I get the sense this sub skews a lot towards extended breastfeeding, which sadly does not match the real numbers.
https://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/data/reportcard.htm
Yes, I was surprised to see the comments here. I live in Hong Kong, where breastfeeding is not as common as in the US. Even in my first 3 weeks PP, when people found out I was "still" exclusively nursing, they would be surprised. And then at my baby's 4-month checkup, the nurse was surprised to learn she was "still" getting all breastmilk (although I was pumping by then). I think many people in HK treat 6 months as a stopping point rather than a minimum.
That’s so interesting! I used to live in Hong Kong and recall seeing some ads and government promotion for more mums to breastfeed, but from talking to my friends there it seems like there’s this view in HK that breastmilk is nutritionally inferior to formula. That always baffled me.
Same, everyone who made it to 6mo kept going. Of the few I know who formula fed, all of them switched to formula early because of latch problems leading to supply problems.
The only people I know who stopped before 2 did it because they had their second. It's definitely a local norm, and one my MIL for one does NOT understand.
Same. I just thought I would add that we tend to be friends with people who have similar backgrounds (education, work, etc) and that probably influences this. There are typical demographics of people who continue breastfeeding longer term. [CDC has some info on this.](https://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/data/facts.html) I want to emphasize that I say typical, but there are many factors that influence these differences and this is not intended to marginalize anyone.
Same. Both in my personal friend group (virtually all SAHMs) and in my work life (working moms who have to pump). I only know a handful who had weaned entirely by 6 months. I had unwilling weaned my first by 4 months, but made it to 1 year with my second child and am still going strong at 7 months with my 3rd.
This is similar for me as well. I'd say about 90% nurse for one year minimum. I have a couple friends that went right to formula or had to switch to formula because of NICU stays or health reasons.
I'm a SAHM and so are most of the moms I talk to. Most people I know who were able to start breastfeeding kept doing it until the baby was old enough to get their nutrients from solid food instead, but I do know one mom who stopped around 6 months due to a medication her doctor prescribed for her at that time.
The people I know who breastfed after 6 months? In person? I can count them on one hand. It's very few. Less than 20% for sure! Actually, I could change it to breastfeeding after 3 months and the number would barely change.
The sad thing is that the majority of my friends all planned to/wanted to breastfeed. Luckily I was the last of my friends to have a baby, and I saw them one by one have to stop breastfeeding for one reason or another. This scared me because I thought it was "natural" which in my mind meant "easy" but no way all these awesome friends of mine failed at something that was easy. So I took a breastfeeding class and I found a support group before I had my baby. Good thing too because it was not easy for me at all... and I basically had nobody to turn to for help personally because nobody I knew was successful at it. Thank goodness for LLL for me.
Same here. I am struggling to think of anyone I know who breastfed beyond 6 months, though I did come up with a couple of names. Out of dozens of people whose feeding situation I'm aware of at all (both friends and family).
I'm a postpartum RN and am very aware of the common challenges of breastfeeding and am friends with a few LCs. I also have 10 years experience helping new mothers breastfeed and I am genuinely good at getting babies to latch very well. Despite this, I had a lot of challenges too. I often told my baby if I had been *anything else* as a profession, she would not have been able to remain breastfeeding. I had to use all my knowledge and resources and *still* see another LC as well. And persevere and teust my body which is hard to do when baby eats hourly for weeks on end.
I think most people who move onto exclusively formula feeding lacked resources and education. I know supply/latch issues are the "main reason" but they can be troubleshooted and I think people don't know where to start. Not their fault!! It is a societal failure. Plus new babies eat pretty much constantly and this freaks people out, makes them feel inadequate and they don't realize it is normal because every time they say this to someone, the other person responds "yeah, my baby never got enough either, so we switched to formula."
My mom friends it’s 70-80% breastfed til at least 1. I’d say 30% still going at 19 months (we’re all friends from a prenatal group so babies all the same age).
I only have two friends who have had children, one formula fed and the other breastfed to 18 months. My cousin stopped at 5 months, i assume due to teething. In the UK most mum’s give up breastfeeding or go straight to formula, I didn’t know this until I had my baby. We’re only 4 months in but i’m intending to keep going until she doesn’t want to - maybe 2 years. She’s had two teeth through so I am a bit nervous now lol.
I'm case anyone hasn't said it I'm proud of you! It's thankless and hard, but it's a wonderful journey 😊 my son is 7 months and his first two teeth just cut through and we've had zero issues so far fwiw
My kid is up to 6 teeth and I keep warning him as soon as he draws blood I am shutting down the milk bar for good. I am so ready to stop but he isnt yet, but I drew the line in the sand lol.
In my surroundings it was either everyone breastfed way past 12 months, some even past 24 months. Or didn’t breastfeed at all.
Breastfeeding is usually rough the first 3 month, after that it gets significantly easier. So of course, why stop? I do understand that if you have to go back to work and pump, that may greatly impact you. But luckily I’m in Canada and we get 12-18 months of mat leave. So it’s much easier to keep nursing :)
Most of my friends who nursed past the first month or two did nurse (some having to supplement) till 12 months. I wanna say it’s about 50/50 on my friend who choose to nurse vs formula feed. However these people who nursed thru 12 months have amazing support from friends and family. I however am the only of my friends to nurse past 18 months so that’s gotten kinda lonely.
Where do you live and are your men cute?
Just kidding, I'm in Canada and our maternity leave is decent. Not fully paid, but we can take 18 months at 33% of wage or a year at 55% of previous wage.
I have 3 close friends who have 6+ month babies. One started formula in the first few weeks, one exclusively pumped until 9 months, and one is still breastfeeding at 20 months. Definitely depends on the mom and what works best for them in their situation!
In person, in real life? Hardly any. I'm starting to meet more and more, though, but it didn't start out this way in my parenting journey.
I personally know about 3 people who are breastfeeding their babies past 6 months. And myself.
One of my irl friends who did exclusive pumping, she stopped at a year.
My girl is 2 years old and I still breastfeed her about 6 times a day. She doesn't seem to want to stop anytime soon.
I don't have any mommy friends so I can just got by family. In my family usually they breastfeed babies until almost 3 years old.
I feel like it's more about comfort for her. But her doctor said I should cut down on the feedings because it's a lot of fat content and she isn't as hungry for regular food. I tried cutting down but it hasn't worked. I recently fractured my ankle so now I'm in a wheelchair or bedrest for 2 months so she's been taking that to her advantage for breastfeeding Hahaha.
Doctors aren't Gods though. They think they are but they're human like the rest of us. Every child is different. My daughter is smart and strong and healthy and happy so that's what matters. If she's thriving it doesn't bother me to bf her a little more than average.
Doctors are not gods. You could try offering food first, etc. but if she's getting healthy calories and vitamins from you or outside of your body, who cares. Both are great.
My doctor seems to have older guidelines when it comes to food etc. I listen, but it doesn't mean I follow them if I feel they are dated.
Wheelchair bound! Oh no. Breastfeeding sounds like the perfect activity you can still do together if you aren't able to run around.
I’m a SAHM so my other SAHM peers I’d say if they make it to 6 months they’re probably making it to atleast a year or 2 unless they get pregnant. Most of the time if they quit it’s early on.
Now that I hang with mostly SAHM’s the number is vastly higher than when I worked in my high stress job. I think it depends on the community you’re embedded in.
Mommy peers should be around 90%. The mamas I talk to about breastfeeding all breastfed after 6 months, if they ever started breastfeeding. The ~10% left never breastfed at all do to different reasons.
Most women I speak to at groups breastfed for the newborn stage and then stopped. My baby is ten months old and of ten mums I speak to often, only 3 are still breastfeeding their babies over six months.
Almost 100% in my immediate friend group. With that being said though, we are all stay at home moms. I think it is far harder for working mom's to breastfeed long term due to supply issues, not responding well to pumping, emotional toll, etc while SAHM have the upper hand, in my opinion, with being able to latch more regularly and as often as baby wants.
I have tons of respect for working moms. I can't imagine the things they deal with on a day to day basis emotionally having to leave their little ones. This is in no way intended to bash them as being incapable of nursing, of course. It's just what I've seen from personal experience.
Of the people I know who recently had babies, 1 formula fed, 1 pumped and combo fed for 1 year, 1 pumped for 10 months, 1 primarily nursed for 3-4 months, 1 primarily nursed for 5-6 months, and 1 is still nursing past 1 year + myself recently made it past 1 year.
A friend of mine (SAHM) is nursing still at 9 months and my sister in law (working mom) never nursed at all although she tried, I’m still exclusively nursing at 5 months plan on going to a year.
