BabyWhispererForums.com
EAT => Breast Feeding => Topic started by: jacksmummy26 on June 19, 2006, 07:20:55 am
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as i still bf my little boy but seem very much in the minority and due to this he is very lean (but helthy of course!) agianst his chubbier ff friends just want a bit of reassurance really!! x ;D
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This is proberbly not what you want but I stopped bf'ing at 6 months. The thing is I always regretted stopping but my milk had gone :'( I wish I had carried on for longer and will definately do so with the next.
I do have lots of friends that are/did carry on bf after six months and are so glad they did. Keep up the good work you are doing fab ;D
Faye :-*
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I fed DS1 til he was 17 months. By that time we were down to the bedtime feed and I had just gotten pregnant, and he gave up himself.
My son was also lean, (he still is) all of the other babies in my mum and toddler group were chunkier.
Loads of mums here have bf way past 6 months. Good for you for feeding this long, and good for you for wanting to continue!
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Well I'm up to 8 months and 6 days! :)
My ff ds was definitley chubbier, but my dd hasn't had one stomach upset yet (touch wood), ds had 4 by this age.
Chubby baby doesn't mean a healthy baby...
You are doing great!
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Hi JacksMummy,
You are doing a fantastic job of bf. I know what you mean about feeling in the minority as a bf'er. Where I live it seemed that all our local babies were on formula by 4m at the latest. Sophie is nearly 1y and I am looking forward to continuing the bf for as long it is ok by both of us.
There are so many positives about bf, have you seem this thread? https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=56668.0.
Sophie is also long and lean but so active! I find it hard not to worry about what others think even though I shouldn't but bf feeding is so good for Sophie that I can't imagine not having done it.
Good luck
Claire
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I will be still feeding Theo past 6 months (next week). I haven't given any thought as to when i would stop, i will cross that bridge when i come to it. But i know it won't be any time soon.
Theo is pretty chunky and tall btw. As was Harvey and i only bf him until 4.5 months due to medical reasons i had to stop.
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Im still bf! lily is 8months and 2 weeks old too!!! I have no end in sight yet and am pumping when i work.....although one lady at work keeps asking "hows the weaning going?".....i tell her that we are not yet weaning.....every bloomin day! ;D
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I bf my DD up to 8 1/2 mths. Had to stop as i NEEDED IV pain killers for 2 spinal hernias plus I was only doing breakfast and the supplies were low :-\
Go for as long as YOU feel comfortable with it.
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I BF my kids to 14 and 13mths respectively when they self-weaned. DD in particular is on the lean side, but is very healthy. Even now on solids, she chows down the food (more than my 3yo) and is still lean, so I think it's her body type.
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My ff ds was definitley chubbier, but my dd hasn't had one stomach upset yet (touch wood), ds had 4 by this age.
Actually as soon as I stopped feeding Shay he got his first cold and just seemed to get ill all the time :( You really are doing great :)
Faye :-*
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My son is 10 months and we're still breast feeding. I plan to let him self wean.
You're doing a great job. I hope you continue nursing for as long as you both you and baby want to.
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You are certainly not alone by any means. A lot of people here seem to go beyond 6 months (although many choose not to). We're still going at 23 months!! and intend to self-wean. If you look at the sticky thread on extended nursing you'll see there are a bunch of people for whom 6 months seems like a long time ago!!!
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Still going here at 9 months. DD1 weaned herself at 11 months (she was on the chunky side) and I don't anticipate dd2 weaing anytime soon (she is on the leaner side). BF and FF babies come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Keep up the great work and continue as long as you and ds are happy (not when everyone else is happy ;) )
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I weaned DD at 14 months and she has also been lean. DS and I are going strong at 10 months. I will stop pumping at 12 months and we'll see about first am and after work nursing. I love nursing, but would also love a weekend at the spa with DH...we'll see. My DS is a "chunk monkey", he grows out of everything as soon as I buy it, has fat rolls (never with DD). Same parents!! My DS eats everything and anything I put in front of him and DD is just about the pickest eater I have ever seen!
