I thought I would put down some of the things that have made BF a success. I am not close to weaning, but found myself with some extra time this afternoon. I nursed by DD for 14 months and pumped at work for 11 of those months. My DS is 8.5 months and I pump at work.
1) For me, there was no formula in the house at all. I knew I had to work on the breastfeeding relationship. It worked for us.
2) I planned to nurse for 12 months from the very beginning and I let everyone know that. And I am letting everyone know that this time round, I will nurse until he weans but am not pumping past 12 months.
3) For the first 10-12 days, I nursed every three hours unless baby wanted a feeding earlier. And that meant that I woke the baby up at 3 or 3.5 hour mark. I was rewarded with a wonderful supply the second time around that funded a beautiful freezer stash! It doesn't work exactly with EASY plan...but we adapted. I introduced the full EASY around 3-4 weeks.
4) I loosely feed on demand on weekends; however my son is so use to his nursing/bottle times during week that he rarely varies (except for growth spurts).
5) I didn't introduce any solids until 6 months. I have a very petite daughter and a huge boy- they both were fine with waiting until 6 months.
6) The second time around, I started pumping around week 2 and increased my pumpings until I average about 5 a day. I went back to work at 8 weeks with nearly 600 ounces in the freezer. This stash allowed me to only pump twice at work for his three bottles. But I do pump prior to bedtime. I haven't had to dip into the stash until recently due to a really good supply. I have calculated how much stock I have left and how long he will be on BF bottles and now pump just twice a work and supplement with frozen as needed. I no longer pump on weekends.
7) I use Soothies on my breasts the second time around immediately after birth for 3-5 days and then kept the nipples covered with lanolin for another month or so. The tenderness/scabs/pain was much better the second time around. Prevention was key!
I bought good nursing bras and nursing clothes and nursed in public without any problems.
I still have at least 3.5 months left nursing my son and I treasure every moment because I know soon he will be a toddler and need me in other ways. I actually become weepy at the thought of him no longer nursing.
Just my thoughts.