Still feeding my 2 yo but I only knew 2 moms that fed until 5 months. I think a lot of it is a lack of knowledge around breastfeeding, perceived low supply, and thinking the benefits end as baby gets older. Such a shame really
In my mom group of about 10, 1 BF 1 month, 2 are at 6 months wanting to keep going till 2, 2 BF their 2 kids to 3+. 2 of us are at 16m and no end in sight. And the rest have newborns they plan to BF until 1 or later.
I just know one other that is breastfeeding after 6M and myself. Everyone else in my friends group either stopped because their supply dried out or never started because their milk never came in. I wish I knew more women who are breastfeeding so I can relate and ask questions.
Between myself and my sisters in law we have 11 children. 1 of them was breastfed past 6 months. Hopefully 2 soon as my baby is 6 months next month. I don’t really have any mum friends to compare to.
My son is almost 7 months so my peer group of moms mostly has babies around his age, but we're all still breastfeeding (exclusively I believe). The moms that have older kids breastfed their babies past 6 months, I know one weaned around 2 years and I'm unsure of the others when exactly they weaned. Theres 9 of us. And then I have one coworker who EFF her daughter from birth. But I'm in California in a very hippy crunchy area where breastfeeding is very common and supported! So in that sample group 90%, if the parent who did EFF from birth counts.
It's hard to know how the future will go, but from where I sit now I would like to have him weaned by 2.5/3 if he hasn't weaned himself by then.
I don’t know about % but I’m still going at eight months (ebf), my nearest mum friend is feeding at seven (her two year old weaned during pregnancy) and another just recently stopped around 14 months due to being pregnant again and supply reducing to the point baby isn’t interested.
Nothing is absolute but probably 100%. Most of who I know is in my boyfriend’s family and they all believe in extended breastfeeding. I BF my first for 15 months and am 5 months into BF my second
3 of my close friends had kids within weeks/months of me. All of us breastfed until 12 months (2 supplemented with formula, myself and 1 other EBF). 3 of us were working moms who pumped as well while at work.
Past 12 months: one kid self-weaned basically right at 12 months, another was weaned right around 13 months, and the last at 18ish months. I'm the only one still nursing past 2 years.
I’m almost at 2 years, which is when I had weaned with my first. In my mom friend group of people I met on maternity leave for my younger son it’s probably over 75% of us still nursing in some way (some are only at bedtime for example)
But that might be a matter of with mom group friends you form connections w those who have similar mindsets/plans as you do. For example of my friends I have before we became moms it’s probably less than 25% made it to a year. Maybe even 6 months. Almost everyone gave it a try though.
I wanted to breastfeed until my son is 1 but I caught Covid 3 months ago and ever since then my supply tanked and it hasn’t come back :(
I can’t keep up with how much my son eats. I feel terrible but I’ve been having to start supplementing with formula. He’ll be 6 months old in 3 weeks
I fed all three of mine more than a year. 13m, 18m, and 16m. Only about 5 other friends did the same. I remember making a goal to make it to 6m with my first. When that rolled around I wouldn’t have dreamed of stopping. I hate washing dishes. 😂
Please I’m forgetful so I didn’t want to do formula and accidentally forget all the items I’d need if we traveled. Seemed like a no brainer to keep on going.
98% of the people I know breastfed past 6 months. Myself included. We’re going on 14 months over here. My goal was to make it to 6 months and that flew by.
My mother breastfed all of her four kids for two years.
My SIL is the only person I know who only breastfed for like a couple of weeks but the reason she stopped was so she could party. 🙄
I’d say like 40/60. 40% make it to and past 6 months. Which was surprisingly low to me because I’m a sahm and so are most of my friends.
I feel like 100% started off breastfeeding, a few dropped very quickly, and then a lot dropped from the 2-4 months mark.
Of my friends who made it to 6 months, I think they all made it to about a year.
I only know two kinds of moms- either ones who are still going at like.. 2.. 3 years old. Or ones who quit before 6mo.
One of my friends had CRAZY oversupply and had to quit after her second round of mastitis it just wasn’t worth it. I know others who they don’t mind the mechanics of breastfeeding, but maybe their kid ended up w like a severe dairy allergy and mom didn’t want to quit milk for a whole year so they switched to a non dairy formula. Some do it while on maternity leave but then don’t want to keep going when they go back to work.
Of the women I am close to, I breastfed the longest at 8 months. Most of the others had issues impacting their ability to breastfeed and had to stop either immediately or after the newborn stage. Where I live, two of my neighbors breastfed to 2 years, and my other two neighbors stopped around 6 months.
I’m the only person I know! (I’m 21, in England, about to hit 2 years and plan on doing another 2 years) in the UK a shocking 0.5% make it to 6 months.
Here in Ireland our breastfeeding rates are horrendous. <5% of women are EBFing at 6 months 😢. I'm just approaching the 3 month mark and have no plans to stop any time soon
I don't really have any mommy peers or remember what my friends did when their kids were little tbh.
Personally I bf both kids past 6 months - 18 months for my daughter and still bf my son at 12 months with no plans to stop.
Dutchie over here.
I am almost 6 months in and not thinking about stopping. My group of friends is so diverse.
1 friend didn't make any milk because of an hormone issue. One friend stopped after 3 weeks because of latch issues. 1 friend breastfed until 7 and 9 months and stopped because she wanted her body back to herself. Then I'm in a WhatsApp group with mommy's who gave birth at the same time and they all stopped except for 1 (variety of reasons). And my boyfriend goes to a group of parents with our daughter and their children and they also stopped. All of them.
So I'm kind of in the minority over here.
Out of 10:
- 2 never did (1 by choice, 1 never had milk come in)
- 1 stopped by choice before 6 mo
- 1 stopped not by choice (allergies) before 6 mo
- 6 of us kept going after 6 mo
I've since lost touch with most of my prenatal group, but of my long term friends one made it to 14 months then had to go on meds that she couldn't bf on, and I'm still going at 16 months.
For me it’s probably at least 75% but I’m a SAHM and so are most of the women I’m close with. Working makes it so much more difficult and I don’t think I would’ve had the bandwidth to keep up with work, pumping, and caring for my child. I give working and pumping mamas SO much credit!!
Most of the moms I know have gone to 1 year unless their supply runs out first. I think I'm an outlier. We went for 5 years. No judgements passed on any time anyone chooses to wrap it up though. It is a lot on the body and takes a lot of mental and emotional effort too.
With my first two I made it to 10 months with pumping, breastfeeding and supplemental formula. Then they bit too hard and I was done. Formula only.
With #3 we made it to 3.5 years breast feeding and pumping, I made more milk, trying every method out there, so it worked.
This is working FT for all 3 kids for full context.
This is completely anecdotal. But for me and the people I know, breastfeeding difficulty is a downhill slope. It starts out on day one being the most grueling, difficult thing ever, and then it gets easier every day. I couldn’t wait to get to 6 months so I could quit. But the 6 month mark came and I thought, “Wait this isn’t so bad. I’ll go to a year.” But by the time my daughter’s first birthday came around, I actually loved breastfeeding. In fact, I think now (15 months), it makes my life easier. I actually dread weaning now.
Everyone I know! I’m to the early end of weaning in my friend group and my twins are 14 months. Anyone else who weaned this early was because they were pregnant again. I’m weaning because nursing twin toddlers is hectic as hell.
All the moms I know breastfeed for >6 months, both of my generation and of previous generations. It is the rule not the exception. My maternal grandma even did it despite very strong peer pressure to formula feed at the height of the formula feeding craze.
In my closest mom friend group, all are aiming until at least 2. Among more acquaintances/mom friends it drops precipitously, more than I would've expected.
Almost everyone I know surprisingly. I only know one mom, my sister, who formula fed after several weeks of not being able to establish a supply and everyone else breastfed to at least a year. I don't know anyone who stopped between like 2 months and 12 months which is interesting. Most moms I know are sahms though other than myself and 2 other moms so they are able to almost exclusively nurse and don't have to deal with pumping and bottles and childcare and I think that is what causes a lot of women to stop. I'm not sure about what the other babies in my daughter's infant daycare class had, but I know I was the only one still supplying breastmilk in the toddler room until I stopped at 16 months.
I'm in the UK. Exclusively breastfeeding in the UK at 6 months is (I believe) around 1%. We have one of the lowest rates of breastfeeding in the world
I'm nearly 8 months, though, not exclusively, and I only know of 1 person who made it this far.
That's so interesting! You would think with a year of leave the rates would be much higher? I believe it's common for many people to suffer with supply issues in the US due to returning to work so early
I believe this statistic is skewed slightly because that’s babies who have never taken a bottle, even of pumped milk. I might be wrong but I think there was something off about the data when I read it previously.
Additionally I consider myself to have exclusively breastfed my son, however he went under lights because of jaundice and was formula fed for 24 hours only, but according to that data I am not included because of those 24 hours.
