Extended Breastfeeding Advice for Working Mother

[SouthernBette]

Hey, ladies.  I'm a full-time professor who is home for the summer until the end of August with my sweet almost 8-month-old girl.  She was exclusively breastfed until 6 months, and she is still predominantly nourished by my milk. Nursing was a breeze for us, really.  She latched on fine, and even when I returned to work, I was able to pump once a day and come home for lunch for a feeding.  We cosleep, which helps with my supply, and I've always loved the time I spend nursing her.  Here is my issue: I assumed I would stop BFing at 1 year--which she will turn in October--but now I'm not ready to quit so soon.  I want to nurse her until she is 2, but I wonder about the logistics.  Here are my questions:

1. As long as my supply is okay, could I stop pumping and just feed her before work and on demand after work and through the night?

2.  Did you immediately start your babe on cow's milk or soy milk after one year?  Did this help with how much breastfeeding was still necessary? I figure that she could have cow/soy milk during the day and solids, which will keep her full.

3.  How much opposition did you face from others when you continued to feed after one year?  This is just a curiosity question and not really part of my problem, as I have lots of supportive friends, but I do have some ignorant family members with which I must contend. 

Thanks for the insight, ya'll.

[Mosaic]

Good for you! I'm not an expert, but here's my experience:

1. As long as my supply is okay, could I stop pumping and just feed her before work and on demand after work and through the night?
that's what I did with my first DD. I weaned myself off of the pump and nursed morning, evenings, and weekends. That lasted until about 18 months, so if you are dedicated to making it to a year, you'll likely want to pump at least a little.

DD2 is a whole other girl, so I'm still pumping 3 x's/day for her (at almost 14 months), with no end in sight.

2. Did you immediately start your babe on cow's milk or soy milk after one year? Did this help with how much breastfeeding was still necessary? I figure that she could have cow/soy milk during the day and solids, which will keep her full.

Kinda. I had a massive freezer stash, so I mostly gave DD1 thawed BM until her second birthday, slowly increasing the amount of cow's milk. Yes, gradually consuming more cow milk and solids will start decreasing the need for milk. Here's a nice article about nursing a toddler.

DD2, again, totally different. She has feeding issues, so she's getting no cow milk and very very little solids. Her nursing needs will not decrease for at least another 6 months, I'd guess.

3. How much opposition did you face from others when you continued to feed after one year? This is just a curiosity question and not really part of my problem, as I have lots of supportive friends, but I do have some ignorant family members with which I must contend.

Really, not much at all. A comment here and there, maybe, but I don't remember having any problems.

[Schae]

Hi :)

I breastfed my first son till he was 18 months old - I went back to work when he was 10 months. I didn't pump at all - by that age we had dropped to two feeds a day (we co-slept so he fed at night too) - so that's my answer to your first question. Yes, you can do that. Your supply should be fine (mine was).

We started with cow's milk with at 1 year, but my son wasn't really interested in it, he seemed fine with the morning, night and through the night feeds.

I didn't face any opposition from anyone. - I would have told them where to put their opinion should they have been so brave as to offer it to me. lol!

[Llyra]

I am going to move this out to the general forum. And best of luck to the OP-- it sounds like you are trying your hardest to do what is best for your daughter. You may want to stop in at our Working and Student Parents forum for more support and advice, too.

[SouthernBette]

Wow.  These are such positive and helpful responses.  Thank you so much for the advice.  I do appreciate your encouragement, and I'm excited that I'll be able to continue feeding beyond a year.

[SouthernBette]

P.S. Great article, Mosaic! Thanks for the pumping advice, too, Schae.  I will return to work when my daugther is 10 months+, but I won't have the lovely supply that Mosaic has, so I may pump a little to store.  Otherwise, this truly made me feel like--at least with this baby--I should be able to BF without a hitch.

[Anna Phor]

My son is 18 months old and still nursing with gusto. I went back to work at 16 weeks, and pumped through 13 months. The recommendation I've heard passed around is that you probably want to wait until a year to replace nursing with cow's milk--until then, either pumped milk or formula. But I don't have a source for that, so you might want to do some more research (yanno, if "a person on the internet told me" isn't enough :) ).

I weaned myself from the pump gently (over the course of a couple of weeks)--until that point, I had been pumping 2x per day. Weaning from the pump also caused my menstrual cycle to return. That causes a supply dip for a week or so each month, but as long as I stay on top of that, I can control it with mother's milk tea, and apart from that we nurse mornings/evenings/nights/weekends much as we did before I stopped pumping.

If anyone has disapproved, they haven't had the gall to say it to my face. :)

[BubbaMama]

1. As long as my supply is okay, could I stop pumping and just feed her before work and on demand after work and through the night? - Yes, you will need to wean yourself off of those day time pumpings though.  I pumped at work till she was 15 months and then weaned off the pump.  My supply was fine for her to nurse morning/night and whenever on the weekends.

2.  Did you immediately start your babe on cow's milk or soy milk after one year?  Did this help with how much breastfeeding was still necessary? I figure that she could have cow/soy milk during the day and solids, which will keep her full. - I waited until she wasn't taking much of my milk during the day when I was at work, it was around 5 oz or so - her solid intake was up at that point too.  That is when I weaned off the pump and she weaned onto cows milk for work days only.  When we were together I never offered cows milk so that breastfeeding would take precedence.  In retrospect, now that I know more, I will not give cows milk to my DS when we do this for him.  Almond or coconut milk.  Cows milk is not good for little bodies, IMO and Soy is not a good choice either, for our family.  We've since taken cows milk away from our preschooler too, she drinks coconut milk and occasionally almond milk. Only a small cup a day, she's just not interested. 

3.  How much opposition did you face from others when you continued to feed after one year?  This is just a curiosity question and not really part of my problem, as I have lots of supportive friends, but I do have some ignorant family members with which I must contend.  - Surprisingly not much.  My DD wasn't one to nurse much out and about after about 15 months so she really only nursed at home.  No one really knew, besides close family and friends and if they thought it weird, they didn't say.  DD only weaned when I was pregnant with her brother, I wish she would have kept going.