Is it harmful if 1 year old baby leaves breastfeeding itself

Is it harmful if 1 year old baby leaves breastfeeding itself

My 1 year and 3 months old baby suddenly has stopped breastfeeding at night. I have tried severel times to feed him but he is not interested. He is eating solid food but not interested in the breast any more and whenever I try he moves away, so I want to know is it ok if baby decides to stop breast feeding.

My mother says I should start cowmilk now. I have checked him and there is no stomach pain. I also consulted doc for this and he said that my child is normal.

a reply to: PoppyThankful

Completely normal. He's probably getting enough from solids and will only use breast for comfort, if anything.

So long as he's healthy and happy all is good. Don't feel rejected, you're still his mum, his number one!

Well done for breastfeeding for so long, it really is an achievement. It's hard to keep it up in the modern world with various pressures from all angles.

Totally normal.
It's hard work drinking from the nipple and when easier alternatives are there, they become the preferred.
Keep offering your natural nutrients for as long as they are accepted though.
Mums Rock!

a reply to: PoppyThankful

I also consulted doc for this and he said that my child is normal.

Then that is the person you should listen to, not the advice of strangers on the internet. If your Dr says it's ok, why would you ask us?

What? Harmful?
I'd say it's harmful to stop before baby decides to but a year is about right anyway. None of my babies wanted to nurse much after they started eating real food. It's very natural. And if baby has made this decision that's completely natural and should be accepted.
Now mama may have issues like encouragement but that's more common in newborn situations and she will miss the experience but I also know that when they are ill or distressed breast fed babies usually look to the breast for comfort even after they stop nursing.
All the books say let baby set the pace.

I let them until they didn't want to.

I also never bothered with actual toilet training. I just let them set the pace there too. They copy.
In case anyone asks they were all using the facilities by age three.

a reply to: DAVID64

Well if her doctor is anything like mine I would trust ATS any day.

Plus it is sensible to get other views, also reassuring.

a reply to: PoppyThankful

Wonderful kid. Recognizes breast milk is no longer meeting survival requirements.

a reply to: PoppyThankful

It's quite natural to want to hold on to the most precious things about little ones.

I'm a guy but when my wife cut my first-born son's hair for the first time, I remember being secretly upset because it seemed that he had, in that moment, transitioned from a baby into a toddler.

He's an adult now, with his own kid, and has had cancer and gone through chemo (nothing worse for a parent than to watch your child dying by degrees) and is an all round hero that I'm so proud of (he's in remission now).

Every stage of my kids lives have been precious in constantly new ways, so you don't have to mourn the past because their growth and development are like new revelations (and sometimes frustrations) each time.

The only thing constant is change, so you may as well enjoy it.

Cheers!

a reply to: PoppyThankful

Being a male, I look at this a positive. But I know that women have a lot more physical things involved in this. The baby is just growing and changing.

But my experience is they will let you know when they are hungry. If they aren't enjoy the sleep.

a reply to: and14263

Then you need to find another Dr.
Why would you keep going back to one you don't trust?

Smart baby, weaned himself. Get used to him making up his own mind. Nurture that.

originally posted by: DAVID64
a reply to: and14263

Then you need to find another Dr.
Why would you keep going back to one you don't trust?

Why do you assume I keep going back to the same doctor? Why do you assume I am not in the process of moving practises? Merry Christmas Dave x

a reply to: PoppyThankful

No need to worry about it... coz my mother said i breastfed for just 9 months or so and I think i came out OK except sometimes I think every now and then that I am Superman or Saviour of the world and want to do wondrous things .. ... but then I realise I am just Human ... So don't worry too much ..

Hi!

My oldest quit at a year & four months. The other four only went to about 9 months. Probably because they saw the others using sipee cups & wanted to too! They still nursed before they went to bed at night, for a little while after they quit other times. I was sorry to see that stop, it always settled them down & put them right to sleep!

I would pump & offer it in a cup if you can. Especially with all the junk that they say is in cow's milk now! Our youngest had an issue whenever I drank milk while I was still nursing her. She would get severe colic! It took me a little while to figure out that it was cow's milk that was triggering it. I'm not a big milk drinker, but I was having a bowl of cereal in the morning when I was giving the older ones breakfast!

Organic wasn't available in our area then yet, or I would have tried that! A friend of mine had the same thing happen with her youngest around the same time too. I don't know if that's when things first started showing up in cow's milk or what. But our daughter has no dairy issues herself & none of our other kids ever had colic!

Antibiotics, growth hormones, GMO's...Our family doctor says nobody should eat dairy or gluten! Her daughter is turning six, she doesn't give her either one & she has never been sick! Our oldest had to have tubes put in his ears twice, at 2 & 5 years old. Which I read years after the fact, can be because of dairy problems!

Just sharing some things that I found out over the years! I'm not a doctor, just a Mom!

WOQ

You did great, mom! No worries.

I would just recommend you might want to manually express (or pump) some. Suddenly stopping can lead to discomfort... so even if your little one is done, you can do a slower transition to dry up your supply less abruptly. Otherwise you can get clogged milk ducts... so it's ok to relieve the pressure. Just don't express much... just enough to ease the discomfort.

a reply to: PoppyThankful

Stopping a child breastfeeding when it doesn't want to can be very upsetting for mother and baby. You've escaped that problem.

If your child is happy and growing there's no reason to be concerned.

Sometimes if you eat a food that adds a flavour the child doesn't like that will put them off. Sometimes they start again weeks or even months later.

Being relaxed and adaptable works best.

I had a sister-in-law who breast fed her son until he was 5 yrs old. It was gross and disgusting. I breast fed my first until she was 1 1/2 yrs the rest weaned themselves at about a yr. Kids know what they need. I let mine "free range" if you pay attention (and I know you do) they will let you know what their body needs.

a reply to: PoppyThankful

My daughter stopped breastfeeding by 9 months, one day out of clear blue sky. My wife was distraught, make no mistake. But the baby was fine.

a reply to: PoppyThankful

With my kids, I just decided to breast feed until they instinctively were done with it.

One stopped at 14 months, one at 9 months, one at 12 months. When they started to reject it, I packed away the boobs and moved on to other things. Didn't wonder if it was okay or not.

I think kids still have evolved instincts to react to what their body actually needs or not. Trust it. I am sure you just worry about doing what is best for your child. I would consider it somewhat twisted and neglectful if you were to force the child to continue when they didn't want to anymore...

a reply to: misskat1

There is something that seems vaguely abusive about breastfeeding a child after it knows how to wipe their own ass. But I'm a man, so....