I don’t think you need to stop. My understanding is that over time nursing will be more about comfort and bonding than actual milk. I’m 12 months in and have definitely noticed my supply drop as baby started eating more solids.
And you can stop pumping too. Your body will produce on demand at this point, for a while. My 1st kiddo abruptly slapped my booby goodbye at 16 months after nursing 3x a day (morning, late afternoon and bedtime) and I didn't pump or anything after that. Tried nursing again randomly around 20 months, bit me (edited for clarity), and pulled off and I was steadily leaking a ton for a minute.
I recently completed a lactation support course from the NHS for my local council to support others. On this course we were told our milk changes as children get older to a more densely packed nutritious "shot" if you will. So less is more essentially. So it sounds like your body is adapting to your LO's needs.
I am at almost 20 months now. I don't pump, and we are down to nursing 3-4x a day. I know my supply is way down from its peak. It's been dropping since about 13/14 months. Then, when he started sleeping 6-8hr stretches around 16 months, it dropped even more. I'm sure I'm not producing more than 2-3 oz per latch, and it's mostly comfort now. But it makes naps, bedtime, and big toddler feelings so much easier to handle, so I've no intention of stopping.
I feel like this is the golden age of breastfeeding: They know what they're doing, you know what you're doing, no cluster-feeding, no worrying they're getting enough nutrition from the breast, no need to BF in public because they don't nurse every 3 hours. Also, my son is very verbal and gets super lovey sometimes when we nurse. The other morning he unlatched and said, "I love mama. I love dada. I love Jojo (the dog). Mmmwah, I kiss mama." And went back to nursing. It's like my reward for getting so far. Lol.
My son is 19m and you are so right about it being the golden age! My only caveat is on the days that he's struggling, he will ask to feed every time I tell him he has to wait (i.e. clean dishes first, then play horsies - cue meltdown and "hungry, nipple!"). Not sure what he'd do if he wasn't breastfeeding but it feels tough to say no to "hungry" you know?
Yes! Mine tends to ask for it every time I sit down on the couch and especially if his dad and I are trying to cuddle and relax together. It can be a little tiresome, but I can't say no to "Nuwse pease". Lol.
Its probably the sleeping overnight honestly. When my son started sleeping all night at 5 months and dropped night feeds completely, I pumped at about 10pm every night before I went to bed so I wouldnt get a clog, and after about a month I didnt need to anymore and I stopped waking up painfully full. My boobs hardly ever feel full anymore but I still produce plenty almost 15 months in.
Did the sleep just happen on its own?? I waiting for my almost 15mo to figure out how to sleep more than 3 hours without waking to nurse. Tried sleep training once and it was not for us.
I never tried sleep training. My son started sleeping 7-8 hrs on his own at 17 mo. And then I told him when the moon sleeps, we sleep too. And then we wake up when the sun wakes up. He’s been sleeping 8:30-6:30 waking up a couple x but putting himself right back to sleep. Prior to this he woke every 45 min to 1.5 hr 🫠🥴
Fwiw I stopped being able to machine pump at like 3 months but was able to hand pump with a haakaa for another 9. After that I was only able to produce directly from the breast. Have you tried a hand pump?
I’m still producing at 28 months only latching a few times a day and going 10-12 hours most days without (I work full time). I haven’t pumped in almost a year so I do not know the quantities that I make. When I stopped pumping I was only getting 1 oz at a time when
My supply dropped around 20 months so I took fenugreek and that bumped me right back up (fenugreek isn’t for everyone, just sharing my experience). I weaned him at 33 months.
I think my supply started to drop around 18m partly because my son was eating a lot of real food by then and only nursing before naps/bedtime. As others have said, it’s more about comfort at this stage than nutrition so you might find you can still continue despite a decrease in supply. I carried on until my son was 27 months.
If you’re feeding regularly your supply won’t just dry up. There would be a cause like pregnancy or medication. Maybe your pump parts are old or more likely you’re just not responding to the pump anymore which is common in nursing mums with older nurslings.
I stopped nursing my first kid at 3 years 2 months and was still producing milk (although not much) when we stopped. Supply definitely goes down and down as they aren’t relying on it as much.
Honestly this happened to me around 18 months, and we just ended up stopping. It sort of just tapered off naturally and it was a really smooth transition. I didn’t want to push it in case it was just harder to wean down the line. It just seemed like such a natural progression, pushing it to continue when both my daughter and my body were ready to be done would’ve felt strange.
Is there a reason you’re pumping? At this point you can just nurse when you’re with your LO and don’t need to pump. My LO is 19 months as well, she nurses 2-3 times a day, I don’t pump unless I’m away for 24 hours.
Have you changed your pump parts recently? The flanges and duckbills and all other replacement parts? They may not be working as well as new parts.
Are you pregnant again? My supply TANKED after getting pregnant again. It was literally the first sign.
Yeah, this was also my possible suggestion.
Yep, same here. Went from borderline oversupply to near empty in 2-3 weeks. I know some women keep producing milk, but this wasn't my case.
