Changes in Breastfeeding

My son is 21 months and not showing it's time to wean :)

WHO recommends breastfeeding until at least 2 years old.

At 9 months they usually go on a nursing strike--they get so busy looking around at the world and really 'noticing' things that they don't nurse as often. Don't worry though, he will get enough to eat. Don't let him wiggle too much, or you'll end up with sore nipples...

Keep up the great work! And congratulations on making it to 9 months!

Congrats on the continued success!
I nursed my 3rd, the youngest until, she was about 34 months old. She was potty trained before she was weaned LOL!
At 9 months anything would distract her, but she quickly “grew” out of that. My daughter had NO bottles after the day she turned 3 months old, and she only ever had formula in her baby cereal.
She would nurse: [1] after she woke up in the morning until about age 2-1/2. She then had cereal and fruit offered based on age; [2] for and after mid-morning nap until about age 2; [3] before she ate lunch; [4] for afternoon nap until about age 2-½, after nap until about age 2; [5] before supper until about age 2-½; [6] for bedtime until almost 34 months old.
I mainly let her decide when she ready to stop. This also decided how much she was getting in solids and when. As she grew older she was getting the cup and solids more. She never had formula in a cup, only milk a little while after she turned a year old.
It can be a time consuming “task”, but I believe the benefits outweigh the negatives. To be honest, she just finished 3rd grade and has been advanced in almost everything in school. My oldest never nursed and my middle only for 6 months, and neither have excelled near as well. She was also a much calmer and more behaved toddler with very few tantrums, unlike my older 2. I feel it was the breastfeeding that helped contribute to all of that.
Again, congratulations and wishing you continued success!

My first was a poor nurser and only made it 5 months. My second LOVED it and nursed for 2 1/2 years. Primarily, the reason I went with the 2 1/2 year thing is because he had HUGE amounts of allergies and his doctors recommended that he be allowed to nurse as long as he wanted. With regard to schedules, etc., at this age, let your baby be your guide. He probably is eating more and more regular food in addition to the breastmilk now that he is 9 months old, so often times, at that age, they may want to nurse in the morning, maybe before lunch, at naptime, bedtime and maybe one other time in between. I seem to recall mine doing that. Of course, mine also woke up once in the middle of the night to nurse at that age too because he was getting alot more of his nutrition through breastmilk still because of the allergies. But a baby at 9 months is more able to let you know when they are interested and when they aren't. I don't think 5 to 7 times in a 24 hours period is too much at 9 months. As for weaning, again follow your baby's cues. You'll know because they begin to lose interest in nursing in favor of other activities. Stopping to look around at this age is completely normal. They all do that. Just be careful he doesn't injure your nipple jerking his head around to look at things. Sometimes at this age, you need to go to a quiet, private place to nurse for awhile so they aren't distracted by all the activity around them until they learn to get down to business and get it done.

Congratulations on nursing so long and your commitment to continuing. My first 3 did not nurse for a full year, but my daughter (#4) went on to nurse until she was a little over 2 years. She was very distractable also, so she did most of her nursing at night. The only times that she nursed during the day was moring, nap time, a little around meal times and when she was stressed out or hurt. She came right to me for comfort. We so-slept, so night time was a convenient and quiet time for her to nurse with out distraction. We continued to nurse until it became overwhelming and no longer enjoyable for both of us. She would only nurse enough to fall asleep and I was ready to be done. I still miss it though (2 years later!)
Hope it continues to go well for you!

Continue to feed on-demand. He is still going to go through times when he is more interested in nursing than others (he may not want to as much when he is sick or teething). The wriggling and popping on and off can be frustrating sometimes, but you may be able to avoid some of that by trying to feed him in a quiet room (probably hard with 3 other kids!) and doing it at times when he is tired, like right before or after naps. Congrats on making it this far! Keep up the good work!

