Choosing not to vax but son is done nursing

[mommaof5]

I have chose to not vax my son. I wanted to nurse him until he was two but
he wants nothing to do with nursing, he is 14 months old. I get nervous about him not having my antibodies. He has refused to nurse for awhile but would nurse in the mornings and now he won't nurse at all and I am all but dried up. I have friends who have not vaxed but nursed their kids until they were 2 and their kids have been healthy. Since my son has nursed only in the morning we have had chicken pox and whooping cough. I guess I need feedback from other moms. Should I push the nursing issue with him or am I overreacting?
Mommaof5

[TanyaS]

As your baby ages, the protection against VPDs wanes. You would likely be experiencing illness whether he continued to nurse or not.

[lilyblossom]

I believe in child lead weaning personally, so if you want him to have BM still, how about pumping and giving it to him that way?

[attachedmamaof3]

I think these are two seperate issues.

1) Nursing- have you visited kellymom.com? Excellent breastfeeding resource and really delves into the occurence of nursing strikes--very common around your son's age. It is VERY unusual to have child-led weaning before 2 yrs (but does happen) so you may want to check into that.

2)Germs- Your child is 14 months and already had CP and whooping cough? And he came through it fine...with natural immunity?? I'm not seeing the problems, that's great!

What exactly are your concerns? Are you worried that he will be 'sickly' because he stopped nursing or possibly be more susceptible to germs? This can be true..and is a possibility. BUT, you've nursed for 14 months....that does offer quite a bit of protection even into early childhood.

If you are truly concerned, I second the suggestion for pumping and giving breastmilk in a cup until you feel more comfortable with your child's ability to fight germs

[GooeyRN]

pump and cup/bottle feed if you worry. I still EP for my almost 30 month old dd.

[a(TM)?Star]

I think that 14 months old, and not nursing is definitely a nursing strike. Definitely check out Kellymom. But, if you can't relactate, and he won't BF, then you did the best you could. ((hugs)) I agree with the PP that if he made it through pertussis and CP just fine, then don't worry.

[mommaof5]

Thanks for the feedback, I just needed to hear and have support from other Moms who have gone this route. I think I am going to let him continue to wing and just continue to give him a good diet. This is baby number 5 for me but my first child I have not immunized so I feel like this is all new territory for me.

[Spy]

I would try to keep nursing as long as possible, but this is regardless of vaccination.

My older son only nursed for about 11 months, and he is not vaccinated. 18 years old now, never had a visible case of a VPD, missed about 15 days of school during 10 years (pretty much all of it in one chunk, when he had pneumonia at 10 y o).

[thefragile7393]

My milk is pretty much dried up at this moment, although that dosn't deter ds. My ds is also older than your LO so this may be out from left field, but I'm not worried about when he stops for good (may tandem nurse, unsure how that will go yet). He's gotten a good foundation for health and that goes a long way in helping the immune system resist many VADs.

[MsGrizzle]

My ds weaned early as well - I basically forced him to make it to 18 months. He has not had any vaxes. I tried pumping too but my body had stopped responding to the pump around the 12 month point (very frustrating as I had EP'd for my first son). I just now focus on making sure his diet is good, keep sodium ascorbate in the house and go from there.

[thepeach80]

None of my kids were ebf and they all 'weaned' between 9.5-13 mos, AJ is the only one to have any vaxes and that was one set. Evan had to be on formula till 2 and Ilana will be as well, they're fine and it didn't even cross my mind to vax them b/c of them not nursing.

[rredhead]

My son wasn't breastfed, and I never really thought anything about it regarding vaccines. He seems to be about average on the health scale.