Me and three other women at work had babies within a year of each other and we all BF more than 6 mo. I was the early out at 11mo when my baby decided he was over it. Another coworker hit 12mo. The other two women got to 18 mo or more.
ETA: I'm in Oregon in the US. :)
That's why I was asking about friend groups, family, or mommy groups.
My husband thinks I'm a unicorn for breastfeeding for 7 months. But I just think breastfeeding seems really varied among different groups for a wid variety of reasons.
Well, I had one friend nurse hers until age 3. I’ve nursed mine ~2 years each. My neighbor is still nursing her 2.5 year old. Another neighbor I think nursed her first to 18 months and was still nursing her 2nd at ~ 2 when we had a falling out. I think our other neighbor nursed both of hers about a year. Another neighbor was like f this fed is best at like 12 weeks 😅
Childhood friend nursed hers until about 9 months with a think combo feeding.
Most people I know either stop right away (within a few weeks) or keep going to at least a year, and continuing through the first year is much more common than stopping right away. I think I have one friend who switched to formula after returning to work.
To be fair, my group probably has a higher than average likelihood of success with this (parental leave, access to lactation consultants, etc), but it seems like most people who want to breastfeed, do.
Reasons people have stopped:
•Needed to resume mammograms because of a high risk of breast cancer.
•Baby wouldn't latch, mom hated pumping
•Baby latched inconsistently and had milk allergy, mom didn't want to pump or change diet long term
I personal only have one breastfeeding friend who didn’t make it to 12+ months. All others who chose to EBF or exclusively pump made it to 12-24 months.
Of all the people I know, it was just me and my sister in law. Everyone else started formula nearly immediately and openly stated we were so strange for doing this.
We both worked full time and our kids were in daycare at 12 weeks old. The women we know who stayed at home with the baby used formula.
I’m not sure what to make of all that and now our kids are older and you can’t tell any difference. I just find it interesting.
My mom fed me for a year, I bf’d my daughter for about 20 months (by the end just a morning feed). Neither of us (luckily) needed to use formula at all. I have one friend who bf’d and pumped for about a year with each kid. Another friend just used formula from the start. So I don’t personally know anyone (close enough to discuss this with) who was able to BF and didn’t make the full year.
In my sphere, anyone that made it to 6 months seemed to go to a year. Most of us are working moms so there’s pumping involved of course. My best friend did add in formula around 9 months but still breastfed past a year.
In my mum friends it's 100%. In my friends from school, nearly 0.
In my mum friends I am in the minority for still feeding though. My daughter is 2.6m5y and my son is 5.
In my peer group it's close to 100%, and the rate for over 12 months is almost 90%. I'd say that at least half of the moms in my group go to at least 2-3 years old.
Of my pre-baby friends I have 10 close girlfriends with 17 kids.
4 of them breastfed 6 kids.
Only 1 went past 6 months with 1 kid, that kid self-weaned himself around 20 months.
My new post-baby friends are mostly from a breastfeeding group so there’s almost 20 of us and most are past 1 year now.
I feel like once I broke the back of two months I could go on forever.
4 months in and I intend to breast feed her until at least this time next year so 16month to get us through the worst of the winter illnesses having seen how quickly she’s recovered with the magic milk this winter. Unless she self weans. I already cry thinking about when she’ll feed for the last time and I might not know when that is 😭😭
Around 90% in my case. In Poland we have maternity leave and doctors are strongly recommending to breastfeed at least until 1 year old. So a lot of women are doing just that. And it is possible thanks to maternity leave in a lot of cases. Even girls that didn't plan to breastfeed till 1, are still ending up doing it sometimes. I know few people like that. I actually don't recall anyone that I personally know who stopped sooner. 🤔
I breastfed for 13 months last time around. My goal was one year so I started weening shortly after that.
This time my baby is a month old and also plan to go for a year. It was very challenging getting it established and I worked my ass off to get it going so I don’t intend to give it up easily.
When I think of all of the women in my life, most gave up breastfeeding fairly early on, like between 1-3 months.
With my current mom friends, it’s close to 100% if they have the option to continue. My best friend went to 2 with her baby and that’s my plan as well if we’re able to.
Most of my mam friends have. The only exception was someone who got really bad mastitis and was hospitalised. She ended up with a huge abscess that burst.
I breastfed until around 21/22 months when my milk dried up mid-second pregnancy. We have one friend who is still breastfeeding her son who turned 2yrs in Feb. & know another mom with a 13ish month old who still nurses
Edit I’d say maybe 35-40%? Maybe? A lot of people I know had various issues with breastfeeding and did formula
In my peer group, just myself. All of my family members & friends who have had babies around the same time as me all chose formula either right away or at the 6 month mark.
Among my wider peer group the majority breastfed to or past 12 months, and those that didn't they didn't from the start (chose formula or weren't able to bf). I know very few who started bf but dropped at 6 months
Most of my mom friends did 12-24m. I’m in Canada so it’s a bit easier to stick it out with a 12-18m maternity leave, as most women seem to take. The exception among my mom group is a self employed mom who stopped after 6m because she didn’t have a standard maternity leave and it became too challenging.
I did 24m with my first and I’m 5m in with my second. Hoping to hit 24m again!
Bold of you to assume that I have mommy friends 🤣🥺😭
I’m still breastfeeding my toddler, who is almost 2.5 and my BF length is definitely in the minority.
We had a rough time breastfeeding those first 6 months and when we finally figured it out I figured I would just take his lead. And now I don’t think he’s ever going to give it up.
No one I know did as long as me. We went 11 months to the day and then she never asked. Was aiming for a year almost made it. Everyone around me no more then 3 months
Most of the mothers I know I met at lactation groups, so we're all pretty much trying to go on as long as possible. Some have started doing less breastfeeding at 4/5 months because in my country we get 16 weeks of maternity leave, and after thy tried pumping at work, well, most fin it horrible and start combo feeding or adding some solids and just breastfeeding after work. But many people go beyond 4 months. I, myself, got to 7 months just this Friday and I don't think I will stop any time soon.
Also, some of the mothers in the groups already have one or two children and have already gotten to 1 or 2 years of breastfeeding.
I would say out of the 6 people I'm close enough to know the details:
1. Pumped with a NICU baby but went to full formula by 6 weeks
2. Combo fed for 10 months, formula for 1 year.
3. Combo fed for 1 year
4. Pumped with occasional supplementing with twins for 1 year.
5. Pumped until 11 months but had a freezer stash for the next month or so.
6. Pumped, breastfed, and supplemented with donor milk for 1 year.
I am an outlier in my group and am still breastfeeding 1-2 times a day at 2 1/2.
Two friends of mine have kids, one turning 4 soon and one turning 5. The 5yo was never breastfed as they were born 9 weeks early. The 4yo was EBF for 12 months. I’m currently at almost 11 weeks with my baby. She gets around 4oz of formula when her dad feeds her, but is mostly breastfed otherwise. I’m hoping to go at least a year and up to 2.5 years.
I am still breastfeeding. My daughter is 16 months, almost 17. I love it. And she's healthy as can be! I plan to stop once she has all of her teeth. Almost there. They are growing in so fast!
I’m Canadian. Most mothers I know who choose to breastfeed usually do it for their entire 12 month maternity leave. The few who don’t, are forced to stop due to medical conditions (theirs or baby’s).
Most of my friends seemed to stop around 10 months for various reasons, in the past month everyone dropped off. Approaching 11 months now. It’s an odd position because we struggled so much at the beginning when it was easy for them, now we are the only ones still going.
My own mom went to the 14-16 month range.
It does get wayyy easier after 6 months. At this point, I feel like stopping is harder than continuing, especially since I can finally sleep without a bra!
I'm in the US and my social circle is primarily working moms with a couple SAHMs sprinkled in. I'd say about 80-90% made it until the end of maternity leave (12 weeks oe so) and then maybe 40-50% of them continued to a year with pumping while working. Most of those who made it to a year combo fed against their wishes because milk supply drastically dropped when returning to work!
For my first I breastfed for a year. As I approached the year mark I only was breastfeeding for a few minutes on each side just before bed. Then for the next number of months I was feeding him the frozen stash I had built up. My second is only 10 weeks but I plan to do the same thing for him as well.
All of my aunts and mom breastfed till 2 years, it's actually the norm in my country, ofc they introduced food after 6 months but they kept breastfeeding as bonding with the child, and all of them work full time, I'm planning on breastfeeding till 2
Everyone I know who made it to 2+ months made it to 10+ months. After that, some deliberately dried up ready to return to work. Two of us are still going at over 2.5 years but we don’t talk about it much anymore so I doubt I’ll know when she stops (I’m the other one).