Firstly, congrats - nursing that long, or at all, is an accomplishment! Below is what nursing for me looked like with my babies at nine months. A 9 month old could nurse anywhere from 4 - 8 + times a day depending what kind of nurser they are (i.e. snacker)

At 9 months babies tend to look around a lot and get easily distracted nursing. This is usually just a phase and they pass through it. At 9 months I would usually nurse before feeding solids and then feed solids after breastfeeding (breastmilk is still their primary nutrition source at this time). I would also nurse when the baby wakes up and before naps and bed. By 12 months I only nursed in the morning, before nap and before bed. Now my son is 17 months and just nurses in the morning and occasionally before nap depending on his mood. However if he's getting a tooth or sick he wants to nurse more.

Enjoy! I'm guessing with 4 boys nursing is the only time you get to sit down and relax :-)

Hi F.,

Congrats on breastfeeding your baby for this long. You are doing a great job!! Your baby is still getting the majority of nutrition from you right up until 12 months or so, so any foods you give are really just "experiments" for him to learn different tastes and textures. Follow his cues - some babies want more food than others. Nutritionally, as long as he is continuing to breastfeed, he will be fine. At this age it is pretty normal for them to nurse, look around, then nurse some more. There are so many new and interesting things in your baby's environment, it hard to concentrate on eating!

For weaning, it is really whenever you and your son are mutually ready. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends nursing for 12 months or as long as both mother and baby desire after 12 months. The World Health Organization recommends nursing for a minimum of 24 months. Just remember that when it is time to wean, do it gradually and with love. Here is a link to an article that you might find helpful: <http://www.lightlink.com/hilinda/Diane/weanbaby.html&gt;

Congrats again! You are doing a great thing for you and your baby.

J.

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Fave,

My daughter is a few day shy of 9 months and still breastfeeding. We believe that for the first year solids are just for exploration of taste/texture and that she's getting her nutrional needs met through breastmilk. At 1 year she will still be getting at least 3/4 of her nutrition from breastmilk. We're also doing a modified version of child led weaning.

If I have a banana with my cereal in the morning she'll get 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch of that. If I don't have a banana, she doesn't get any solids.

If we're out and about at lunch, or at a restaurant, she gets puffs, crackers, or some other appropriate food to self feed and occupy herself.

For dinner we all sit down together and she gets something from our plates if it's available - sweet potato, white potato, avocado, baby carrots, red pepper slices, watermelon, peaches, pears, etc. If I haven't made anything with dinner that she can eat, then she gets a little bit of stage 2 baby food (a fruit and a veggie) maybe 1/3 of each container. Or she's done when she starts swatting the spoon away and things start flying.

Really, she's setting the pace. If she wants something, she tries to get it and - if it's okay, she gets it. She still breastfeeds around the clock. I'd guess it's about every 3 hours during the day and night with one longer block at night. She slept really really well until the first sleep regression and we've been working on getting back to that ever since. I figure that we'll get it all worked out right around the time the 9 month sleep regression hits. I don't schedule her feeds in any way or worry about duration.

Our goal is two years. Most days I'm sure we'll make it, although it's easy to doubt myself on the hard days.

S.

Congratulations F.! I have no advice for you as I'm just nursing a nearly 7 month old, but I wanted to thank you for posting this question. I hope to nurse for at least a year and 1/2 with my son and I find he's very distracted at this age, too!

A great website for nursing moms is kellymom.com. The site recommends nursing before feeding any solids to keep your supply up. We just started solids at 6 months. I've been nursing in the am, snack mid-morning, nurse at lunch then feed a veggie or cereal, nurse late afternoon/dinnertime then cereal, nurse at bedtime. My son still wakes up once at night to eat, too. That said, we average 6-7 nursings a day. I imagine it will decrease a little bit as he gets more interested in solids, but he really prefers to nurse right now and that's fine with me.

Anyway, check out kellymom.com and best of luck with your boys!!

Congratulations on making it this far! My son is 13 months and this is the funny stage. The getting up to look around is normal now; they are just so aware of their surroundings and ANY change. At 12 months I introduced my son to organic soy milk (has allergies to milk and eggs) and sometimes sweeten it with Nestle Quik's strawberry powder mix. No matter how much he drinks it, he still wants to nurse. I just started offering the cup of milk when he wants to nurse and he seems to drink more, however still wants to nurse later if we are home. I think weaning is a personal decision based on your lifestyle etc. I would say just trust your instinct and go slow. Change one nursing time a week, maybe by shortening the amount of time or offering a cup of milk. Hope this helps.

