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I breastfed for 38 months. The pediatrician told me to wean at 12 months, so I changed doctors. I let my daughter wean when she was ready. Before I had my baby I never thought I would breastfeed, but it was a wonderful experience. BTW, I worked full-time, went to her at lunchtime, and wore a lot of breast pads. It's a lot of work, but she was never sick, and it's worth the effort.
Last edited by Mainer61; 03-24-2013 at 06:16 AM..
Reason: forgot
Six and a half months.
My daughter actually gradually weaned herself, if I can put it that way, so I had less milk and couldn't have breastfed much longer anyway (it was not my wish to breastfeed for years so not a big deal as far as I am concerned).
15-18 months for both. I didn't particularly enjoy it, but felt it best for baby. Always nursed privately, which was a big PITA. Each weaned when he was ready.
It wasn't the be all or end all that some women experience. I really just tried to see if I could handle it, and turns out I could.
20 and 23 months, respectively. I was turning 40 with #2 and decided a 40 yo woman shouldn't be breastfeeding. I was the type who probably would have run out of formula in the middle of the night if I had bottle fed. It worked for me (and us).
13-14 months for each kid. We wanted our kids close together, and I got pregnant around the one year mark, so I decided to start the weaning process then. If you have a history of miscarriages, it is recommended to not nurse while pregnant due to it causing uterine contractions, and aside from that, each kid was pretty much ready by that point anyway. Milk changes taste when you become pregnant, and lots of kids don't like the change, so it made it easier.
That being said, I have been eitheer pregnant or nursing since mid 2009, so DH is going to throw me a "Yay my wife can drink again!" party in about a year from now, LOL.
My doctor told me that breastfeeding is a natural "cleanser" for your breasts and studies have shown woman who breastfed have a lower risk of breast cancer.
This is quite true. We perform mammograms at the clinic where I work, and the number of total months breastfeeding is an important patient history risk factor that we enter into the data at the time of the mammogram.
I nurse my first the shortest amount of time, only three months. Basically I was very young and didn't know what I was doing. I got a lot of bad advice from family members, friends, and even the pediatrician. At the hospital the nurses demonstrated bottle feeding with the free bottles, formula samples and kits that were generously provided by the formula companies. I wasn't given any assistance or advice with nursing, so I had to figure it out own my own.
By the time my second baby came along eight years later I had done much research and was able to explain my position and hold my own when the nurses at labor and delivery told me that it was hospital policy that all newborns be given formula. This baby was nursed the longest, 36 months.
I had planned to nurse my third child longer than I did, but she started weaning herself after a year.
I never used a bottle for babies two and three, just went from breast to cup.
I voted 24-36 months in your poll because you didn't have an option for >36 months.
My first nursed until just past 4.5 years, or 55 months. I pumped at work until she was 12 months old.
My second is still nursing, and is almost 4 years old now, so 47 months and counting. I pumped at work until she was 20 months old.
They tandemed for 20 months of that, so I have breastfed for a total of 82 months (and counting).
According to the meta-analysis study in The Lancet 2002; 360:187-195, "Our analyses here show that the relative risk of breast cancer is reduced by 4·3% (95% CI 2·9–5·8) for each year that a woman breastfeeds, in addition to a reduction of 7·0% (5·0–9·0) for each birth. These relations are significant and are seen consistently for women from developed and developing countries, of different ages and ethnic origins, and with various childbearing patterns and other personal characteristics."
So, I've had two births (2*7=14) and almost 7 years of breastfeeding (7*4.3=30.1), therefore according to these stats, I've reduced my risk of breast cancer by (14+30.1=) 44.1%. The rate of breast cancer in developed countries is 6.3%, which means that I've reduced my risk down to 2.8%. I can't say that this is the reason that I breastfed, but it's not a bad perk!
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I let my daughter wean when she was ready. Before I had my baby I never thought I would breastfeed, but it was a wonderful experience. BTW, I worked full-time, went to her at lunchtime, and wore a lot of breast pads. It's a lot of work, but she was never sick, and it's worth the effort.
I wasn't given any assistance or advice with nursing, so I had to figure it out own my own.