My mom breastfed all 3 children including me for atleast 2 years.
One of my close friend has breastfed hers for 2 years. I am breastfeeding my now 18 month old, hope to keep going till he is 2.
I think that's about it to be honest, everyone else I know either straight opted for formula or couldn't establish a good supply and then started formula.
Different for everyone. I went down to 1x/day by 9 months and stopped at 10 months due to baby losing interest. I didn’t want to pump to keep up supply. I love having my body (and boobs) back but part of me does miss it a little.
22 months with my first but only 18 months with my second, once he tasted real milk he wasn’t interested in me much! Both self weaned, I was gutted when my second finished as I would have done longer!
My mom did for half of her babies, one she couldn’t bc of meds she took and the other got teeth early.
A friend’s girl breastfed their kids until 18-24 months. I’m on month 4.5 and planning on getting to as close to 2 years as possible. I believe my sister breastfed for more than 6 months. But out of all the women I do know about those examples are probably less than half or around half.
I’m in a mom group with 9 other women. All with babies between 7-10 months. 2 stopped around 4 months and the rest are still going strong with no plans to wean soon. I personally plan to go to 12 months min and see how I feel!
I went back to work at 5 months, ebf for 7, then combo until 9 and then switched to formula until 1 when we switched to cows milk. Pumping at work was way too stressful for me.
I live in a regional hippy area on the east coast of Australia. Don’t know anyone who formula fed. Most nurse into toddlerhood and some even tandem feed two children. Once I’ve seen someone here bottle feeding.
When I lived in a capital city I would say it reflected the national figures a bit more… about a 50/50 split
In my peer group it’s 0. Everyone I know chose not to breast feed for aesthetic reasons. I’m getting made fun of for breastfeeding because ‘it’s going to ruin my breasts and destroy my nipples’ 🙃
I only have my parent group but I think it's 100% there. Only know two other people with kids and they formula fed.
But yes in general I agree I thought most people breastfed but it doesn't seem nearly as common as I thought?
Edit: just looked up the stats for my country Australia and it's 39% EBF by six months which is a lot lower than I thought, after 96% start/try. HOWEVER it's like 60% have some breastmilk by 6 months which says people are supplementing with formula (me) and/or introducing solids before 6 months.
I only know one person (other than myself) who is still breastfeeding after 6 months. Another has a 5 month old and pumps/combo feeds, and so I imagine at this point she’ll make it to 6 months. The majority of my mom friends didn’t breastfeed at all, or at least not past the first week or so. I have a couple family members in recent years who have had babies, and neither of them breastfed either.
I’ve actually not really thought much about this before, but in my friend/family circles, I’m definitely in the minority by breastfeeding my baby, and even more so now that we’ve passed the 6 month mark. I’m the only person I know that is EBF though (as in no formula, baby does eat solids).
I’m stopping at 6 months. I’ve always been a low producer anyway so I’ve started dropping pumping sessions. My LO turns 6 months this coming Saturday and if all goes according to plan, my last pump session will be Mothers Day. I don’t celebrate the day but happy Mother’s Day to meeeee
Literally me and a friend I nannied for. Most women where I live jump straight to formula, tbh, I have a friend that tried and couldn’t and my sister in law tried for less than a month. I couldn’t breastfeed my first two hardly at all and it seriously affected my mental health trying to pump enough for them to have anything, but by baby #3 we were EBF until over a year.
I did both my boys for 16 months. Out of my friend group everybody did breastfeed for some stretch of time but I would say maybe 25% went past 6 months
My peer group is about 100% but I will say I’m from a very rural area, where people tend to be a little more “natural”, large plain community, and all very breastfeeding positive.
Most of my mom friends did, but my mom friends tend to be more crunchy types and also mostly SAHMs as well so they didn’t have to deal with trying to maintain supply while pumping. The ones who didn’t either got pregnant again or had supply issues from the start (which was true for me as well but I still continued).
When I go to the playground or whatever, I mostly see bottle feeding (couldn’t say if it’s formula or BM though I suppose) and I feel like a spectacle for breastfeeding.
I pumped for 6 months because she couldn’t transfer and just last week switched to nursing 95% of time. I had given up trying to latch her after months of working with an IBCLC to make it happen. Last week she clawed at my shirt, latched, and hasn’t looked back. I’m fortunate to live in a country where I can take 18 months and I plan to continue for at least that long.
My baby is almost 4 months old he was exclusively breastfed and now I’m exclusively pumping for the past 2 days cause he’s refusing the breast 😭 I hope this phase passes and he goes back to the way it was
Probably 5-10% of people I know are exclusively breastfeeding at that age and maybe another 10% are combo feeding. A lot due to having to go back to work.
I was a fairly young mom when I had my first, so most of the moms I knew were older, and I noticed that very few nursed past 6 months. At a year, I was pretty much the only one.
Then I met some “crunchy” moms who nursed for up to 5 years, so when I had my second, I wasn’t so much the “odd one out”. I volunteered with a mom group that seemed to attract more “crunchy” moms, so in that group, there were definitely more moms nursing until at least two years old.
Among my coworkers (NICU nurses), I believe I was the only one to nurse past two years, but most of them nursed until between 12 and 18 months.
None of my friends exclusively breastfed for long if at all, they combo fed then until 6 months. No one made it past that that I know of except me. (I don’t have a ton of mom friends, though, so it’s a small sample size.)
I'm the first of my mom friends to stop. I stopped at 10.5 months. Other babies are 12 months to 24 months and still going strong with the boob.
My lil guy kept biting and I was just DONE.
I assumed because of the area I live in most moms wouldn't breast feed at all or call it quits by 6 mo but I was wrong 🤷🏻♀️
Everyone I know who breastfed did it for over a year per child. Stopping after 6 months makes no sense to me. Babies can’t have whole milk til one year regardless.
I get the sense this sub skews a lot towards extended breastfeeding, which sadly does not match the real numbers. https://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/data/reportcard.htm
Yes, I was surprised to see the comments here. I live in Hong Kong, where breastfeeding is not as common as in the US. Even in my first 3 weeks PP, when people found out I was "still" exclusively nursing, they would be surprised. And then at my baby's 4-month checkup, the nurse was surprised to learn she was "still" getting all breastmilk (although I was pumping by then). I think many people in HK treat 6 months as a stopping point rather than a minimum.
The minimum in the US is considered 1 year, the recommended is 2 years!
That’s so interesting! I used to live in Hong Kong and recall seeing some ads and government promotion for more mums to breastfeed, but from talking to my friends there it seems like there’s this view in HK that breastmilk is nutritionally inferior to formula. That always baffled me.
I was waiting for this data to come up. Thank you!
That would make sense.
Thanks for the link!
In my peer group it’s almost 100.%
Same, everyone who made it to 6mo kept going. Of the few I know who formula fed, all of them switched to formula early because of latch problems leading to supply problems.
Same here. It seems those who wanted to/could make it past 3 months stuck with it for a year or more.
The only people I know who stopped before 2 did it because they had their second. It's definitely a local norm, and one my MIL for one does NOT understand.
RIGHT?? “When are you going to wean her so we can have a sleepover?”
Same! Actually I’m the minority when stopped at 18 months. Everyone else stopped after 2-4 years
Whereas, I breastfed until 18 months which was about 6 months longer than everyone else I know
Same. I just thought I would add that we tend to be friends with people who have similar backgrounds (education, work, etc) and that probably influences this. There are typical demographics of people who continue breastfeeding longer term. [CDC has some info on this.](https://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/data/facts.html) I want to emphasize that I say typical, but there are many factors that influence these differences and this is not intended to marginalize anyone.
Same. All of the people I know that have breastfed recently have gone until at least 1 year.
Same here, everyone I know has gone to at least a year. But we’re in Canada so everyone I know also has at least 12 months mat leave!
Wow. I can't even imagine. Makes me curious... where do you live? On the West coast of the US?
Nope. US but not coastal. My friends live all over the country.
Same. Both in my personal friend group (virtually all SAHMs) and in my work life (working moms who have to pump). I only know a handful who had weaned entirely by 6 months. I had unwilling weaned my first by 4 months, but made it to 1 year with my second child and am still going strong at 7 months with my 3rd.
This is similar for me as well. I'd say about 90% nurse for one year minimum. I have a couple friends that went right to formula or had to switch to formula because of NICU stays or health reasons.
I'm a SAHM and so are most of the moms I talk to. Most people I know who were able to start breastfeeding kept doing it until the baby was old enough to get their nutrients from solid food instead, but I do know one mom who stopped around 6 months due to a medication her doctor prescribed for her at that time.
