To all mothers who have breastfed...When did you stop? ?

Question

I have a 5 1/2 month old and i'm ready to wean her.

Answer 1

The recommended minimum is 6 months but they say it's better if you breastfeed for a year.  Either way, the first year babies are supposed to be living off of breast milk or formula.  It's really up to you.  

Well, my daughter is 61/2 months.  I was planning on one year, but I have had problems with breastfeeding from the beginning and now the problems are getting worse, so I'm thinking of stopping soon...I had one flat and one inverted nipple and have been pumping and bottle feeding since she was born.  She just started actually breastfeeding about a month ago, but the inverted nipple has become very cracked and dry.  Since she has two teeth, my nipples are not used to the sucking and biting at the same time.  My daughter is doing great with solids and already has both her bottom teeth and drinks well from a cup.  I'm thinking it might be time.  

Answer 2

my son is 9 months old and Im still breastfeeding him. Will wean him when he is ready but I am going back to work soon so will see what happens. He loves breastfeeding!

Answer 3

With my son, I stopped at 6 months as I had to start taking medicine for post natal depression which would have gone through to him

With my elder daughter we got to 12 months and she stopped by herself.

With my younger daughter, I stopped at 12 months. She was waking every 2 hours and I needed for my husband to get up to give me a break (she wouldn't take a bottle) so I stopped and she's slept through ever since! Yay!  

Answer 4

I breastfeed my almost-4mo twins. since I'm going to try new food soon, when they get used to eating other thing, like at 5 months, I would stop. I continue because they are premature.

Answer 5

I stopped at 22 months with my daughter. I was about 9 weeks pregnant and it was getting very painful to keep going.

My son is nearly 10 months and still feeding happily. I am hoping to feed him till he's at least 2.

Answer 6

I stopped breast feeding at 7 and a half months, I only stopped as my little one started biting as soon as his teeth came out! good luck!

Answer 7

My daughter stopped at 2 months but I kept expressing till 4 months as I wanted the best for her and felt guilty but I realise now that something is better than nothing, I admire someone who can last 5 1/2 months. If you are ready then it is the right time. Good luck

Answer 8

I am still nurisng DD who is 7.5 months, but we've been cutting down on her nursing and feeding her more solids (nursing AFTER she eats her solids).  I know a lot of moms who stopped at 2 months or 6 months, or when they had to go back to work.  In a way, I am surprised that DD still wants to nurse as she is discovering the world around her and my nipples can't stretch around enough!  But she's only nursing about 4-5 times a day (pediatrician's request - I don't live in the U.S. nor Great Britain).  

I encourage you (if you have time) to take it slowly and cut out one nursing a day, trying to increase solids (some nursing babies will only eat a teaspoon of solids at a feeding time, which is what DD was doing), then give them their bottle or nurse.  If your LO takes a bottle it should take you about a month to wean entirely.  If not, slowly introduce the bottle and pumped breastmilk and soon you can start mixing in formula and eliminating bm entirely.  You could do it more quickly if you'd like, but I like to avoid tears - and the first week I tried cutting her down on nursing, she took it very hard (and she was teething, which I hadn't expected).  So I try to make this shift as smooth as possible (started about a month ago) and things are going well.  Sometimes she eats so much solids, she doesn't want to nurse after her meals but we nurse exclusively in the morning and evening (before bed) and once in the afternoon after her snack of yogurt and fruit.

Here is a link that I have found helpful.

Feel free to e-mail me with questions if you'd like....

Edit : by the way, if you just wanted to nurse in the morning or evening, your body will adjust and put "all" the good things into those two feedings instead of spreading it out throughout the day.  So don't feel bad if you're not nursing your LO 20 times a day.  She's still getting the benefits of nursing, even if it's once a day.

Answer 9

First of all, congratulations on breastfeeding her this long.  

You don't say why YOU are ready...so I'm just going to say...if you are ready, then wean her.  You have to go with your feelings!  To push on when you don't want to, isn't good for either of you.

My kids were 17 months, 22 months, 22 months and 26 months when I weaned them.  However, with my last one, I only did it that long because he got VERY sick and could hold nothing else down for quite a while.  By the time I weaned him, I was frustrated and upset.  

Go with your gut feelings.  There are some awesome formulas out there!

Good luck!

Answer 10

I stopped at 14 months, He was ready and I was ready.  

It was a very easy end for both of us.

Answer 11

shes 8 months and there are no signs of stopping any time soon.  

Answer 12

hay my son was 1 wen he came off the breast. he came off on his own. i wanted 2 keep feeding him bt he didnt want it so i stoped giving it too him.  

Answer 13

i breastfed my daughter for 13.5 months loved every minute of it, but giving up was right for both us.. it has to be right for you x

Answer 14

I currently nurse my 22 month old; she can self-wean.  

I urge you to consider nursing until a year.  It's the bare minimum recommended duration, and such a small fraction of your daughter's life, when you think about it.  :)

You'd be giving her such a wonderful boost healthwise!  Once she starts solids, you can slowly decrease breastfeeding and up her solid intake.  

Answer 15

My daughter is just over 6 months and I have been thinking about weaning her for about a month... it's such a hard decision though. I think I am just going to keep going because so far she has shown an intolerance to dairy so I don't want to give her anything that might upset her little tummy.

Answer 16

I stopped at 4.5mths due to slow weight gain. My LO is just over 6mths now and i miss BFing terribly. If i could turn back time i would. I plan on BFing my next for 2yrs if i can.