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I wrote before about my breast reduction and the first year of breastfeeding my son, now I thought I’d give you an update on how it’s going. I’d planned to do an 18 months and counting update, but life got in the way, and here we are at 19 months and still going strong in our nursing relationship.
The first six months was a struggle, I had low supply issues, drank nursing tea by the gallon, and had to supplement about 40% of the liquid he needed with formula. At around 6 months, I discovered BFAR.org (Breastfeeding After Reduction) and started taking Shatavari capsules (an Indian root) and Motherlove’s More Milk Special Blend, which is specially blended for mothers with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), breast reduction or implant surgery and for adoptive moms. Both of these are herbal galactagogues (substances known to increase milk production). They really helped and I was able to stop supplementing with formula. It was pretty smooth sailing for the next six months.
Just after Oliver turned a year old, I started weaning myself off the galactagogues. These herbs should not be taken while pregnant or trying to conceive, I knew most women become fertile again around this time, and I wanted to start trying to conceive as soon as we could. I knew even with a possible reduction in my supply, the immune benefits would still be present in my milk, and I was hoping that there would be no reduction in supply. Nursing for a year should have helped to increase the amount of milk producing tissue in my breast.
My period returned when Oliver was 13 months old. After weaning completely off the galactagogues, I did notice a reduction in my milk supply. I no longer get painfully full breasts, even when I’m away from my son for a full day. My breasts feel a little heavier, but that’s all. When he drinks, I still hear him gulping away, so I know my supply isn’t insignificant, but I am no longer able to hand express much milk. I used to be able to hand express quite a bit, as much, if not more, than I could pump. I haven’t tried pumping at all, but I don’t think I’d get a very different result.
Even with the reduction in supply, Oliver is still a little booby lover. He can fill up on lunch, a glass of cow milk, then come straight over for some “mama milk” for dessert. I’d read somewhere that it’s hardest to wean between 12 and 18 months, but I don’t see that it would be any easier to wean him now, if that’s what I wanted.
His breastfeeding frequency is extremely variable. If we spend the day at home, he tends to breastfeed a lot, every 2 hours or so. But when we spend the day running around, he breastfeeds much less. I recently had a day where we spent the morning at playgroup and the afternoon at a friend’s and he over the whole day, he only asked for the breast once, just after we’d arrived at the playgroup (I think he was feeling shy and needed a confidence boost).
I had some issues with nighttime feeding. A couple months ago, his nighttime frequency began to increase to the point that he was feeding every two hours at night, and occasionally used me as a human pacifier. I became pretty miserable with this frequency and started trying to gently refuse him. He wasn’t having any of that, so my husband had to hold him until he fell back to sleep for several nights. Things are much better now, with Oliver generally falling asleep between 8 and 9pm, then sleeping till 7am, when he has “good morning booby.” We’re still co-sleeping, and he seems to be fine with sleeping next to me without needing to drink during the night.
We still breastfeed every once in a while in public, and haven’t had any problems here in Germany with that. In the last week I have noticed a couple of people looking, but they didn’t say anything and I can’t be certain they were looking in a negative way (my gut feeling says that was the more likely reason though). Oliver really doesn’t ask to breastfeed in public much any more though and is either too busy, or happy to wait till we’re home. He does still ask to breastfeed fairly often in our English-speaking playgroup, but nobody minds that at all and many of the moms are breastfeeding. He never asks in our German group, where no one has breastfed since I’ve been going.
I’ve read two books on extended breastfeeding that I thought were extremely helpful, Mothering Your Nursing Toddler
He’s hardly ever sick (knock on wood), and colds rarely last more than a day with only a runny nose to show he even has one. But when he came down with the flu last month or when he was recovering from his surgery two months ago and wouldn’t eat or drink anything but breastmilk, I was glad to still be able to do something for him.
If he’s feeling frustrated or hyper, the breast helps him calm down. When he’s tired, it works like magic to send him off to sleep. I don’t know how long the relationship will continue, but the plan is now to keep going till he’s at least two years old. I’m letting him take the lead in this for now, as I still love breastfeeding.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
My son is in the self-weaning process. He has morning, evening, and tired feedings — when he is starting to get sleepy during the day. But, sometimes he skips a feeding, and for example, is NOT interested in the morning and/or evening. He’s 12 months old in mid-March. I doubt I have much of a supply but I can discern gulp/swallow vs. comfort suck. There’s a little of both. He finds this incredibly comforting. So, I think its a comfort / bonding thing now — he doesn’t seem to be in it for the food. My older son had self-weaned by 10 months. Interesting how different they both are… in every way including this one. I enjoy the bonding time and probably the oxytocin! My only frustration is that in the middle of the night… he wants to latch on and stay on (human pacifier) several nights lately. If I try to detach when he is asleep, he wakes. As a co-sleeper, my breasts are too available when this happens a. He too has to fall asleep on daddy when I relocate to give my nipples (and back, and kink in my neck) a break!
Oliver did that all night pacifier thing when he was teething. I could always tell when a new tooth was coming in. I could usually deal with it for a night or two (maybe), but the third night my husband would have to take over cause I couldn’t deal anymore. It is interesting how different every child is, and yeah, the oxytocin is great.
I really identify with your story here, although I don’t have the breast reduction surgery aspect. My daughter is 18 months old, and I too started off hoping to make it to a year bfing. We are still at it. We also co-sleep, and have been discussing how to night wean her, although I am unwilling to take that on until this last round of teeth are finished (eye teeth). Eris has a really terrible time with her teeth, worse than any other toddler we’ve met, and sometimes night nursing/suckling is the only thing that helps. Although it was not my original intention to go so long, like you we are now hoping to continue nursing till she is at least two years old.
I have only been in Germany now for six weeks, but I have not heard anything negative about our extended bfing; however, I do feel that I get away with being a little crunchy with less judgmental reactions because people assume that it’s a cultural thing. I am not one to correct those assumptions when they work in my favor!
I wanted to also comment that although I had oversupply issues in the beginning, these days I also do not get that overfull feeling when Eris has not nursed for awhile, nor do spring leaks except when she’s actively nursing. I also can’t really hand express much anymore and the amount I can get from pumping is roughly half what I used to get when E was about six months. I think that’s a pretty normal experience and I seem to remember hearing that milk production peaks around six months, but that the mineral/calorie density of the milk continues to increase into toddlerhood.
Thanks so much for posting this update! You have worked harder than most of us to get this far, I think. Kudos to you!
@kelly: Thanks for commenting! It’s interesting to hear that you are having a lot of the same experiences, maybe what I’m experiencing is just normal and not related to the surgery. :)
Hey Christina. Thanks for visiting my post about BFARing— and for leaving a comment. I’m glad things are still going well for you and your baby. My daughter is almost 14 months, and we’re nursing once a day; my period returned 2 days ago, and it was OH SO heavy. Ugh! I’m hoping to keep nursing her for a few more weeks. We’ll see what happens.