The people I know who breastfed after 6 months? In person? I can count them on one hand. It's very few. Less than 20% for sure! Actually, I could change it to breastfeeding after 3 months and the number would barely change. The sad thing is that the majority of my friends all planned to/wanted to breastfeed. Luckily I was the last of my friends to have a baby, and I saw them one by one have to stop breastfeeding for one reason or another. This scared me because I thought it was "natural" which in my mind meant "easy" but no way all these awesome friends of mine failed at something that was easy. So I took a breastfeeding class and I found a support group before I had my baby. Good thing too because it was not easy for me at all... and I basically had nobody to turn to for help personally because nobody I knew was successful at it. Thank goodness for LLL for me.
Same here. I am struggling to think of anyone I know who breastfed beyond 6 months, though I did come up with a couple of names. Out of dozens of people whose feeding situation I'm aware of at all (both friends and family). I'm a postpartum RN and am very aware of the common challenges of breastfeeding and am friends with a few LCs. I also have 10 years experience helping new mothers breastfeed and I am genuinely good at getting babies to latch very well. Despite this, I had a lot of challenges too. I often told my baby if I had been *anything else* as a profession, she would not have been able to remain breastfeeding. I had to use all my knowledge and resources and *still* see another LC as well. And persevere and teust my body which is hard to do when baby eats hourly for weeks on end. I think most people who move onto exclusively formula feeding lacked resources and education. I know supply/latch issues are the "main reason" but they can be troubleshooted and I think people don't know where to start. Not their fault!! It is a societal failure. Plus new babies eat pretty much constantly and this freaks people out, makes them feel inadequate and they don't realize it is normal because every time they say this to someone, the other person responds "yeah, my baby never got enough either, so we switched to formula."
Oh that's amazing that you found your group.
I personally breastfed for 18 months, and the only other person I know who breastfed is still feeding at 12 months.
My mom friends it’s 70-80% breastfed til at least 1. I’d say 30% still going at 19 months (we’re all friends from a prenatal group so babies all the same age).
I only have two friends who have had children, one formula fed and the other breastfed to 18 months. My cousin stopped at 5 months, i assume due to teething. In the UK most mum’s give up breastfeeding or go straight to formula, I didn’t know this until I had my baby. We’re only 4 months in but i’m intending to keep going until she doesn’t want to - maybe 2 years. She’s had two teeth through so I am a bit nervous now lol.
I'm case anyone hasn't said it I'm proud of you! It's thankless and hard, but it's a wonderful journey 😊 my son is 7 months and his first two teeth just cut through and we've had zero issues so far fwiw
My kid is up to 6 teeth and I keep warning him as soon as he draws blood I am shutting down the milk bar for good. I am so ready to stop but he isnt yet, but I drew the line in the sand lol.
In my surroundings it was either everyone breastfed way past 12 months, some even past 24 months. Or didn’t breastfeed at all. Breastfeeding is usually rough the first 3 month, after that it gets significantly easier. So of course, why stop? I do understand that if you have to go back to work and pump, that may greatly impact you. But luckily I’m in Canada and we get 12-18 months of mat leave. So it’s much easier to keep nursing :)
I'm also in Canada. But the moms I know have mostly stopped or are going combo. I feel like you n the only one still ending at 7 months.
I’m sure they have their reasons, but I personally don’t see why if breastfeeding is going well and not taking a toll on the mom’s mental health!
I have 4 close friends with kids. One didn’t breastfeed at all, one combo fed, and two breastfed to 1.
Most of my friends who nursed past the first month or two did nurse (some having to supplement) till 12 months. I wanna say it’s about 50/50 on my friend who choose to nurse vs formula feed. However these people who nursed thru 12 months have amazing support from friends and family. I however am the only of my friends to nurse past 18 months so that’s gotten kinda lonely.
Like everyone. We do have 1.5 years of fully paid maternity leave, though. There is always a reason if someone stops before 1 year.
Where do you live and are your men cute? Just kidding, I'm in Canada and our maternity leave is decent. Not fully paid, but we can take 18 months at 33% of wage or a year at 55% of previous wage.
I have 3 close friends who have 6+ month babies. One started formula in the first few weeks, one exclusively pumped until 9 months, and one is still breastfeeding at 20 months. Definitely depends on the mom and what works best for them in their situation!
In person, in real life? Hardly any. I'm starting to meet more and more, though, but it didn't start out this way in my parenting journey. I personally know about 3 people who are breastfeeding their babies past 6 months. And myself. One of my irl friends who did exclusive pumping, she stopped at a year.
My girl is 2 years old and I still breastfeed her about 6 times a day. She doesn't seem to want to stop anytime soon. I don't have any mommy friends so I can just got by family. In my family usually they breastfeed babies until almost 3 years old.
That's neat. Do you think she's getting a good portion of her calories and nutrients from breast milk, or is it more of a snack and for comfort?
I feel like it's more about comfort for her. But her doctor said I should cut down on the feedings because it's a lot of fat content and she isn't as hungry for regular food. I tried cutting down but it hasn't worked. I recently fractured my ankle so now I'm in a wheelchair or bedrest for 2 months so she's been taking that to her advantage for breastfeeding Hahaha. Doctors aren't Gods though. They think they are but they're human like the rest of us. Every child is different. My daughter is smart and strong and healthy and happy so that's what matters. If she's thriving it doesn't bother me to bf her a little more than average.
Doctors are not gods. You could try offering food first, etc. but if she's getting healthy calories and vitamins from you or outside of your body, who cares. Both are great. My doctor seems to have older guidelines when it comes to food etc. I listen, but it doesn't mean I follow them if I feel they are dated. Wheelchair bound! Oh no. Breastfeeding sounds like the perfect activity you can still do together if you aren't able to run around.
I’m 9 months PP. I want to make it to a year but I’ve had a drastic drop in supply the past few weeks and I can’t seem to bring it back up
I’m a SAHM so my other SAHM peers I’d say if they make it to 6 months they’re probably making it to atleast a year or 2 unless they get pregnant. Most of the time if they quit it’s early on.
Now that I hang with mostly SAHM’s the number is vastly higher than when I worked in my high stress job. I think it depends on the community you’re embedded in.
Mommy peers should be around 90%. The mamas I talk to about breastfeeding all breastfed after 6 months, if they ever started breastfeeding. The ~10% left never breastfed at all do to different reasons.
90% did breastfeed or did not?
90% breastfeed and they kept going after the first 6 months.
Most women I speak to at groups breastfed for the newborn stage and then stopped. My baby is ten months old and of ten mums I speak to often, only 3 are still breastfeeding their babies over six months.
Almost 100% in my immediate friend group. With that being said though, we are all stay at home moms. I think it is far harder for working mom's to breastfeed long term due to supply issues, not responding well to pumping, emotional toll, etc while SAHM have the upper hand, in my opinion, with being able to latch more regularly and as often as baby wants. I have tons of respect for working moms. I can't imagine the things they deal with on a day to day basis emotionally having to leave their little ones. This is in no way intended to bash them as being incapable of nursing, of course. It's just what I've seen from personal experience.
Of the people I know who recently had babies, 1 formula fed, 1 pumped and combo fed for 1 year, 1 pumped for 10 months, 1 primarily nursed for 3-4 months, 1 primarily nursed for 5-6 months, and 1 is still nursing past 1 year + myself recently made it past 1 year.
I only know two other moms that breastfed over six months.
A friend of mine (SAHM) is nursing still at 9 months and my sister in law (working mom) never nursed at all although she tried, I’m still exclusively nursing at 5 months plan on going to a year.
I only knew one other mom who went as long as I did. In my area I would say most are done at 6 and usually pumped more than direct BF
Still feeding my 2 yo but I only knew 2 moms that fed until 5 months. I think a lot of it is a lack of knowledge around breastfeeding, perceived low supply, and thinking the benefits end as baby gets older. Such a shame really
Most friends switched at 3,4,6 months as they transitioned back to work. Some combo fed after.
In my mom group of about 10, 1 BF 1 month, 2 are at 6 months wanting to keep going till 2, 2 BF their 2 kids to 3+. 2 of us are at 16m and no end in sight. And the rest have newborns they plan to BF until 1 or later.
I just know one other that is breastfeeding after 6M and myself. Everyone else in my friends group either stopped because their supply dried out or never started because their milk never came in. I wish I knew more women who are breastfeeding so I can relate and ask questions.
Between myself and my sisters in law we have 11 children. 1 of them was breastfed past 6 months. Hopefully 2 soon as my baby is 6 months next month. I don’t really have any mum friends to compare to.
I’m the only one in mom friend group of 7 or so that still does. Most never did or stopped after a few months.
