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Parenting & Farm Kids:  How long did you breastfeed for?  |
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walkinwalkoutcattle
True Blue Farmgirl
1675 Posts
Megan
Paint Lick
KY
USA
1675 Posts |
 Posted - Oct 15 2011 : 06:00:15 AM
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Oh man. DD just turned 8 months about a week ago. She's gotten 3 teeth in the past few weeks. She used them while unlatching, and drew blood! My nipple bled EVERYWHERE! It was horrible! I'm heading to town today to buy shields. I haven't really had many problems nursing at all, and count myself VERY blessed to be able to nurse this long. But, if she keeps biting, I'm going to have to pump and feed, and I'm so sad about that.
When she bit I almost threw her off of me it hurt so bad! I SCREAMED (Couldn't help it!) and I said "NO BITING!!!!" very sternly. I then just let her sit there for a minute while I gathered my bearings once I saw the blood. DH went and got me a kleenex and I ended up putting lasinoh on it with a bandaid.
Today the cut looked better, and I went ahead and nursed her on that side. She didn't bite, but the whole time I was on pins and needles expecting it. I KNOW she didn't o it on purpose to hurt me, but I still feel emotionally "hurt" that she bit me like that. I know that sounds odd, but I just don't get it. Anyway, just thought I'd update everyone here!
Farmgirl #2879 :)
Starbucks and sushi to green fried tomatoes and corn pudding-I wouldn't change it for the world.
www.cattleandcupcakes.blogspot.com
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knittingmom
True Blue Farmgirl
665 Posts
AnneMarie
Edmonton
Alberta
Canada
665 Posts |
Posted - Oct 15 2011 : 10:04:14 AM
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Each of my children but the youngest breastfed until they were about 14-16 months and then they self-weaned. They were eating solids as well as breastfeeding. My youngest, I had to go back to work early so she only received breast milk until she was about 8 months.
My personal feeling is there's no reason to stop breastfeeding while baby is being introduced to solids. If baby seems really hungry all the time then they are probably ready to try some pablum to top them up.
"There is no foot so small that it cannot leave an imprint on this world"
"The things that matter most are not really things after all" |
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Sourceress
True Blue Farmgirl
76 Posts
Elisabeth
Thurmont
MD
76 Posts |
Posted - Oct 19 2011 : 6:14:10 PM
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My oldest son nursed until he was 15 months. In retrospect, he was probably just on a nursing strike, and maybe I should have hung in there, but I felt like if you're going to advocate child-led weaning, and the kid doesn't want to nurse anymore, you have to go with it. We gave him "solids" at an earlier age than we did with his brother, but it was few and far between, and mostly things that were edible by babies without any extra effort. My theory was always that if you have to go to a lot of effort and jump through a bunch of hoops in order to make something edible to your baby, your baby is probably not ready to eat that food yet. So he got things like yogurt and mashed bananas and applesauce. The first thing he ever tasted that wasn't breastmilk was lemon, though - he was an infant still, and my husband had squeezed a lemon into his tea at a restaurant, and then Corwyn started chewing on his (my husband's) fingers, and got this very startled look on his face, followed by a lot more sucking on the fingers. To this day, he *loves* lemons, and will happily eat them plain. I used to love lemons when I was a kid too, so maybe he comes by it honestly. I don't know.
My younger son nursed until he was almost 2 years old, although by that time he was also eating solid foods as well. The only reason he weaned when he did was because I came down with pneumonia a couple of weeks before his 2nd birthday, and the medication the doctor wanted to give me was not compatible with breastfeeding. If he'd been younger, I probably would have asked about alternatives, but since he was almost 2, and it really was a matter of life or death (pneumonia is not something you fool around with), I figured I had done a pretty good job, and he was just going to have to suck it up (as it were ;-) ) and deal. I tried to relactate after I got better, but in the interim, he'd gotten out of practice, and I kept ending up with toothmarks all the way around my nipple, so I finally decided that it just wasn't working, and that was that.
I wish I had been able to nurse both of them longer. I had fully intended to do the extended breastfeeding thing, and nurse them into their preschool years if they wanted (not as their exclusive source of nutrition, but as part of it - preschool-age kids still benefit from nursing, even if they're getting most of their nutrition elsewhere. The comfort factor is just as important as the nutrition factor at that age, plus as long as they're nursing, they're still getting antibodies from mom.) Unfortunately, my sons and the Universe had other ideas. Oh well. The best laid plans, and all of that... :-)
Lis
*the Sourceress*
pagan unschooling mama to home-waterbirthed, breastfed boys
Corwyn (4/99)
and Galen (5/01) |
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Lanna
True Blue Farmgirl
330 Posts
Lanna
A little town in Idaho
330 Posts |
Posted - Nov 06 2011 : 12:15:30 AM
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My oldest weaned himself at 27-28mo. We had a *very* rough bf'ing start - he didn't nurse until 3 weeks old due to the NICU insanity.
My second weaned himself at 25mo. A week after his sister was born. He had no idea what to do when I had milk again, he was so used to dry nursing
My third weaned at... 30mo. She was *thrilled* when my milk came back in after the fourth was born. I tandem nursed for about 10 months.
My fourth and last is 19mo and still nursing. He loves his milkies.
So, I even nursed partway through one pregnancy and all the way through two pregnancies. :)
ETA: I've found the Earth Mama Angel Baby Nipple Cream works much, much, much better for healing nursing nipples than Lansinoh/lanolin. I've only had a 4 month break of breastfeeding since 2003, so these poor puppies. It took until my youngest to get a hole in my nipple. Just before he turned 1yo, he kept resting his darned teeth under and wore a hole in. Ouch. Took a month to finally heal up - I used lots and lots of that lotion.
Solids... I only did a few things of purees with my oldest. After that, I got lazy. The kids only got solids once they started getting all grabby at our plates, and even then, it was literally from our plates. Little pieces of chicken, broccoli, carrots, peas, peaches, and granted, applesauce, but it's home-canned applesauce that we *all* eat. Or triangles of sandwiches, seriously, whatever. I just made sure things were somewhat soft, and smaller in size for little mouths. I started tossing sandwiches on the babe's tray around 12mo or something. Sorry, I'm bad, I can't even remember.
Another quirk is that we didn't do those flake cereals and such. Have you tasted them? Blech. I sure wouldn't eat them, so I didn't make my kids eat them. ;) It may be weird that I taste things before I give them to the kids, but eh, whatever. My oldest who just turned 8yo whines about being given canned-but-underripe store-bought peaches because the home canned ones are *that* much better. So I figure we're doing something right. Especially if the 19mo shoves aside jelly beans for steamed broccoli. :D
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Lanna, homeschooling mama to four little monkeys that still try to jump on the bed |
Edited by - Lanna on Nov 06 2011 12:33:25 AM |
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MagnoliaWhisper
True Blue Farmgirl
2817 Posts
Heather
Haysville
Kansas
USA
2817 Posts |
Posted - Nov 06 2011 : 01:30:30 AM
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I'm the same way too lazy for cereals and baby food. I just give them regular food that looks like something they can manage. Works great! lol haha Oh they do love puffed brown rice though (cereal, but not the flake stuff, it's regular adult type "healthy" cereal).
The only down side is none of them like mashed potatoes, or apple sauce. Even when we are eating it as a family none of them will eat it. They don't like it. I guess they never grew a liking for pureed foods since we didn't eat them. They liked baked potatoes, just noes mashed! lol
http://www.heathersprairie.blogspot.com |
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Parenting & Farm Kids: How long did you breastfeed for? |
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How long did you breastfeed for?