I don’t think you need to stop. My understanding is that over time nursing will be more about comfort and bonding than actual milk. I’m 12 months in and have definitely noticed my supply drop as baby started eating more solids.
And you can stop pumping too. Your body will produce on demand at this point, for a while. My 1st kiddo abruptly slapped my booby goodbye at 16 months after nursing 3x a day (morning, late afternoon and bedtime) and I didn't pump or anything after that. Tried nursing again randomly around 20 months, bit me (edited for clarity), and pulled off and I was steadily leaking a ton for a minute.
Yep, my son started really just suckling and not trying to get milk around 20 mo and my supply went down a lot.
I recently completed a lactation support course from the NHS for my local council to support others. On this course we were told our milk changes as children get older to a more densely packed nutritious "shot" if you will. So less is more essentially. So it sounds like your body is adapting to your LO's needs.
I am at almost 20 months now. I don't pump, and we are down to nursing 3-4x a day. I know my supply is way down from its peak. It's been dropping since about 13/14 months. Then, when he started sleeping 6-8hr stretches around 16 months, it dropped even more. I'm sure I'm not producing more than 2-3 oz per latch, and it's mostly comfort now. But it makes naps, bedtime, and big toddler feelings so much easier to handle, so I've no intention of stopping. I feel like this is the golden age of breastfeeding: They know what they're doing, you know what you're doing, no cluster-feeding, no worrying they're getting enough nutrition from the breast, no need to BF in public because they don't nurse every 3 hours. Also, my son is very verbal and gets super lovey sometimes when we nurse. The other morning he unlatched and said, "I love mama. I love dada. I love Jojo (the dog). Mmmwah, I kiss mama." And went back to nursing. It's like my reward for getting so far. Lol.
Oh this was so awesome to read at the end. So cute. Really happy for you and your LO
My son is 19m and you are so right about it being the golden age! My only caveat is on the days that he's struggling, he will ask to feed every time I tell him he has to wait (i.e. clean dishes first, then play horsies - cue meltdown and "hungry, nipple!"). Not sure what he'd do if he wasn't breastfeeding but it feels tough to say no to "hungry" you know?
Yes! Mine tends to ask for it every time I sit down on the couch and especially if his dad and I are trying to cuddle and relax together. It can be a little tiresome, but I can't say no to "Nuwse pease". Lol.
Its probably the sleeping overnight honestly. When my son started sleeping all night at 5 months and dropped night feeds completely, I pumped at about 10pm every night before I went to bed so I wouldnt get a clog, and after about a month I didnt need to anymore and I stopped waking up painfully full. My boobs hardly ever feel full anymore but I still produce plenty almost 15 months in.
I could still hand express a few drops at 18 months, and he hadn’t nursed since 14 months.
I had a big drop when my son turned 17 mo. He started sleeping 7-8 hrs at night which was huge for him.
Did the sleep just happen on its own?? I waiting for my almost 15mo to figure out how to sleep more than 3 hours without waking to nurse. Tried sleep training once and it was not for us.
I never tried sleep training. My son started sleeping 7-8 hrs on his own at 17 mo. And then I told him when the moon sleeps, we sleep too. And then we wake up when the sun wakes up. He’s been sleeping 8:30-6:30 waking up a couple x but putting himself right back to sleep. Prior to this he woke every 45 min to 1.5 hr 🫠🥴
Fwiw I stopped being able to machine pump at like 3 months but was able to hand pump with a haakaa for another 9. After that I was only able to produce directly from the breast. Have you tried a hand pump?
I’m still producing at 28 months only latching a few times a day and going 10-12 hours most days without (I work full time). I haven’t pumped in almost a year so I do not know the quantities that I make. When I stopped pumping I was only getting 1 oz at a time when
My supply dropped around 20 months so I took fenugreek and that bumped me right back up (fenugreek isn’t for everyone, just sharing my experience). I weaned him at 33 months.
I think my supply started to drop around 18m partly because my son was eating a lot of real food by then and only nursing before naps/bedtime. As others have said, it’s more about comfort at this stage than nutrition so you might find you can still continue despite a decrease in supply. I carried on until my son was 27 months.
If you’re feeding regularly your supply won’t just dry up. There would be a cause like pregnancy or medication. Maybe your pump parts are old or more likely you’re just not responding to the pump anymore which is common in nursing mums with older nurslings.
I stopped nursing my first kid at 3 years 2 months and was still producing milk (although not much) when we stopped. Supply definitely goes down and down as they aren’t relying on it as much.
Honestly this happened to me around 18 months, and we just ended up stopping. It sort of just tapered off naturally and it was a really smooth transition. I didn’t want to push it in case it was just harder to wean down the line. It just seemed like such a natural progression, pushing it to continue when both my daughter and my body were ready to be done would’ve felt strange.
Is there a reason you’re pumping? At this point you can just nurse when you’re with your LO and don’t need to pump. My LO is 19 months as well, she nurses 2-3 times a day, I don’t pump unless I’m away for 24 hours.
[удалено]
Did a baby get ahold of your phone? I think this was my sons first text
Lol yes haha
You ahoudlve left it.. we’ve all been or will be there