Stopping breastfeeding at 1 year

[akc74]

I have recently dropped the morning feed and my son seems OK (if a little grumpy at the moment but may not be related). He is drinking cow's milk from a cup. I am wondering how long I can keep up the bedtime feed as it's the only one of the day? I am a bit apprehensive about dropping it, and would like to continue for a few more weeks. I need to play with his routine next to reduce the association with bedtime, before dropping it completely. But I am wondering if my supply will now dry up quite quickly?

Any tips welcome.

[Fuschia]

It could well continue for a loooooong time

I think you are certainly safe for a few weeks

[Ruth_Baldock]

Seconding Fuschia; my son s/w just before he turned one due to my pregnancy- had plenty of milk but Cheeky S didn't like the change in taste, I guess. I never stopped producing milk, he's 18mo now and I'm 38wks pregnant. I think my Mum was still making milk for a good few years after my siblings and I stopped, too.

[canadianlisa]

IME you can keep it up for a long time if you want to. I breastfed my daughter at night and for the occasional nap (2-3 times a week) until she was 19 months old. I was planning on going till around 2 but she decided that she didn't fancy it anymore, let me know by saying 'no Mummy' and closing my top! In the end it was a good way to stop, no trauma or trouble and she happily drinks cows milk now. I went away for weekends etc and the supply continued.

[chantelle]

i cut down to two (morning and evening) feeds at around 12 months, then just to the one evening feed a few weeks after that. Went on with that until 17 months and saw no effect after the dropped feed or final stop of BFing. by the end the feed lasted about 60 seconds, and there were no complaints when it stopped for good.

[littleEDfamily]

I have a question - how bad is it if your one year old won't drink formula or cows' milk? My little one is exclusively breastfed, but I am not always with her all day for various reasons and some days even when I am with her she doesn't seem to be particularly interested in feeding... will have a little bit and then see something she's interested in and toddle off or just start messing about. She is a lovely chunky happy baby who loves her food. She'll sip water out of a cup or whatever out of a cup or through a straw, but she's not having the sort of quantities you get from having a proper 'bottle'. I try to give her a lot of 'wet food' to keep her hydrated, but it's obviously not the same as mummy milk/ formula.

Should I be worried if she hardly has any milk during the day? (I suppose I could express, but I detest it and when I have time to do it, I don't have a very good 'yield' - gross!)

[akc74]

Well, since dropping our morning feed, my LO has some cow's milk from a cup first thing but not much - maybe about 50ml tops. Then he has some cereal with quite a bit of cow's milk, and throughout the day he typically has at least one yoghurt and probably some cheese. He doesn't seem to mind the taste of cow's milk - I think he's got used to it as I've been giving it to him on his cereal for a while. He also drinks water from a cup with his meals and a tiny bit in between meals. Then he has about 20 mins breastfeed at bedtime. So I don't think he's drinking that much milk either if that's any help...Admittedly my FF friends' babies are still drinking a lot more milk than my son.

[Fuschia]

I don't actually think children are designed to drink gallons of cows milk!

[snowboarder]

My 2 yr old has never drunk cows milk, he'll have it on cereal etc but has never wanted it as a drink. We cut down on bf from about 1, last night feed at 17m, now he just drinks water (even at bedtime). I even tried giving him some chocolate milk at one point as got in a bit of a 'he must drink milk' moment, but he wasn't interested in that either! He seems fine, healthy, sturdy, not often ill, eats other dairy stuff....

In terms of dropping the feed we just did it ever so slowly and ultimately he was taking so little that one night I just missed it out, and he didn't really notice.

[sophiechristophy]

Cows milk is absolutely not necessary for children - there is nothing wrong with having some, but you shouldn't feel at all that they must have milk drinks in their diet. If they are drinking some milk, a great choice is organic whole milk. Water is a much better drink for children. The best dairy in my opinion is plain live whole milk yoghurt, again, preferably organic. LittleEDFamily - nothing to worry about at all.

[civilservant]

here's a fascinating article I just saw about earlier fashions in breastfeeding - http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2011/11/bones-reveal-18th-and-19th-cen.html