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Hi Jacks Mom,
We're thrilled that we are still going and hope to go for at least a yr. :)
My dd was very lean (and LONG!) up until about 6 mo., and then gained quite a bit. she is leaning out again..is VERY active - but gobbles lots of solids and takes very good bfs again. she's very healthy and happy!
Congrats on still going strong! ;D
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Wow thanks everyone that makes me feel lots better - i must say it does seem to be normal on this website which is a good thing!! i feel very proud to be amonst an almost extended breastfeeding group of people! x ;D
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Hi Jacksmummy,
My dd is 7 months and we still bf 5x a day though she is also on solids now. DD is only 13 pounds, 4oz but is healthy and not "skinny". She doesn't have a huge appetite, never has. There are still benefits to bf past the 6 months so I plan to continue for a long time, I've never set a "date" to stop.
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My dd is 28 months and we are still nursing here. I am also pregnant and plan on tandem nursing when baby # 2 arrives. Good luck! Breastfeeding is the best immunity boost for your little one and the best nutrition, too!
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My DD is 16 months and just self weaned last Monday sad day for me :'( but I only gave myself 6 months and here I am at 16!!! She is a lean baby as well and very active. She gained a little more weight around 12 months when she started cows milk and eating more solids. You keep going as long as you want. By the way two Days after I stopped BF she got sick.
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My DS is almost 8 months and we are still going strong. He gained 4 lbs. from BF alone in the first month (seriously!) so you could say he was chubby. I work part-time and pump on the days when I am in the office. I feel a little weird about it b/c a few people have made comments to me about it ("how long do you intend to BF"). But to heck with what any co-workers think! ;D I know it is the best for my son and so I will continue as long as we both want to. Keep up the good work Jacksmummy. You're not alone. (where I live a majority of moms quit BF at around 4 months too, so I know it can feel lonely sometimes.)
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Jules is going to be 5mos this Saturday...I will nurse her until she either rejects my boobie :'( or she reached 18 - 24 mos. At which point she wil be able to undo my bra, and will no longer need to be mommies little baby. I know she doesn't get nutritional benefit from nursing beyond 1 year, but the closeness I feel with her and the comfort it provides her is what the 2nd year will be for, that is of course if she still wants it. She may not.
~Patty 8)
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Congrats jacksmummy! We're going strong here at 10 months tomorrow. I love it!
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My son is 11 months old and we are still b/f! I work full time and pump my life away here and then nurse all weekend long (and in the evenings during the week). I will keep nursing until he is 1 and then wean to whole milk. It is absolutely the best experience ever! You are doing great. :D
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Hi, I would also like my dd to self wean, I found this fact sheet on kellymom.com thought you might find it interesting. I certainly did.
• In the second year (12-23 months), 448 mL of breastmilk provides:
• 29% of energy requirements
• 43% of protein requirements
• 36% of calcium requirements
• 75% of vitamin A requirements
• 76% of folate requirements
• 94% of vitamin B12 requirements
• 60% of vitamin C requirements
Regards
Robyn
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Hi, I would also like my dd to self wean, I found this fact sheet on kellymom.com thought you might find it interesting. I certainly did.
• In the second year (12-23 months), 448 mL of breastmilk provides:
• 29% of energy requirements
• 43% of protein requirements
• 36% of calcium requirements
• 75% of vitamin A requirements
• 76% of folate requirements
• 94% of vitamin B12 requirements
• 60% of vitamin C requirements
Regards
Robyn
Ditto to that! It is such a common misconception that breastmilk loses its nutritional benefits past age 6 months or 12 months but it is just not truth. If you keep going you are still giving a lot of immunities and nutritional benefits to your older child.
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DS is 6 mo and we're still going strong. Plan to go at least 1 year. Great job!
And for those of you pumping at work, I really respect you! I know that is a hassle and you are wonderful for doing it for your los!
