USA mom wondering about other countries

[mommybear!]

I was interested in hearing from other countries...what is the recommended length for breastfeeding by your pediatrician?  And what did you decide on?
The pediatricians here only seem to recommend a year.  And besides my sister (phd in nutrition) I don't know anyone who has done more than a year.  My lo turned 1yr a few days ago, not sure how long I should try to keep going.  (open to nursing and/or pumping) Thoughts?

[Sarah - Enfys' Mum]

Well the WHO reccomends breast milk only for six months and to continue bf till the age of two. I am going to carry on as long as Medi wants

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Our doctor has actually never said anything in regards to bf.

[Buttonbobs]

I sadly never managed to get Bf off the ground and moved successfully to bottles with E at 7 weeks. My friends here in England fall into two camps really, people who managed to get it to work, kept things going exclusively for 6 months and then kept feeding as long as they LOs wanted (many for over one year) and those like me who found fb didn't work and moved to bottles.

My personal thoughts on this are if you are happy with continuing to bf and your LO is still enjoying it too, why stop.

[shivi]

same here, I don't know many people who stop at 1yr, either it happens in the first few weeks or months due to low milk supply, low weight gain, breast/nipple infection, poor suck/latch/seal etc or mum goes back to work and can't pump or hasn't the time to so baby goes to formula at 4-6mths or the LO self-weans a lot later than 12 mths....in my case it was 16-18mths but I was out of the house in FT work so it probably would have been a lot later had I been more accessible down through the months ;-)

S x

[*Ali*]

We don't routinely see a paed here in England. We see our GP for illness (who would refer to a paed if more specialist care was required) or a health visitor for developmental checks. Officially advice is to feed to 2yo but many HVs are a law unto themselves and tend to go by their own experience when really they shouldn't.

I just aimed for the 2yos recommended by the WHO and didn't really ask for advice from HVs as they don't really have much training in it to have an expert opinion. I weaned both off mine at 26mo.

I know of 5 other mamas from my play group who fed until around the 2yo mark. They didn't really talk about it until it came up and they realised I did it too. I think more toddlers are fed than you would realise but it is often the feeds that tend to take place at home so you don't tend to see it if you only see them outside of their home.

If you are happy to continue feeding then there is no reason not to whatever your paed advises.

[AMJ]

In Canada peadeatritians recommend min 1 year but better 2 years and longer. I also lived in Europe ( Serbia) and to my surprise there they recommended 6 months for nutritional purposes and after just as a habit.

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

I think that is probably true Ali...I did not know until recently that my mom bf my little brother until he was two, and I was 12 at the time! She fed him morning and night and he slept in a crib in their room so none of us ever saw her bf him. 

[okinawamama]

I feel like the recommendation is to 1yr, but I have never, ever had a pediatrician "recommend" one way or the other. They ask at the beginning of the appointment whether he is formula or breast-fed, and then depending on the answer they ask how many ounces a day the baby is getting (formula) or how many feeds per day (breast). Our pediatrician really only appears to be concerned with ensuring that the basic nutritional needs are being met, which ever way a mother chooses to do it is up to her. Even when our pediatrician came and visited us in the hospital, he made no mention of the benefits of breastfeeding and didn't ask if we were attempting it. I'm sure it varies per doctor though.

[Kruliczyca]

In Poland it's recommended to bf exclusively at least for 6 months.
I bfd my son until he turned 20 months and at this point it was rather (my) habit than his needs. And he didn't seemed to care when I stoped offering breast.

[anna*]

Honestly I don't know that I ever heard or was told a recommendation!? I know that with both kids the expectation/assumption was that I would be 'stopping soon' when I told health professionals that I was still BFing when they were around 12 months, and surprise that I was still BFing once they were older than that.

[amayzie]

Yeah- we tend to have the WHO recommendation f 2 years here- but there are WILDLY different things said by different doctors at different times. We cut it down to a feed morning and night at 1 year and then down to only in the morning a lttle later. I found hamish was happy with this and it fitted into our day...

[cath~]

Honestly I don't know that I ever heard or was told a recommendation!?

me neither (at least not by a nurse/MW/GP/HV - the only health professionals we saw).  I remember when L was given vaccinations as a baby though the nurse asked if I was BFing or not (and was impressed if I was, even when L was still v young - few months).  They stopped asking after about 6 months though, even though there was still a box to tick to say if I was (I ticked it myself when I got home in L's red book ).

I think some of the variation in expectations (not necessarily recommendations) from country to country might depend a bit on how long mums tend to take for maternity leave.  Isn't it more common in the US for mums to have to go back earlier since paid ML is shorter than in other countries?  I would think that would have a big impact on how long ppl expect mums to BF for..

[zissi]

in ireland it would be similar to the UK, BF rates are low. most mothers choose not to BF at all or only for 6 weeks or so. I feel as well that mothers who manage to go beyond 6 months keep going and weaning onto solids instead of introducing formula which makes sense. Although I am a big advocate for BF I never saw myself breastfeeding long term, my baby is now 6 months old and I am starting to wean her slowly. mainly because I will be going back to work in a few months and also because milk supply isnt that great anymore.

[mommybear!]

Thanks for the feedback ladies.  That's an interesting point Cathn.  Maternity leave here is only 12 weeks.  I work part time so I only took the 12 weeks unpaid(saved for a year).  Some are lucky enough to arrange longer with their employer.  I use a pump when I work but it is difficult at times.  What is the typical maternity leave in other countries?