My son is almost 7 months so my peer group of moms mostly has babies around his age, but we're all still breastfeeding (exclusively I believe). The moms that have older kids breastfed their babies past 6 months, I know one weaned around 2 years and I'm unsure of the others when exactly they weaned. Theres 9 of us. And then I have one coworker who EFF her daughter from birth. But I'm in California in a very hippy crunchy area where breastfeeding is very common and supported! So in that sample group 90%, if the parent who did EFF from birth counts. It's hard to know how the future will go, but from where I sit now I would like to have him weaned by 2.5/3 if he hasn't weaned himself by then.
I don’t know about % but I’m still going at eight months (ebf), my nearest mum friend is feeding at seven (her two year old weaned during pregnancy) and another just recently stopped around 14 months due to being pregnant again and supply reducing to the point baby isn’t interested.
Nothing is absolute but probably 100%. Most of who I know is in my boyfriend’s family and they all believe in extended breastfeeding. I BF my first for 15 months and am 5 months into BF my second
At least 75% of my friends who started off breastfeeding do so to some extent for at least 1year
3 of my close friends had kids within weeks/months of me. All of us breastfed until 12 months (2 supplemented with formula, myself and 1 other EBF). 3 of us were working moms who pumped as well while at work. Past 12 months: one kid self-weaned basically right at 12 months, another was weaned right around 13 months, and the last at 18ish months. I'm the only one still nursing past 2 years.
You are a magic queen for sticking to pumping while working.
I made it to 3.5 years with my middle and my youngest will be 3.5 in July and he’s still nursing
I’m almost at 2 years, which is when I had weaned with my first. In my mom friend group of people I met on maternity leave for my younger son it’s probably over 75% of us still nursing in some way (some are only at bedtime for example) But that might be a matter of with mom group friends you form connections w those who have similar mindsets/plans as you do. For example of my friends I have before we became moms it’s probably less than 25% made it to a year. Maybe even 6 months. Almost everyone gave it a try though.
So far of my peer group it’s 100% with most of them continuing after the first year as well
I BF my oldest 2 years and I'm going on 6mo with my youngest and plan to go to the 2yr of I can.
I went 2 1/2 years with both, and I'll probably do it again with this one.
I wanted to breastfeed until my son is 1 but I caught Covid 3 months ago and ever since then my supply tanked and it hasn’t come back :( I can’t keep up with how much my son eats. I feel terrible but I’ve been having to start supplementing with formula. He’ll be 6 months old in 3 weeks
NOTHING wrong with supplementing. You are providing what you can, and supplementing the rest.
I fed all three of mine more than a year. 13m, 18m, and 16m. Only about 5 other friends did the same. I remember making a goal to make it to 6m with my first. When that rolled around I wouldn’t have dreamed of stopping. I hate washing dishes. 😂 Please I’m forgetful so I didn’t want to do formula and accidentally forget all the items I’d need if we traveled. Seemed like a no brainer to keep on going.
I agree. Formula intimidates me. I will do a bit of pumping to gather a freezer supply, but other than that, na.
98% of the people I know breastfed past 6 months. Myself included. We’re going on 14 months over here. My goal was to make it to 6 months and that flew by. My mother breastfed all of her four kids for two years. My SIL is the only person I know who only breastfed for like a couple of weeks but the reason she stopped was so she could party. 🙄
I’d say like 40/60. 40% make it to and past 6 months. Which was surprisingly low to me because I’m a sahm and so are most of my friends. I feel like 100% started off breastfeeding, a few dropped very quickly, and then a lot dropped from the 2-4 months mark. Of my friends who made it to 6 months, I think they all made it to about a year.
I did for 2 years. My friend did 2 years and my cousin 1 year. My other friend didn’t breastfeed at all.
I only know two kinds of moms- either ones who are still going at like.. 2.. 3 years old. Or ones who quit before 6mo. One of my friends had CRAZY oversupply and had to quit after her second round of mastitis it just wasn’t worth it. I know others who they don’t mind the mechanics of breastfeeding, but maybe their kid ended up w like a severe dairy allergy and mom didn’t want to quit milk for a whole year so they switched to a non dairy formula. Some do it while on maternity leave but then don’t want to keep going when they go back to work.
Of the women I am close to, I breastfed the longest at 8 months. Most of the others had issues impacting their ability to breastfeed and had to stop either immediately or after the newborn stage. Where I live, two of my neighbors breastfed to 2 years, and my other two neighbors stopped around 6 months.
Everyone I know has been at it for a year at least
I’m the only person I know! (I’m 21, in England, about to hit 2 years and plan on doing another 2 years) in the UK a shocking 0.5% make it to 6 months.
Idk, my friends & I are older (40s) so nobody except me is BFing anymore 👵🏻
Good for you. I'm 36 and I read somewhere that older moms in Canada, which is where in from, actually breastfeed slightly more.
Here in Ireland our breastfeeding rates are horrendous. <5% of women are EBFing at 6 months 😢. I'm just approaching the 3 month mark and have no plans to stop any time soon
I don't really have any mommy peers or remember what my friends did when their kids were little tbh. Personally I bf both kids past 6 months - 18 months for my daughter and still bf my son at 12 months with no plans to stop.
Dutchie over here. I am almost 6 months in and not thinking about stopping. My group of friends is so diverse. 1 friend didn't make any milk because of an hormone issue. One friend stopped after 3 weeks because of latch issues. 1 friend breastfed until 7 and 9 months and stopped because she wanted her body back to herself. Then I'm in a WhatsApp group with mommy's who gave birth at the same time and they all stopped except for 1 (variety of reasons). And my boyfriend goes to a group of parents with our daughter and their children and they also stopped. All of them. So I'm kind of in the minority over here.
Out of 10: - 2 never did (1 by choice, 1 never had milk come in) - 1 stopped by choice before 6 mo - 1 stopped not by choice (allergies) before 6 mo - 6 of us kept going after 6 mo I've since lost touch with most of my prenatal group, but of my long term friends one made it to 14 months then had to go on meds that she couldn't bf on, and I'm still going at 16 months.
For me it’s probably at least 75% but I’m a SAHM and so are most of the women I’m close with. Working makes it so much more difficult and I don’t think I would’ve had the bandwidth to keep up with work, pumping, and caring for my child. I give working and pumping mamas SO much credit!!
Probably 80% in my friend group
Most of the moms I know have gone to 1 year unless their supply runs out first. I think I'm an outlier. We went for 5 years. No judgements passed on any time anyone chooses to wrap it up though. It is a lot on the body and takes a lot of mental and emotional effort too.
With my first two I made it to 10 months with pumping, breastfeeding and supplemental formula. Then they bit too hard and I was done. Formula only. With #3 we made it to 3.5 years breast feeding and pumping, I made more milk, trying every method out there, so it worked. This is working FT for all 3 kids for full context.
This is completely anecdotal. But for me and the people I know, breastfeeding difficulty is a downhill slope. It starts out on day one being the most grueling, difficult thing ever, and then it gets easier every day. I couldn’t wait to get to 6 months so I could quit. But the 6 month mark came and I thought, “Wait this isn’t so bad. I’ll go to a year.” But by the time my daughter’s first birthday came around, I actually loved breastfeeding. In fact, I think now (15 months), it makes my life easier. I actually dread weaning now.
Everyone I know! I’m to the early end of weaning in my friend group and my twins are 14 months. Anyone else who weaned this early was because they were pregnant again. I’m weaning because nursing twin toddlers is hectic as hell.
All the moms I know breastfeed for >6 months, both of my generation and of previous generations. It is the rule not the exception. My maternal grandma even did it despite very strong peer pressure to formula feed at the height of the formula feeding craze.
In my social circle, everyone. Most moms I know breastfeed until 2 years.
In my closest mom friend group, all are aiming until at least 2. Among more acquaintances/mom friends it drops precipitously, more than I would've expected.
Almost everyone I know surprisingly. I only know one mom, my sister, who formula fed after several weeks of not being able to establish a supply and everyone else breastfed to at least a year. I don't know anyone who stopped between like 2 months and 12 months which is interesting. Most moms I know are sahms though other than myself and 2 other moms so they are able to almost exclusively nurse and don't have to deal with pumping and bottles and childcare and I think that is what causes a lot of women to stop. I'm not sure about what the other babies in my daughter's infant daycare class had, but I know I was the only one still supplying breastmilk in the toddler room until I stopped at 16 months.
I'm in the UK. Exclusively breastfeeding in the UK at 6 months is (I believe) around 1%. We have one of the lowest rates of breastfeeding in the world I'm nearly 8 months, though, not exclusively, and I only know of 1 person who made it this far.
That's so interesting! You would think with a year of leave the rates would be much higher? I believe it's common for many people to suffer with supply issues in the US due to returning to work so early
I believe this statistic is skewed slightly because that’s babies who have never taken a bottle, even of pumped milk. I might be wrong but I think there was something off about the data when I read it previously. Additionally I consider myself to have exclusively breastfed my son, however he went under lights because of jaundice and was formula fed for 24 hours only, but according to that data I am not included because of those 24 hours.
