Breastfeeding beyond six months

Somewhat strangely, it appears that Little B is now eight months old. EIGHT MONTHS!

Time has moved so quickly, I’ve barely registered the fact that she’s old enough to start eating solid food – and yet she is, and she does. Alongside a lot of breastmilk.

‘Are you STILL breastfeeding?’ people ask me.

‘Isn’t it about time she learnt to use a bottle?’ people enquire.

‘Can’t she just have cows milk now?’ well meaning relatives suggest.

The thing is, she isn’t eating all that much. I COULD be spending hours waving a spoon filled with mush in front of her face. I could also switch to formula milk (but not cows milk, dear well intentioned relative, not until she is at least a year old). And I could (and do) introduce feeding from a bottle.

But the fact is, there is no reason why Little B shouldn’t still be breastfeeding – babies don’t need solid food until they are one, and they also don’t need to be moved onto a substitute for the milk they’ve happily been drinking for the first few months of their life. At eight months old, Little B (and her siblings) keep me busy enough – alongside sorting out going back to work, actually going back to work, and finishing up all the paperwork for my university course – without needing to add faffing around with bottles and buying milk into the mix.

I’m not saying that it’s a bad thing if that’s what others have decided to do – different things work for different families. But for us, breastmilk is quick, easy, convenient…and Little B is still thriving on it. And, in some cases, that breastmilk IS given to her in a bottle; something which she happily takes from whoever is feeding it to her. I must admit that feels very strange!

She’s growing up fast enough in every other way. So I’m enjoying my milky snuggles with her while I can…and I’ve no doubt that the next four months will fly by too and then I’ll have an inquisitive one year old on my hands.

Probably a still breastfeeding one year old.

With bottles and cows on the sidelines.