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DD and I are still at it, at 21.5 months, though now that I'm pregnant, my supply has dwindled to virtually nil. DD does still ask for it, but less often, and doesn't nurse for long. I wouldn't be surprised if she self-weans sometime in the next couple months. If she keeps on, that's fine, too. I'm the only one in our group still nursing at this age, but no one bats an eye about it (that's California for you, I guess... I'm blessed).
The WHO recommends nursing at least to age 2. So that's something to think about.
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I BF my DD until she self-weaned, which was a few weeks after she turned 1 yr old. I was willing to BF as long is she was interested, and I was really sad to see her refusing the breast; it was our special time together. :'(
BF babies may be leaner than their fomula fed counterparts, but it all evens out in the long run. So don't worry about your LO being leaner. You are doing what is best for your LO & it's such a rewarding experience. You're doing great at 6 mos. I'm sure you can do another 6 mos with no probs (remember how it was hard at first, and then months later you realize how easy it is? :) ), and if your LO doesn't self-wean early, you may even be able to go 2 yrs, or more!
I notice a trend of BFing in my area (California), you often see women BFing in public, no one makes a big deal out of it.
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We are still going strong at 10 months! With ds i stopped at 9mos b/c i was pg and tired! With dd1 i stopped at 10 or 11 months. I 'm hoping to go one year. I am finding it even more rewarding this time around! ;D My kids have all been very healthy and chubby. DS was huge at 6 mos!
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We're still going here at 9m. I bf dd1 for 25m too. Both my girls are small, and you're right, that ff babies do tend to be 'bigger' (esp. at first), hence the recent revising of the growth charts to more accurately reflect bf babies' growth. Of course there are individual differences to this pattern.
I know the feeling of being the 'odd-one-out' - amongst my closest parenting friends, we all/mostly bf to at least a 1yr, but I have found amongst 'the general public' that 6m seems to be a big cut-off point for bf'ing. So I realise that feeding for longer is not the 'norm'!
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we're just at 6 months and a week.
last week my friend and i were discussing that i've got to go into hospital for a day soon, and i'm stocking up on expressed milk to give her whilst i'm in, and she said it's the ideal time to get her onto formula now, like it was a foregone conclusion that i'd only feed rosie for 6 months and then go onto formula.
personally i don't see the point.
why would i want to start doing bottles now? she doesn't do bottles, and will be having her expressed milk from her cup, and that's only if it's absolutely out of the question for me to nurse her. I'm going to try if i can.
i'm planning to go on until at least 12 months, when she could start having ordinary cows milk as a drink in a cup. But i have no intention of giving her processed cows milk with all the stuff added in and muddled around.
besides it's not going to be more convenient, far from it! surely it's more hassle to wash, sterilise, boil, measure etc, than just to latch onto a boob? I know lots of people need to go back to work and stop breastfeeding then, but i'm not goin gback before she's a year old, so....?
i don't even know why it should be called extended breastfeeding after 6 months old anyway. the WHO suggest breastfeeding up to 24 months, so i personally think it's not extended breastfeeding unti lafter that, though i'm not sure i'll be going on as long as that myself.....
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my lo is just over a year and we are still bfing and going strong!!
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i don't even know why it should be called extended breastfeeding after 6 months old anyway.
Wow! Is it seriously considered extended after 6mths? I always thought beyond 1yr was considered extended?
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Our DD is 6m3w and nearly 21#. She ws exclusive BF for 4 months, 2 months of BF ad one bottle formula and now she is weaning as she has simply lost interest in sitting still to nurse. We were doing an AM and a PM nurse but it seems like the only one that will work is the DF - got to get that little bugger when she is not moving. I am deciding to wean on the DF as my last feeds so i end with POSITIVE memories of it all, she is so peaceful at the DF and she doesn't "reject" me. I think it's the right time when you feel good about it and the baby is happy, wether that be self weaning or whatever.
Congrats and good luck!