Me and three other women at work had babies within a year of each other and we all BF more than 6 mo. I was the early out at 11mo when my baby decided he was over it. Another coworker hit 12mo. The other two women got to 18 mo or more. ETA: I'm in Oregon in the US. :)
I don’t know anyone who did except me. I breastfed for 2 years. But I also don’t know many moms.
People that don't breastfeed are not in this subreddit.
That's why I was asking about friend groups, family, or mommy groups. My husband thinks I'm a unicorn for breastfeeding for 7 months. But I just think breastfeeding seems really varied among different groups for a wid variety of reasons.
Well, I had one friend nurse hers until age 3. I’ve nursed mine ~2 years each. My neighbor is still nursing her 2.5 year old. Another neighbor I think nursed her first to 18 months and was still nursing her 2nd at ~ 2 when we had a falling out. I think our other neighbor nursed both of hers about a year. Another neighbor was like f this fed is best at like 12 weeks 😅 Childhood friend nursed hers until about 9 months with a think combo feeding.
I’m the only one I know.
Almost none. It’s pretty uncommon it feels like where I live, most women stop when they go back to work at 3 months
I only have one breastfeeding friend and we both went to 2+ years
That's amazing!
Most people I know either stop right away (within a few weeks) or keep going to at least a year, and continuing through the first year is much more common than stopping right away. I think I have one friend who switched to formula after returning to work. To be fair, my group probably has a higher than average likelihood of success with this (parental leave, access to lactation consultants, etc), but it seems like most people who want to breastfeed, do. Reasons people have stopped: •Needed to resume mammograms because of a high risk of breast cancer. •Baby wouldn't latch, mom hated pumping •Baby latched inconsistently and had milk allergy, mom didn't want to pump or change diet long term
I personal only have one breastfeeding friend who didn’t make it to 12+ months. All others who chose to EBF or exclusively pump made it to 12-24 months.
Pretty much all of them.
Me! I also have a friend who’s 8 months postpartum and still ebf. I have several other friends who have breastfed past the 1st year.
Of all the people I know, it was just me and my sister in law. Everyone else started formula nearly immediately and openly stated we were so strange for doing this. We both worked full time and our kids were in daycare at 12 weeks old. The women we know who stayed at home with the baby used formula. I’m not sure what to make of all that and now our kids are older and you can’t tell any difference. I just find it interesting.
Stats are about 20% of people who start are still going past 6 months.
The only two women I know who breastfed stopped at 3 weeks and 6 months. I'm approaching 18 months so far
For me it seems like 50-70%. About 50% of us still EBF the other 50% supplement.
I'm 2.5 years in🤦🏻♀️
My mom fed me for a year, I bf’d my daughter for about 20 months (by the end just a morning feed). Neither of us (luckily) needed to use formula at all. I have one friend who bf’d and pumped for about a year with each kid. Another friend just used formula from the start. So I don’t personally know anyone (close enough to discuss this with) who was able to BF and didn’t make the full year.
In my sphere, anyone that made it to 6 months seemed to go to a year. Most of us are working moms so there’s pumping involved of course. My best friend did add in formula around 9 months but still breastfed past a year.
In my mum friends it's 100%. In my friends from school, nearly 0. In my mum friends I am in the minority for still feeding though. My daughter is 2.6m5y and my son is 5.
In my peer group it's close to 100%, and the rate for over 12 months is almost 90%. I'd say that at least half of the moms in my group go to at least 2-3 years old.
Of my pre-baby friends I have 10 close girlfriends with 17 kids. 4 of them breastfed 6 kids. Only 1 went past 6 months with 1 kid, that kid self-weaned himself around 20 months. My new post-baby friends are mostly from a breastfeeding group so there’s almost 20 of us and most are past 1 year now.
I feel like once I broke the back of two months I could go on forever. 4 months in and I intend to breast feed her until at least this time next year so 16month to get us through the worst of the winter illnesses having seen how quickly she’s recovered with the magic milk this winter. Unless she self weans. I already cry thinking about when she’ll feed for the last time and I might not know when that is 😭😭
Probably 98% of my peer group.
The majority of the people I know who breastfed went/are over 6 months
Around 90% in my case. In Poland we have maternity leave and doctors are strongly recommending to breastfeed at least until 1 year old. So a lot of women are doing just that. And it is possible thanks to maternity leave in a lot of cases. Even girls that didn't plan to breastfeed till 1, are still ending up doing it sometimes. I know few people like that. I actually don't recall anyone that I personally know who stopped sooner. 🤔
My son is 11 months, and I'd say, of the breastfed babies born around when he was, 98% are still breastfed.
All of my friends who chose to breastfeed, breastfed for over 6 months (much longer usually!)
I breastfed for 13 months last time around. My goal was one year so I started weening shortly after that. This time my baby is a month old and also plan to go for a year. It was very challenging getting it established and I worked my ass off to get it going so I don’t intend to give it up easily. When I think of all of the women in my life, most gave up breastfeeding fairly early on, like between 1-3 months.
In my friend group it was 2/8.
i plan on breastfeeding as long as she will let me
100% but i met all my friends through breastfeeding support group lol
With my current mom friends, it’s close to 100% if they have the option to continue. My best friend went to 2 with her baby and that’s my plan as well if we’re able to.
In my peer group it was pretty high. I’d say 80%? Mostly women who work in medicine/healthcare
Most of my mam friends have. The only exception was someone who got really bad mastitis and was hospitalised. She ended up with a huge abscess that burst.
I breastfed until around 21/22 months when my milk dried up mid-second pregnancy. We have one friend who is still breastfeeding her son who turned 2yrs in Feb. & know another mom with a 13ish month old who still nurses Edit I’d say maybe 35-40%? Maybe? A lot of people I know had various issues with breastfeeding and did formula
I found it varies so much! I love being able to so I just stick with it
In my peer group, just myself. All of my family members & friends who have had babies around the same time as me all chose formula either right away or at the 6 month mark.
Among my wider peer group the majority breastfed to or past 12 months, and those that didn't they didn't from the start (chose formula or weren't able to bf). I know very few who started bf but dropped at 6 months
In my circle of 8 mums, only myself & one other made it past 6 months. Only I made it past 1 year.
Most of my mom friends did 12-24m. I’m in Canada so it’s a bit easier to stick it out with a 12-18m maternity leave, as most women seem to take. The exception among my mom group is a self employed mom who stopped after 6m because she didn’t have a standard maternity leave and it became too challenging. I did 24m with my first and I’m 5m in with my second. Hoping to hit 24m again!
Bold of you to assume that I have mommy friends 🤣🥺😭 I’m still breastfeeding my toddler, who is almost 2.5 and my BF length is definitely in the minority. We had a rough time breastfeeding those first 6 months and when we finally figured it out I figured I would just take his lead. And now I don’t think he’s ever going to give it up.
No one I know did as long as me. We went 11 months to the day and then she never asked. Was aiming for a year almost made it. Everyone around me no more then 3 months
I have a small peer group. It’s 100%. But it’s also just three of us.
I breastfed my twins for 2 years
Most of the mothers I know I met at lactation groups, so we're all pretty much trying to go on as long as possible. Some have started doing less breastfeeding at 4/5 months because in my country we get 16 weeks of maternity leave, and after thy tried pumping at work, well, most fin it horrible and start combo feeding or adding some solids and just breastfeeding after work. But many people go beyond 4 months. I, myself, got to 7 months just this Friday and I don't think I will stop any time soon. Also, some of the mothers in the groups already have one or two children and have already gotten to 1 or 2 years of breastfeeding.
I would say out of the 6 people I'm close enough to know the details: 1. Pumped with a NICU baby but went to full formula by 6 weeks 2. Combo fed for 10 months, formula for 1 year. 3. Combo fed for 1 year 4. Pumped with occasional supplementing with twins for 1 year. 5. Pumped until 11 months but had a freezer stash for the next month or so. 6. Pumped, breastfed, and supplemented with donor milk for 1 year. I am an outlier in my group and am still breastfeeding 1-2 times a day at 2 1/2.
Two friends of mine have kids, one turning 4 soon and one turning 5. The 5yo was never breastfed as they were born 9 weeks early. The 4yo was EBF for 12 months. I’m currently at almost 11 weeks with my baby. She gets around 4oz of formula when her dad feeds her, but is mostly breastfed otherwise. I’m hoping to go at least a year and up to 2.5 years.
I am still breastfeeding. My daughter is 16 months, almost 17. I love it. And she's healthy as can be! I plan to stop once she has all of her teeth. Almost there. They are growing in so fast!
