How long did you NURSE your baby?

Question

OK mommies! Im just wondering... How long did everyone NURSE their babies for? And how long was it until your milk dried up?
MY son is 10 months old now, and I only really nurse him on one boob. The other one I dont use too often. I think because the way we lay down when we nurse. I typically only nurse him at night, or if he wakes up during the night.
When did you stop nursing? I find it a pain to have to wake up in the middle of the night and then make a bottle to take back to the bedroom. So, im wondering how long everyone else nused their babies? At what age do people typicaly ween the babies from bottles?

Answer 1

Nurse in all caps... I only physically nursed my son until my milk came in, and then pumped for the first two months. After that he was formula fed. I weaned from breast feeding over about a two week period, cutting out a pumping session about every other day so that I could avoid engorgement. Night feeds weren't too bad since we would have one or two bottles made in the fridge.

He is 8 and a half months now, and is starting to prefer solids over his formula. He still gets 4 pretty good feeds a day, but he will drink a bit, and then want real food. I plan on, if he cooperates, switching him from a bottle to sippy cup around 1 year. There are nuby sippy cups that have a soft spout like bottle nipples that is making his transition easier.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

I breastfed my daughter until she was 13mths old, only twice a day (morning when she woke up around 6 or 7am and again the afternoon around 3:30) for the final month. Always using both boobs though, lol. I had milk for another month I think after I completely stopped, not much I'm sure but still some.

I tried not to let her nurse in the middle of the night. I'd 'give in' when I was really tired, but at that age it's for comfort and not hunger that they want to so I began to limit the time I'd nurse her at night around 8 or 9mths of age. She quickly got to the point where I could just give a kiss and cuddle and she'd go back to sleep. What a lifesaver that was. I wouldnt nurse her to sleep either, which helped her to go back to sleep in the middle of the night as well.

Given that I breastfed for so long, she never really had a bottle. I introduced the sippy cup at 7mths for water with meals, and we stuck with that. Only the rare bottle every now and then so she wasnt attached to it. Now that she just turned 2yrs I'm letting her use a normal childrens plastic cup (her fav is her Dora one) unless we're mobile than it's still the sippy cup to stop spills.

Answer 3

My kids never had bottles (which was a pain when i went back to work), so I never had to wean from them.
My DD weaned herself at age 40 months. My milk dries up over the next half-year i think. My son is 34 months and still nurses a couple times a day. He too preffers only one side, but when he is sleepy i can switch him to the other.

10 month-olds should still be getting the majority of their nutrients from breastmilk. he should nurse at least 4-6 times a day at that age.

Answer 4

I merely weaned him some weeks in the past at 15 months. i began giving him some formulation at 10 months and commencing at 11 months decrease decrease back to easily nursing at nighttime/evenings. I very progressively weaned him. as quickly as we set out to a million-2 cases a nighttime I merely stopped letting him nurse and he have been given a bottle as a replace. he's merely approximately sixteen months now and is on toddler formulation and nevertheless especially utilising bottles. i does no longer substitute something. I artwork finished time, i'm in RN college, and that i controlled to breastfeed.

Answer 5

My son is almost 15 months and we're still nursing. We will child led wean so I assume we have a couple years left.
Your milk usually dries up after you wean, or if you cut way down (by supplementing too much), or are on some kind of medication.

Answer 6

18 months... by that time we were only nursing 2-3 times a day.

and it took months for my milk to "dry up" ... though 3 years later I sometimes can see what look like little white heads on my nipples, and when I squeeze them, it's like there's some fatty hindmilk still lingering in there.

they need the breastmilk to be the main source of nutrition until 12 months. then solids can take over.. breastfeeding as long as you please thereafter. I started the "don't offer, don't refuse" sort of philosophy when she was about 14 months and introduced cow's milk as an occassional beverage. a few days short of 18 months we were done.

bottles are totally different from breastfeeding... usually formula babies get cut off the week of their birthday and go to cow's milk. breastfed babies that make it to a year usually go beyond from a couple of months to a couple of years - just depends on how mom and baby work as a team, if they both still like it!!

Answer 7

My son was 13 months and my daughter 15 months. Both of them were only nursing once or twice a day for several months before I decided I wanted my body back.

Answer 8

She is 16 months and still nursing.
I work full-time.

She stopped taking a bottle when I was at work at 7 months of age. From that point on, she has had a sippie of either breastmilk, whole milk, or on occasion- diluted juice (after 10 months of age and as a treat).

Answer 9

My son is 10 months old I am starting to ween him back to two nursing a day. But there is No way I am going to start giving him a bottle. When you ween don't give him a bottle give him a sippy cup.

Answer 10

My eldest son (now 25 months) self weaned at 14 months when I was 10 weeks pregnant. He just refused to breastfeed anymore, I continued offering when he woke in the morning and before bed at night for 2 weeks and then accepted that he was done.