No let-down for 17 month old-Is this the end of BFing?

[@llli*npmomma]

Hello.
I am away from my nearly 18-month old during weekdays. We nurse first thing in the morning and before bed. On weekends and sick days, we nurse more like 3-4 times per day.

For the past month or so, I don't get let-down at least once a day when we try to nurse. Yesterday and this morning, I got no let-down at morning or bedtime.

I'm not ready for nursing to end and neither is my boy. He seems to want "beeboos" more now than he did 6 months ago! I'm not particularly stressed, so I don't think it's anxiety.

Any ideas? Thank you in advance.

[@llli*mommal]

If your baby is still interested in beeboos (cute!) and you're still interested in nursing, then this isn't the end. Your milk supply might be pretty low at this point, since you're generally nursing just a few times a day and your baby is probably getting most of his nutrition from solids. But nursing continues to be a great parenting tool, and a source of bonding, and provides nutrition even if there isn't much milk. A swallow or two of milk may be all your child wants at this point. If you want to increase supply, you can by increasing stimulation to and milk removal from the breast- but that probably means hauling out the pump at work, which is a lot of effort at this point when you really can just nurse for comfort and recreation instead of having to worry about providing your child with a ton of milk.

In short, just enjoy this phase of nursing.

[@llli*diymom]

Hello.
I am away from my nearly 18-month old during weekdays. We nurse first thing in the morning and before bed. On weekends and sick days, we nurse more like 3-4 times per day.

For the past month or so, I don't get let-down at least once a day when we try to nurse. Yesterday and this morning, I got no let-down at morning or bedtime.

I'm not ready for nursing to end and neither is my boy. He seems to want "beeboos" more now than he did 6 months ago! I'm not particularly stressed, so I don't think it's anxiety.

Any ideas? Thank you in advance.

You know, ive had the same issue, I've been getting nervous that I may be drying up completely. I even nurse more than you do at 6 times a day and sometimes in the night if my husband wakes him up getting ready for work. I only hear a let down once or twice a day...sometimes not even once. But like pp said, its just that tapering down time where you are still providing some very good nutrition but more importantly its for comfort and bonding. Think of it like a Multics vitamin, the less milk there is the more concentrated with nutrients it is...

My mom worked when I was very young, she bf me until I was nearly 3, it was just for comfort, not much more than a few swallows maybe 2 or 3 times a day when I got older...I know because I vaguely remember... weird, but she told me about it too. My son is 17 months today, I am not ready for bf to be over, he certainly isn't either. I am going to start drinking the mother's milk tea 4-5 times a day since it really triggered let down for me if I drank it 20 minutes before nursing. You can buy it in a four ir six pack of boxes on amazon for a fair price vs individually at your grocery store. Also, I notice the most let downs when he is very hungry, right before snack or dinner time or if I wait too long to make breakfast... so maybe when you come hack from work, nurse before any snacks.

Keep up your nursing until you are both ready, its a wonderful, beautiful, mutually beneficial time

[@llli*npmomma]

Thank you both for your feedback. It is very reassuring.