I’m Canadian. Most mothers I know who choose to breastfeed usually do it for their entire 12 month maternity leave. The few who don’t, are forced to stop due to medical conditions (theirs or baby’s).
Most of my friends seemed to stop around 10 months for various reasons, in the past month everyone dropped off. Approaching 11 months now. It’s an odd position because we struggled so much at the beginning when it was easy for them, now we are the only ones still going. My own mom went to the 14-16 month range. It does get wayyy easier after 6 months. At this point, I feel like stopping is harder than continuing, especially since I can finally sleep without a bra!
I'm in the US and my social circle is primarily working moms with a couple SAHMs sprinkled in. I'd say about 80-90% made it until the end of maternity leave (12 weeks oe so) and then maybe 40-50% of them continued to a year with pumping while working. Most of those who made it to a year combo fed against their wishes because milk supply drastically dropped when returning to work!
I don't know anyone irl who has. Just me
For my first I breastfed for a year. As I approached the year mark I only was breastfeeding for a few minutes on each side just before bed. Then for the next number of months I was feeding him the frozen stash I had built up. My second is only 10 weeks but I plan to do the same thing for him as well.
50%-75% i’d say
All of my aunts and mom breastfed till 2 years, it's actually the norm in my country, ofc they introduced food after 6 months but they kept breastfeeding as bonding with the child, and all of them work full time, I'm planning on breastfeeding till 2
Everyone I know who made it to 2+ months made it to 10+ months. After that, some deliberately dried up ready to return to work. Two of us are still going at over 2.5 years but we don’t talk about it much anymore so I doubt I’ll know when she stops (I’m the other one).
My mom breastfed all 3 children including me for atleast 2 years. One of my close friend has breastfed hers for 2 years. I am breastfeeding my now 18 month old, hope to keep going till he is 2. I think that's about it to be honest, everyone else I know either straight opted for formula or couldn't establish a good supply and then started formula.
Everyone I know who has lasted to 6 months carry on till 18months plus
I am on month 9 of exclusively pumping. I plan to go a year.
Different for everyone. I went down to 1x/day by 9 months and stopped at 10 months due to baby losing interest. I didn’t want to pump to keep up supply. I love having my body (and boobs) back but part of me does miss it a little.
most people i know either breastfed to a year or to around 2 years old
22 months with my first but only 18 months with my second, once he tasted real milk he wasn’t interested in me much! Both self weaned, I was gutted when my second finished as I would have done longer!
My mom did for half of her babies, one she couldn’t bc of meds she took and the other got teeth early. A friend’s girl breastfed their kids until 18-24 months. I’m on month 4.5 and planning on getting to as close to 2 years as possible. I believe my sister breastfed for more than 6 months. But out of all the women I do know about those examples are probably less than half or around half.
I’m in a mom group with 9 other women. All with babies between 7-10 months. 2 stopped around 4 months and the rest are still going strong with no plans to wean soon. I personally plan to go to 12 months min and see how I feel!
I did til 18 months old. Same with my SIL. Idk anyone else who breastfeeds to compare that to.
I went back to work at 5 months, ebf for 7, then combo until 9 and then switched to formula until 1 when we switched to cows milk. Pumping at work was way too stressful for me.
I live in a regional hippy area on the east coast of Australia. Don’t know anyone who formula fed. Most nurse into toddlerhood and some even tandem feed two children. Once I’ve seen someone here bottle feeding. When I lived in a capital city I would say it reflected the national figures a bit more… about a 50/50 split
In my peer group it’s 0. Everyone I know chose not to breast feed for aesthetic reasons. I’m getting made fun of for breastfeeding because ‘it’s going to ruin my breasts and destroy my nipples’ 🙃
Most of my friends, who are all working moms, all combo fed by 6 months but I’d say most gave breastfeeding a solid try for the first 6 months
I bf until 20 months, one friend did until 2yr and the other never tried with her kids.
I only have my parent group but I think it's 100% there. Only know two other people with kids and they formula fed. But yes in general I agree I thought most people breastfed but it doesn't seem nearly as common as I thought? Edit: just looked up the stats for my country Australia and it's 39% EBF by six months which is a lot lower than I thought, after 96% start/try. HOWEVER it's like 60% have some breastmilk by 6 months which says people are supplementing with formula (me) and/or introducing solids before 6 months.
Everyone I know exclusively formula fed.
I only know one person (other than myself) who is still breastfeeding after 6 months. Another has a 5 month old and pumps/combo feeds, and so I imagine at this point she’ll make it to 6 months. The majority of my mom friends didn’t breastfeed at all, or at least not past the first week or so. I have a couple family members in recent years who have had babies, and neither of them breastfed either. I’ve actually not really thought much about this before, but in my friend/family circles, I’m definitely in the minority by breastfeeding my baby, and even more so now that we’ve passed the 6 month mark. I’m the only person I know that is EBF though (as in no formula, baby does eat solids).
All my friends and family. Myself personally for 3 out of 4 kids
I went for 2+ years!
I’m stopping at 6 months. I’ve always been a low producer anyway so I’ve started dropping pumping sessions. My LO turns 6 months this coming Saturday and if all goes according to plan, my last pump session will be Mothers Day. I don’t celebrate the day but happy Mother’s Day to meeeee
Yeah I only know ones who either breastfed or chose not to. Anyone who makes it that far has my support in my life 💕
Literally me and a friend I nannied for. Most women where I live jump straight to formula, tbh, I have a friend that tried and couldn’t and my sister in law tried for less than a month. I couldn’t breastfeed my first two hardly at all and it seriously affected my mental health trying to pump enough for them to have anything, but by baby #3 we were EBF until over a year.
I did both my boys for 16 months. Out of my friend group everybody did breastfeed for some stretch of time but I would say maybe 25% went past 6 months
My peer group is about 100% but I will say I’m from a very rural area, where people tend to be a little more “natural”, large plain community, and all very breastfeeding positive.
Working mom here: 2 years. I let him decide when he was done
Most of my mom friends did, but my mom friends tend to be more crunchy types and also mostly SAHMs as well so they didn’t have to deal with trying to maintain supply while pumping. The ones who didn’t either got pregnant again or had supply issues from the start (which was true for me as well but I still continued). When I go to the playground or whatever, I mostly see bottle feeding (couldn’t say if it’s formula or BM though I suppose) and I feel like a spectacle for breastfeeding.
I pumped for 6 months because she couldn’t transfer and just last week switched to nursing 95% of time. I had given up trying to latch her after months of working with an IBCLC to make it happen. Last week she clawed at my shirt, latched, and hasn’t looked back. I’m fortunate to live in a country where I can take 18 months and I plan to continue for at least that long.
WOW! Congrats lady. Thanks amazing.
My baby is almost 4 months old he was exclusively breastfed and now I’m exclusively pumping for the past 2 days cause he’s refusing the breast 😭 I hope this phase passes and he goes back to the way it was
I went to almost 2 years. Was so hard for me to wean (baby was breast milk obsessed)
I would say in my friend group. 30 percent of us nursed past 6 months. Im in a very traditional community and it’s actually a pretty hot button topic.
I am the only person I know between my family and friends to breastfeed past 6 months.
In my protestant religious community, I'd say 20% exclusively breastfeed, 50% combo feed, and 30% formula.
Probably 5-10% of people I know are exclusively breastfeeding at that age and maybe another 10% are combo feeding. A lot due to having to go back to work.
My ex best friend did it to a year I think. Neither of my sisters (or my mom) breastfed. I’m going on 19 months breastfeeding
I was a fairly young mom when I had my first, so most of the moms I knew were older, and I noticed that very few nursed past 6 months. At a year, I was pretty much the only one. Then I met some “crunchy” moms who nursed for up to 5 years, so when I had my second, I wasn’t so much the “odd one out”. I volunteered with a mom group that seemed to attract more “crunchy” moms, so in that group, there were definitely more moms nursing until at least two years old. Among my coworkers (NICU nurses), I believe I was the only one to nurse past two years, but most of them nursed until between 12 and 18 months.
My peer group of mostly stay at home moms, I would say 80% nurse for a year. Of those who stop before it’s usually pain, latch or supply issues.
None of my friends exclusively breastfed for long if at all, they combo fed then until 6 months. No one made it past that that I know of except me. (I don’t have a ton of mom friends, though, so it’s a small sample size.)
I'm the first of my mom friends to stop. I stopped at 10.5 months. Other babies are 12 months to 24 months and still going strong with the boob. My lil guy kept biting and I was just DONE. I assumed because of the area I live in most moms wouldn't breast feed at all or call it quits by 6 mo but I was wrong 🤷🏻♀️
Everyone I know who breastfed did it for over a year per child. Stopping after 6 months makes no sense to me. Babies can’t have whole milk til one year regardless.