Stacey
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Didn't read all the posts...
I feed my son my milk until he was 12 months. He is a lean fellow also when compared to the formula fed weight charts (which are all that the doctor has). When I compared him to the new World Health Organization growth charts, based on breast fed babies, he came up about 10%. According to the WHO charts, his height and weight are in the same percentage. Whereas with my doctor's charts, he was considered 'lean compared to his height' - and he's a short boy!
The current thinking is that many formula fed babies are overfed and gain too much weight.
Looking at older friends and relatives, I can tell you who was breast fed and formula/cow's milk fed as infants. (I guess it's come up in coversations.) All of the breast fed babies are lean elderly people with much better health.
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i notice that going around the supermarkets. all my friends with babues have breastfed babies so i don't really see it regularly. DH has a friend at work whose baby is 3 weeks younger than rosie, and the first time DH saw her (at 8 weeks so rosie was 11 weeks) he couldn't believe how fat this baby was! i have no idea what she looks like now but he keeps telling me how lucky we are to have a lean slender breastfed baby, I keep telilng him it's not luck it's persistence!
where are the WHO charts? I've never seen them but i know a woman who'd be thrilled if she could, her baby is constantly being criticised for being underweight According to the doctors charts she's in the 10th percentile and she's allegedly terribly underweight. She looks perfect and she's developing really well, but it would be good to give her a chart to show the doctors that her baby is normal!
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There's a link at the top (or near) of the bf forum
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=59355.0
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:)I am still bf my ds - he is 8 mths 1 wk old. I am running into a bit nursing strike problem when he turned 3 mths old - arched back and cried when I tried to nurse him during daytime. He has improved a little since 6 mths old. He is still not a good nurser..highly distracted all the time. He was bf exclusively unitl he was 6 mths old. He is very small only 15lb 1 oz for weight and 27.5 inches for height. I do worry like most moms do but I know bm is more nutritious then anything else..so I will not stop anytime soon.
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I'm on 6 months and 1 day so far and planning on continuing to 12 months if i can ;D
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I b/f DD till she was about 11 months and she was very lean and still is. DS is nearly 11 months and we are still going strong 2 feeds per day. He has always been huge and loves his milk and his food - they are so very different. I will prob stop when he is about a year... Good luck!
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What a lot of people!!!! Congratulations all!!! ;D
Officially 'extended breastfeeding' is thought of as 12 months+.
I only know one other person in my 'real life' who went beyond 12 months. It sounds as though a lot of people are feeling fairly 'on their own' at 6 months - but not on this site!!!!
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i'm really glad to see that.
now i've passed 6 months i am officially in training as an ABM breastfeeding counsellor, because i felt so unsupported in my area as a breastfeeding mum, particularly in the hospital when i was (as we all do to start with) struggling and not quite understanding the principles of latching on etc. So that inspired me. I'm further spurred on by the attitude of so many people that breastfeeding is something you do only for a few months and then give up as soon as you feel ready to get "back" to your "normal" life.
i'm pleased that i will be able to tell other mothers that actually there's a huge number of people across the UK and the USA and the rest of the world too, who actually continue up to a year and sometimes beyond. hopefully i'll be able to encourage a few more, and they might encourage a few more, and we can get the ball rolling!
i attend a club every week for breastfeeding mothers, run by health visitors (in the UK we have health professionals whose job it is to support new mothers and parents of young children called HVs if you didn't know that. they're not nurses or doctors, but sort of like advisors). Even there i've had one HV say she was surprised i was still breastfeeding at 6 months, though there are planty of women there who go beyond and are still BF at 10m plus.
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We went 14 months at which point my milk pretty much dried up ( i think because we were down to only 2 feeds a day and it just wasn't enough for me to keep my supply up). And DD was always slender compared to her height (20-25% vs. 80-90%) but since she was also born at those %, the dr. was never remotely concerned and so I never worried. And now that she's 2, she's evened out a lot--we go in tomorrow for her checkup, but I'm pretty sure she's up around 50%, so even the skinny ones do start to catch up.
