more determined to make it work and I've been taking notes from all the 'boosting milk supply' threads I've seen recently. I'll keep bf for as long as I can and for as long as she will take it. ------------- DS 8 DD 6 DS 4 DD 2 |
Posted By: 2bmumof3
Date Posted: 04 August 2008 at 4:06pm
|
I BF DS1 exclusively till 4m then introduced solids. At 5m introduced formula as returning to fulltime work, was planning to mix feed but simply couldn't express and DS1 was soo much more a content baby on formula I almost wished I'd done it earlier.
DS2 I BF exclusively till 5m when I introduced solids then introduced formula at 8m and at 9m weaned to completely formula fed. Mixture of reasons for weaning but mainly I wanted my body back. DD is exclusively BF an I'm loving it. She's an excellent feeder and sleeps well. I have no finish date in mind other than I'm wanting to go till at least 1year. ------------- Sara Corban (22/11/04) Connor (18/04/06) Chelsea (21/05/08) 
|
Posted By: LJsmum
Date Posted: 04 August 2008 at 6:40pm
|
luke weaned himself at 15 months. He was exclusive till i introduced formula and solids at around 6 months but he never took to it so he didn't have any more until he went to day care at 9 months, he was on goats formula as found out intolarent to cow's milk.
Funny enough he ws offered formula the 2nd night after he was born ( my milk didn't come in to day 4!!) But he didn't take formula then at all. Which was good in hindsight as he kept sucking and brought my milk in. He loved breastfeeing and was an excellent feeder i had no problems what so ever. I still feed him 3x a day at 15 months. With next baby will not introduce formula at 6months only did so to get him use to a bottle (couldn't express enough milk for him to have a bottle) Brest feeding was great so easy and a great soother for him. -------------  
|
Posted By: lizzle
Date Posted: 04 August 2008 at 7:42pm
|
Jake and I were going really well. He ate and ate and ate. normal babies apparently lose weight within the first few days - jake didn't. we stayed inNZ fr three months and in this time, we fed exclusively, and I expressed a few times when Nana had him.
when we got back to japan however, it got much more difficult. People were confused that I was still breastfeeding and when i asked about expressing - for daycare, they had no idea about how to store it, or reheat. i had to write instructions for the staff. Next was the expressing - the only place to do it was in the staff toilet - next to the classsrooms. all they could hear was buzzing and there were complaints - so I ended up going into the mall toliets - still weird but they were speaking in Japanese and I could pretend I couldn't understand. then there was the epxressing thing - I only could do this during my lunch hour and by that time, i had boobs leaking for xmas and it was super painful. I had to eat while trying to express - lots of fun! - sarcasm here, then storing the milk in the fridge - met with staff complaining to head office about it being inappropriate. i had a really hard time about it all So after two weeks, I gave up and put him on formula and just fed when i got home. but that tjust made thins so painful during the day and I leaked so much I had to change at lunchtime and i felt so self-conscious that i smelled. then my milk kinda dried up as well....turns out I was preggers but I didn't know that. With Taine it was slightly difernet. we were back in the country. I had been accepted on a Massey Course for teaching and had to go to a course everyday for a week while Taine was 3 weeks old. After the expressing problems with Jake I decided to give Taine formula. he loved it and thrived. BUT i could've taken him with me and fed him during the course. I wish i had known it more. I felt terrible about stopping although I know it was okay for taine. I wish that I had been given more help to continue but because of my situation in Japan, i felt that it was easier to stop. |
Posted By: 2bmumof3
Date Posted: 04 August 2008 at 8:21pm
|
Wholey Lizzle what a rough BFing experience you had, good on you for trying to persist and don't feel bad about stopping you're baby was fine. ------------- Sara Corban (22/11/04) Connor (18/04/06) Chelsea (21/05/08)
|
Posted By: chonny
Date Posted: 04 August 2008 at 10:53pm
|
ditto what 2bmumof3 said -------------
|
Posted By: CuriousG
Date Posted: 05 August 2008 at 8:04am
|
I BF DD for 4 months but at 3 months she was just sooo hungry that I couldn't keep up. She actually was a hungry baby and I really didn't enjoy the experience because she always wanted to feed and was quite grizzly for a while there. I should have realised sooner she wanted more, one night, at 6 weeks she had a BF then about 100mls of EBM, then was hungry again only 2 hours later!
When we decided to give her a bottle of formula, she drank a whole 200mls (at 3 months old) then had a BF as well! I got sick at 4 months and could barely get out of bed for a few days so we moved her over to formula and after that, she was a different child. With the next one, I will be introducing formula at the night feed from day dot - I used to feed Charlotte for about 6 hours (cluster feeding) and it drove me insane. Now I realise she was hungry so will be prepared for number 2. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
|
Posted By: fairsk8
Date Posted: 05 August 2008 at 11:04am
|
I B/F DS exclusively for 7 month, during that time we went through a stage where I was not producing enough milk for him, but he would not have a bar of a bottle, even with EBM in it. So it was a stressful/tearful 2 weeks until my milk supply mirracuously increased again.,
Started him on solids at 7 months but still B/F until he was 11months and he weaned himself. ------------- http://www.bump-and-beyond.com/"> 
|