We Did It - ONE YEAR

kozlow27

My little guy turned one yesterday which also marks one year of breastfeeding. Yay!! We haven't had to supplement at all and I still have 1,300+ oz of frozen milk for him.

My initial plan after giving birth was to BF for 6 months. Then, after experiencing a ton of pain (he had a great latch but his mouth was so tiny), I decided to take it one day at a time. Finally, around 6 weeks the pain went away. At that time I went back to my 6 month goal. Then, as 6 months was approaching, I decided to go to 8 month and then give frozen milk until 9 months. Well, 8 month came around and I thought "why would I introduce formula now when I could just go to one year and then introduce cow's milk?" Now that we're at a year I am going to start weaning from the pump during the day and continue to BF morning, evening, and overnight.

Sallyrose5994

Awesome job!!! I am still nursing my daughter who is 13 months :-) I stopped pumping at one year also (I was only pumping once a day but it was enough somehow). Now my daughter has pretty much weaned during the day but nurses pretty much constantly through the night. Wonderful job on sticking with it and getting through the tough parts. My first baby I hated nursing for the first two months. I had issues with pain, oversupply, and in the beginning he couldn't latch due to flat nipples. But once you work through it all it is such a beautiful thing! With my daughter everything was so easy and she had a great latch from day one.

One side question... have you had the return of your monthly cycle? I haven't yet and I find it odd since with my first it returned at 7 months post partum.

FitMama2013

Yayy congratulations!! Y'all did great

Sallyrose - I got mine back at 11.5 months pp after I weaned from pumping at work (but was still nursing at home)

kozlow27

Awesome job!!! I am still nursing my daughter who is 13 months :-) I stopped pumping at one year also (I was only pumping once a day but it was enough somehow). Now my daughter has pretty much weaned during the day but nurses pretty much constantly through the night. Wonderful job on sticking with it and getting through the tough parts. My first baby I hated nursing for the first two months. I had issues with pain, oversupply, and in the beginning he couldn't latch due to flat nipples. But once you work through it all it is such a beautiful thing! With my daughter everything was so easy and she had a great latch from day one.

One side question... have you had the return of your monthly cycle? I haven't yet and I find it odd since with my first it returned at 7 months post partum.

Thank you! I've had one cycle but that was only because I was lazy about taking the mini pill. Since that occurrence I've been taking the mini pill like clockwork and no cycle since then (10 months pp).

RBXChas

Congratulations and happy birthday to your little one!!!

I'm also aiming for a year (I aimed for 6 months but hoped for a year) and can't believe we're almost there (10.5 months). My period returned at 10 months pp, and I'm not on any BC. With my first it returned at 3 months exactly, but he was mostly FF, whereas this one was EBF until we started solids, and he still BFs 5x/day.

RBXChas

Also, holy cow that is a crazy frozen stash!!!

ETA that I meant that in a good way

ajzmann

You gals are SO amazing! I'm almost 5 months in and still going strong...seeing you complete one year plus more motivates me to keep at it!

ks4e

Awesome! I am still nursing my 16 month old but did supplement once in a while. Congratulations to you and your baby on reaching this milestone! And wow, what a stash!

Amandawith3kids

congrats! i hit year two in feb, which is HUGE for me since i didnt get to nurse my two girls. gotta make up for lost time.

my period came back at 4 months pp. i was SO hoping for longer.

kozlow27

I love hearing all the stories about meeting and exceeding goals!

I took my little guy to the doctor yesterday for his 12 month appointment. NOT FUN! They gave him 2 shots (one in each arm) and wanted to give him a 3rd but I made another appointment next month to get that shot. And they took blood. So horrible watching my baby boy in pain while they did all that.

They are also running extra tests on his since he's so small. He only grew 1/2" and gained 1/2 lb in the last 3 months. I'm not concerned since I'm only 5'1" and hubby is only 5'6"...we are just small people. It's expected that our kids would be small, too.

I do need to figure out a way for him to gain a little more weight. He is still wearing 9 month and 6-12 month clothing. My milk supply has dipped in the past 3 months so maybe that's why he's not gaining enough. I still feed on demand (probably 4-5 times between 4:30pm - 6:30am) when we are together and he takes (2) 4 oz bottles of BM while he's at daycare.

I still plan to wean myself from pumping at work within the next month and will give him BM (while introducing cows milk) until my stash is gone. Or, if he transitions fully to cows milk before my stash is gone then I will donate it to a mama and baby in need in the Chicago area.

Thanks for all the kudos and stories, Ladies!

sarahelizaaaa

Congratulations! And OMG your stash is impressive. I love that you kept setting goals for yourself and breaking right through them. How is the introduction of cow's milk going?

My son is going to be 1 next month and we're still breastfeeding as well. He was a preemie, so we reeeally struggled with bf'ing at first (I feel your pain about the whole tiny mouth thing) and I honestly thought it wasn't even going to be a possibility, but here we are. My plan is to stop pumping at work at the 1 year mark, too. I honestly can't wait to stop pumping, I have felt very "over it" the last couple weeks.

arainiday1

HOLY CRAP YOUR STASH!!! Way to go. congrats on one year! I stopped pumping at work arounf 14-15 months and shes 18 months now and still nursing when im home whenever she wants. I'm in no rush to stop. They grow up TOO FAST as is ! :sad:

arainiday1

oh and we started doing carnation instant breakfast with vitamin d milk for our babe (just once a day) cause shes pretty petite too and she has gained some weight since! the ped said its the same as pediasure basically and WAY CHEAPER!

mel521

Congratulations! I'm nursing my fourth child and she'll be nine months on Saturday. She's small too. She's still in 0-3 month clothing. All of my boys are huge, but I guess she is going to be tiny.

And that is an awesome stash! I've never been able to pump. I just don't respond well to it no matter what I do.

kozlow27

Congratulations! And OMG your stash is impressive. I love that you kept setting goals for yourself and breaking right through them. How is the introduction of cow's milk going?

My son is going to be 1 next month and we're still breastfeeding as well. He was a preemie, so we reeeally struggled with bf'ing at first (I feel your pain about the whole tiny mouth thing) and I honestly thought it wasn't even going to be a possibility, but here we are. My plan is to stop pumping at work at the 1 year mark, too. I honestly can't wait to stop pumping, I have felt very "over it" the last couple weeks.

I'm totally over pumping, too! I'm down to one pump a day right now and I'm only getting about 2 oz total. DS seems to still be satisfied at night BF, though. Yay!

We decided to introduce almond milk instead of cows milk (for right now, anyway). I have been trying for months to get DS to drink from a sippy or straw cup without success. We were on vacation a few weeks ago and all of a sudden one night he successfully used a straw cup!! We've been giving him the almond milk in the straw cup ever since. He still gets bottles of BM at daycare but she gives him almond milk in the straw cup when he's eating a meal. He's not drinking anywhere near enough almond milk, at this point, to stop giving him BM throughout the day. I'm down to just over 1,100 oz in my freezer now.