breastfeeding???

[@llli*kayrosekay14]

hi everyone. my son riley will be one on friday and i'm happy to say i'm still breastfeeding him. i intend on nursing him till hes two or even a little older. i'm not sure how i'm supposed to do it though. it was so easy before solids where introduced. the onl thing i allow him to drink is breastmilk and on occasion water but he would rather milk instead of water. his nursing and feeding schedule is like so:

7:30 am- nursing
9-30 am nursing
10:45- solids followed by nursing then he naps
2:00 nursing
300- nursing
400- nursing i offer and he doesn't say no
600 solids
645 nursing for bedtime
200 am nursing( and sometimes a few more nursings if he wakes up)

am i supposed to be nursing him so often? should i be night weaning him so that hell sleep through the night? should i introduce breakfast solids to him now that hes one? if i slow down on my nursing am i gonna take a loss on my milk production?

thank you!!

[@llli*mommal]

Congratulations on making it to age one! That's a terrific milestone and it's great that you're intending to nurse for at least another year. Toddler nursing is awesome.

To answer your questions:
- As long as both you and baby are happy nursing, you cannot nurse too much. Breastmilk is good for your baby, and it's very normal for a young toddler to continue to be mostly breastfed.
- Whether or not you night-wean is up to you. It might help your LO sleep through, but it also might not. You still probably have a lot of teething to get through, and many kids don't STTN until they are much older, regardless of when they were night-weaned. If you're ready to night-wean, go for it! But don't feel like you have to, or that it's guaranteed to fix sleep issues.
- If your LO seems interested in solids for breakfast, feel free to offer them. You can follow your baby's lead on this one.
- If you reduce the amount of nursing you are doing, your milk supply will decrease. How much it decreases depends on how much you cut back. But don't worry that cutting back automatically results in your supply drying up. Weaning can be a very slow process, with milk supply decreasing very slowly and almost imperceptibly as baby gradually nurses less and less.

[@llli*kayrosekay14]

thank you i love love love nursing him. i get those people though that start asking "well how long do u intend on doing that" i simply say is it hurting you? cause its good and healthy for both of us. anyway i think i might start breakfast with him. i don't really want to night wean. i usually have the bed to myself in the middle of the night cause the hubby works over night so i enjoy grabbing riley and co sleeping for an hour or so. it just gets hard on the hubbys nights off work cause it screws up my whole routine. lol but what can you do.

[@llli*mommal]

Sounds like you're doing really well! Don't let the nosy parkers get to you. Toddler nursing is great, and if you ever need support for your decision to keep on "doing that", you will find it on this forum! Lots of mamas here have nursed their kids to age 2, 3 or 4.

[@llli*kayrosekay14]

great thank you!!!

[@llli*mskalinin]

I think you're doing great! My son is only 9 months and people are already asking me how long I plan on nursing him... I find it very rude and prying. I have taken to just saying "I don't know, I don't have a deadline."

The only thing I wonder is if you plan on introducing more solids? I don't really know because I only have my son, so I don't know if he is abnormal or what, but he eats three times per day. I do know that once more solids are intro'd supply generally goes down. Mine has... But my son still nurses about 7 times per day and never seems dissatisfied. But I agree with mommal, if you're both happy no need to cut out any nursing sessions!

[@llli*wreckgoddess]

You rock for your nursing him so long!!! Sounds like a great plan to me to just start offering him food when you/he wants to/it. My goal was always to wean so slow that we never noticed it. : )

[@llli*kayrosekay14]

i do plan on introducing him to a breakfast but right now he seems very content with the schedule we have going. i figure if he starts nursing more often and shows me signs of not being satisfed that i will throw in a breakfast for him. he has a huge problem with allergies so i'm very sketchy about solids and stuff right now till we get the results to his allergy test in a few weeks. and i know what you mean when you say there are people asking you and saying wow your still bfing dont you think you should switch to milk or something by now. it gets crazy obnoxious. and he is on milk clearly the milk he was built to have. and i'm gonna be so deppresed when its time to wean i never wanna stop i love that time with him. but he does have to grow up and i really don't wanna be bfing him till he graduates high school lol. i'm not gonna lie im kinda scaried and don't even no where to begin or how to begin weaning him.

[@llli*MagnoliaHoney]

You don't have to wean him. Most will wean themselves eventually. I have never heard of anyone going to high school still nursing. LOL However, in America we are kind of prudes, and seem to think "man" can make every thing better then God/Nature. So stop breastfeeding much sooner then many other cultures. A lot of cultures it's normal to nurse till 4 to 7 years old!

In my LLL group we have many in their 2's, 3's and 4's still nursing. However, usually by 5 most have weaned themselves-not that they have to then, just seems to be the average of when they slow down and wean themselves. You don't really have to do anything if you don't want to. You are perfectly fine letting your LO choose when and how slow/fast to wean.

[@llli*MagnoliaHoney]

You don't have to wean him. Most will wean themselves eventually. I have never heard of anyone going to high school still nursing. LOL However, in America we are kind of prudes, and seem to think "man" can make every thing better then God/Nature. So stop breastfeeding much sooner then many other cultures. A lot of cultures it's normal to nurse till 4 to 7 years old!

In my LLL group we have many in their 2's, 3's and 4's still nursing. However, usually by 5 most have weaned themselves-not that they have to then, just seems to be the average of when they slow down and wean themselves. You don't really have to do anything if you don't want to. You are perfectly fine letting your LO choose when and how slow/fast to wean.