Just a comment about the chubby babies--I've actually known several exclusively bf babies who got HUGE when they were infants!!!! So don't automatically assume that every fat baby is on formula. I was pretty impressed with my friends who could produce that much milk. And of course they were the ones who lost all the baby weight plus some by 6 months. Made me a little jealous. ;)
~Kim
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We went 10.5 months here and I was sad when we gave it up due to us both becoming pretty sick with a stomach flu and my supply dwindlig to nothing due to the dehydration. Now I think I should have pumped to keep it up, but 20/20 hindsight I guess. Anyway, I don't know anyone IRL who nursed for as long as I did -- most people I know made it about 2 weeks and promptly quit, so I do know what you mean about not knowing people who go past 6 months. Good luck!
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I too know very big exclusively bf babies. I remember though my LC telling me that she could tell by feeling a baby's skin/fat (say on their arm) whether they were ff or bf! I can't remember what she said the difference was, but I thought that was interesting! (bear in mind she had many many years experience and was very very good!).
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Count me in! 8)
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I bf ds#1 until he self weaned at 13.5 mo when I got preg with ds#2 & I'm still bf him... both boys were over 10kg (22lb) at 6mo & around the 12kg mark at 1yo... ds#1 has always been "chunky" & towards the top end of the percentiles ds#2 is Very tall &- top 1%, but skinny legs & arms with a belly that looks like he is pregnant :)
One of my girlfriends also had "heffalump" babies like me who were bf until 12months.
I think some bf babies are small others are big... same tends to go for ff
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i appreciate some BF babies are heavier too, but i have never seen a slender ff baby!! :)
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I breastfed DD until she was about 16 months, we too were only doing the bedtime feed
but she kept refusing and stopped asking for it, so we were done.....I am so glad I was
able to breastfeed her though as I could not with DS and know how dissapointing that can be.
Kellie x
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My BIL has a dd who is almost 5 months older than Theo and she is FF and Theo weighed a little heavier than her a couple of weeks ago.
My MIL said that she is very petite and dainty. But my MIL and others can't get over the size of Theo for an exclusive BF baby (not that they BF). Everyone has this notion (especially my mam, who has to eat humble pie) about BF babies always being smaller and demanding, but both Harvey and Theo are not demanding (always wanting the boob) but enjoy their food.
Harvey was chunkier than Theo at this age (6 months), but he wasn't quite as long. He didn't weigh much less than Theo at this age either and Harvey was born 9lbs lighter.
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My oldest lad is 13 and he was formula fed and yet he always was and still is really slender despite a very good appetite. In fact he is probably one of the slimmest in his year, he's not short for his age but is also not one of the tallest. He was always slender as a baby and I was gutted that I couldn't breast feed him at the time but I'm happy that he's healthy, has no allergies or health issues.
Luke, my youngest is just over 3 months and I breast fed til 12 weeks. He always had a good appetite and put on weight really quickly. He was 9lb 2oz born, by 6 weeks he was 12lb and we got him weighed yesterday (14 weeks), he's 14lb 2oz. Although he's much heavier than my first son was at this age he dosn't look 'fat' because he is also very long so it evens out. Luke's dad is 6ft 4 inches so I knew he was never going to be tiny! ;)
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We are still going strong at just past a year :o
My little man is long and lean too - only in like the 5% on the charts for weight - he is 17#, 13 oz at a year, but the dr says he is very healthly and happy and is not at all concerned. I have known some chubby breast ???feed babies, but more often then not, they are leaner then the formula feed babies.
If you are going strong - keep it up! You have the hardest part out of the way at this point! And if you can make it past a year you won't need to supplement with formula!