Congratulations, F.! You sound very excited to reach this milestone; I'm glad. My daughter is just over 2 years old and we're still nursing. I nurse her on demand. We were still nursing 3-4 times a day until just a couple of months ago. As the babies get older the nursing is less about the nutrition (although there are certainly still benefits) and more about their emotional health. Whenever you decide you want to wean (whenever that may be) be alert to any behavioral changes in your child that may indicate that emotionally he's not ready to wean. I tried to wean my daughter off a couple of feedings (take it down to two times a day) and she started biting and throwing temper tantrums (by the way, nursing has been a great tool to ward off these nasty episodes); so we went back to 3-4 times and after just a couple more weeks we dropped down to 2 times at her pace. I wish you continued success!!

Hi and congratulations! Nursing is a deep commitment, particularly with 3 other children to tend to. Good job! Since we began solids, I nurse my 9 month old upon waking, mid morning snack, mid afternoon snack, and then before bed. I've always just nursed on demand so that seems to be the pattern she likes. She doesn't need as much as she used to and my milk supply has decreased quite a bit, it seems to me like a natural progression into weaning. I don't have any advice for you, other then to tell you my plan, as I hope to nurse for the entire first year as well. I will just wait and see if my supply and her demand continue to decrease over the next few months and I will hope to have her down to just the bedtime nursing ater her 1st birthday. as it is now, if she is destracted, she will not ask for the mid afternoon snack. I am not planning on doing any active weaning. I am expecting that she will be mature enough at some point to lose interest which my pediatrician says generally occurs between 9 and 15 months. Just keep following his cues, even if he likes to enjoy the scenery with his meal - that is so cute! Good luck to you!

Hi F.!

Good for you! I nursed my 2 boys ( years apart, not twins) for 14 months and 13 months. My goal was also the 12 month mark. My kids were nursing about 6 times a day at 6 months when I introduced solid foods. Each solid food meal replaced a nursing so by 9 months they nursed 3 times a day (first thing in the morning, 4pm snack, right before bed) and ate solids at breakfast, lunch and dinner. If I remember correctly, they did eat for less time as they got older. Weaning was easier with my first. I first cutout any extra nursings (he's fussy so I'll calm him down kind of thing). Then I did the same thing I did with the others, I offered solid food instead of the breast. I decided that I would nurse them if they protested but they didn't. My first was down to one feeding a day, first thing in the am. I was torn as to how and when to cut out the last feeding. One morning I got my son and he pointed that he wanted to go downstairs (we always nursed in my room). He was done. I was a little sad but it made it easy for me. With my second, I was also down to that morning feeding and pulled it out because my son was hurting me. His top teeth came in and he did not adjust his latch. It hurt! I put away the Boppy....okay, I hid it in the closet! and put on my sports bra (the only thing that kept me comfortable when I weaned, plus I couldn't just pull it off to nurse) and went into his room with a sippy cup of milk and a banana. It was a peace offering. He accepted it, wanted to sit in the chair we always nursed in and looked over the side (where the boppy had been) and seemed puzzled. It took about 3 days for him to forget. I would recommend introducing the sippy cup now, if you haven't already. I also had already given him cow's milk since he was over a year. Best of luck!! L.

I had to smile when I read the part about your son looking around. Mine does the same thing except he takes "it" with him. It isn't so cute cause it is starting to hurt. He has a 2 year old brother so he is constantly trying to see what he is doing.!! I nursed my first son also and weaned around 12 months. I had a 12 month goal in mind so we just started to gradually decrease our feedings until we were down to one a day. Then he got a cold and really couldn't breathe thru his nose so we stopped nursing then. I had to hold him all day any way because he was so miserable so I think that eased the transition. I haven't yet decided when I will wean #2 as he will be a year old around the holidays and we may need that time together as his schedule will be upset. I don't plan on going much longer than that though. I don't want a toddler coming and helping hisself! Le Leche League has a book called "how weaning happens" it is a bunch of testimonials so you kinda get to see what everyone else is doing.