“Long-term feeding is good for both mom and baby”
Maria, 27 years old, mother of Sasha (1 year 8 months)
Even before the appearance of my son, I came to visit friends who gave birth and were perplexed, watching how they feed their already “adult” children. For example, my ex classmate fed her daughter when she was a year and a half. But then I read the literature on motherhood and feeding and came to the conclusion that long breastfeeding is good for the health and psyche of the baby, a means of sedation and communication with the mother.
During pregnancy, I planned to feed until the moment when the son himself abandons the breast. Now I think differently: I will continue until two years, and then we'll see. I don’t understand why many people are against this: breastfeeding makes life easier!
I often sit on various sites, chatting with other girls. I am sorry for the mothers who put the baby to bed for a long time. They will either sing a lullaby, or sit next to the bed for hours ... As a result, they put a bottle of water or diluted fruit juice. In our family, this has never happened before - I slightly rock my son, I can tell a poem or a fairy tale, and then I give breasts. After that, he usually sleeps calmly. I don’t whimper at night, and even if so, I put it on my chest. He drinks mother's milk and falls asleep again. Nights go quietly.
I feed the baby several times a day before daytime and nighttime sleep. At other times, I do not put it on my chest. Concerning diet, then it has long been not as strict as in the first months: I eat fast food, chocolate, tangerines, pizza, sushi, citrus spicy and fatty foods. I can drink a glass of red wine - of course, all in reasonable quantities.
Irina, mother of Dasha (10 years old) and Ilya (1 year 4 months)
I'm tired of arguing with opponents of long-feeding. I feed my son with breast milk, but I try not to tell strangers about this. My daughter did not excommunicate until the last: she was almost 2.5 years old when she independently refused the breast and switched to ordinary food. We do not observe any deviations: an excellent student, an athlete, very talented and smart.
It annoys me when others impose their views and claim that after 12 months the milk becomes “empty”, useless. Milk does not disappear on its own a year after giving birth - which means that nature has provided for everything and milk is necessary. The milk of a woman contains beneficial substances that strengthen the immune system, immunoglobulins that protect against viruses, vitamins, and stem cells. Do you propose to deprive the child of such a powerful defense?
My children are practically not sick. All sorts of viruses, infectious diseases and other sores bypass them. Children have excellent immunity, acute respiratory viral infections are almost not sick, intestinal infections have never been.There are no complaints about the psyche either: obedient, calm, kind, well developed. What about public feeding… I can not tell. This is a question from the field of ethics and education of both mother and child.
“After a year, the baby does not need breasts”
Polina, mother of Nastya (1 year)
Among young mothers, the topic of HS caused some unhealthy excitement. And before this was not! Now many are fixated on this and believe that children need to be fed almost to primary school age. Milk mixtures are sharply negatively and aggressively criticized by a woman who decided to feed her child with them. Allegedly it contains harmful substances. But we live in such an ecological environment that there are plenty of them in mother’s milk. I stopped feeding at the age of 7 months on the recommendation of a doctor, didn’t begin to maintain lactation, and the gynecologist said that it was not necessary for more than 9 months. And nothing bad happened!
The daughter on the mixture began to sleep peacefully all night. I forgot about breasts quickly. There were no grievances. And my husband and I now have a lot of free time - we were even able to fly on vacation.
I was afraid that the baby would start acting up. I saw how hard the girlfriend weaned her son: he constantly clutched his chest, cried, plucked her and asked her to eat. When a child at 2 years old asks for a breast ... I consider this a relic of the past. It looks out of place and wild. In addition, this is a lot of stress for the crumbs.
Anna, mother Viti (1 year 1 month.)
I think GV should last up to a year. No more. Then you can add ordinary food: vegetables, meat, fruits ...
World Health Organization really advises to feed up to 2 years. But these are recommendations for backward states! In developed countries, they have not fed for so long: no need. I read an article by a woman psychologist - she, too, is against long-term feeding. A child can grow up non-self-sufficient, and the mother will get used to the constant care of her child, as mothers suffering from anxiety and hyper-custody do this.
The pediatrician told me that by the year you need to stop feeding. At 11 months, I began to put my baby less often, and in the year I began to sleep in another room. Yes, I had to go through several hectic nights, to show the child that it was impossible to reach for her chest, she wore closed clothes. I was adamant. But now his son has an excellent appetite, eats absolutely everything that they give.
Marina, GV Consultant: “Feeding after a year is normal”
In general, the age of self-weakening comes after 2 years: the sucking reflex fades in the baby. He begins to eat normal food without problems, he refuses to breast. It’s also convenient for a young mother: you don’t need to take pills to stop lactation, bandage the breasts ...
Let me remind young mothers about the benefits of prolonged feeding. Mother's milk is very beneficial for the baby. It affects his intellectual development and health, protects against allergies. Milk contains iron, calcium, various groups of vitamins, protein - all elements are perfectly absorbed by the baby’s body from breast milk. In addition, HB reduces the risk of breast cancer in a woman (approximately 4% each year of feeding).
Note: weaning the baby from the chest, cock all the pros and cons and focus not on folk recipes and myths, but on the opinion of your doctor.
We also read:
After a year, I was breastfeeding my son after a few months, nothing bad happened. Then the child himself weaned from the chest, and we gradually began to add normal food.
I will not argue with either one or the other. She fed her baby up to 2.5 years. It seems to me that every mother decides for herself when to take the baby from her breast, depending on her condition and the condition of the child. I definitely don’t agree with one thing that milk after 9 months becomes “empty”, I think that mother’s milk is much more useful than fruit drinks, juices and just some water that parents give their children before going to bed or at night to put them to bed.
I fed my son up to a year, excellent immunity TTT ... I normally accepted the transition, of course we did it gradually, but did not pull it. In my life I met 1 mother, who fed her daughter up to 3 years old, they actively promote feeding on the forums after a year, up to 2-3 or more years, as for me - an abomination!
I agree that mom decides how much to feed. I still think that up to a year and a half. quite normal, and up to a year is good. And if they feed longer and there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s a blessing to be with your child
The eldest son sucked breasts for up to a year and 2 months. It became bad to fall asleep with a chest and I decided to leave it with my dad for a few nights. On the first night, the child fell asleep after motion sickness, crying and some water. And before a day's sleep, I didn’t even remember about the chest. And that’s it.
The next night we slept again three together and without sissy.
The youngest is 10 months old while breastfeeding.