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now i've passed 6 months i am officially in training as an ABM breastfeeding counsellor, because i felt so unsupported in my area as a breastfeeding mum, particularly in the hospital when i was (as we all do to start with) struggling and not quite understanding the principles of latching on etc. So that inspired me. I'm further spurred on by the attitude of so many people that breastfeeding is something you do only for a few months and then give up as soon as you feel ready to get "back" to your "normal" life.
AMEN!!
I have done a lot more research this time around, quite by accident I might add, and I am amazed at how much I did not know and understand with my firstborn. I thought I was informed with him - but quite the contrary. I had read one book on breastfeeding and took my hospital's breastfeeding class, but breastfeeding was still a struggle for me. Why? LACK OF PROPER INFORMATION AND LACK OF SUPPORT!!
The book I read was good and did cover all the basics well. But, like many new breastfeeding mom's who have no one around them who breastfed, I created my own problems. It's those dang little things that'll kill ya! I had no source of good information to turn to when I had those problems. I tried the hospital nurses - no help. I tried to look online - couldn't find the information (I'm well-armed now, however). I tried asking the two people I knew had breastfed - no help. I tried finding a lactation consultant - nearest one 100 miles away. I didn't go because I didn't understand how much they could truly help me (read: LACK OF INFORMATION). I tried finding a La Leche League group - nearest one 100 miles away (did I mention I lived in rural America?). I talked to two different LLL leaders over the phone - no help (sad, but true). I truly believe it was only my extremely determined personality that got me through it. If I had not been determined to prove all the naysayers around me wrong, I would have caved to formula feeding before he was four months old. (I'm a bit strong-willed ::) - just ask my parents how difficult I was as a child!)
As I've searched for information and as I've been a member of this site I've seen it over and over again: LACK OF PROPER INFORMATION AND SUPPORT!! It makes me so sad to see someone struggling because they have been deprived of good information. And it seems to me that almost every woman who tries to breastfeed runs into these problems. The only way to overcome them is to dig, dig, dig for information yourself. I'm sorry, but should finding out how to feed your baby be so stinking difficult? Not in my opinion!
My OBGYN never mentioned feeding - at all. My current one hasn't either. I think there's a consensus among OBGYNs to ignore the subject with patients because of the controversy. My son's ped simply asked how I was feeding so he could note it on the chart. He happened to be pro-breastfeeding (his wife bf all four of their children) but he still never broached the subject with me or offered advice. Again, I think there's a consensus to keep mum in order to avoid parental anger. I do honestly understand this position - but only to a point. With all of the evidence that has come out through research studies in the past four years, doctors should be doing much more.
You might find the following to be interesting reading. I did and it's changed my viewpoint a bit.
http://home.comcast.net/%7Eammawell/realbreastfeedingissue.html
http://www.bobrow.net/kimberly/birth/BFLanguage.html
http://www.breastfeedingoutlook.com/editorials/2001.3-UdderTitle.pdf
http://www.kellymom.com/newman/bf_and_guilt_01-00.html
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/advocacy/index.html
http://www.promom.org/
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considering i am a health professional i had no idea myself about BF before i had rosie and i didn't get any support from anyone either (and they didn't know my job - which is nothing to do with babies anyway and i never wanted any so never really cared!).
all the health professionals i meet in connection with having rosie are amazed that we're "still" breastfeeding and that's been since she was about 3 months. One actually said there's less than 25% of mother in our area start BF and that drops to less than 10% after 3 months!!
so i'm starting the course to give me a bit of something to do whilst i look after rosie and before i go back to work, which i'm not planning for ages.
I flat out refused to let them give rosie formula in hospital the day after she was born, because, as she ought to have done, she was trying to feed every hour or tow and yes it was making me tired but i knew i had to let her find her own rhythm. But i was more terrified that if she had a bottle she wouldn't try, i didn't even realise that by giving her a bottle she wouldn't suckle enough and i wouldn't get any milk. I think so many women think they couldn't BF because they couldn't produce enough milk, and it's probably because someone "helpfully" gave their baby a formula bottle to help them sleep and give the new mum some rest, but actually totally messed up the whole system.