Dani - The Imaginary Breastfed Toddler

I have been informed that it is impossible to breastfeed your child past a few months.  You absolutely WILL HAVE TO give formula at some point because there is no way you will be able to keep producing enough milk for more than a newborn.  Okay.  Well, I intended to nurse my daughter til at LEAST the age of 1 and beyond....let's look at how this is working out so far...

Oh look!  A newborn!  Breastfeeding at this point is going well.  No need for formula yet...

Two months later and she's quite a bit bigger.  Hm...still have milk...wonder how long that will last....

Look at the chubbiness!  What?  All breastmilk so far?  How odd.

Well...so far she doesn't look underfed.

Six months old.  Still breastfed.  Still no formula.  No interest in solids AT ALL.

Look!  She's breastfeeding right now!

Standing and cruising around the living room.  Yes, that is a black eye from being mobile.  Still nursing.

Walking!  Almost to 1 year!

Dani's 1st birthday!  Loves cake.  Loves nursing.  Hasn't had formula or cow milk.  No bottles at all, actually.

Enjoying time outdoors.  Still nursing.  No cow milk.

Look!  She's at it again!

She also like apples.

Dani's at the park with her friend Ella.  Ella is breastfed too!  Ella's mommy had supply problems when Ella was a newborn so she had some formula.  They worked through their problems though and Ella hasn't had formula since she was 10-days-old.

Oh!  I forgot to mention that she had teeth!  Lots of them.  Nursed anyway.

Dani LOVES pizza.  Probably her favorite thing after mama-milk (which she calls "meecies").

Well wadda ya know....Dani is 2-year-olds and here she is nursing again.  Not a drop of formula yet.

So it looks like it IS possible to nurse more than a few months and formula is NOT automatically necessary.  Did my milk ever dry up?  Well yes, actually it did.  It's been about 2 months now (Dani was over 2-years-old) since my milk dried up due to pregnancy.  She never had formula.  She's only had a few sips of cow milk here and there out of curiosity.  She eats solid food just like any other child from 9 months onward.  She didn't starve.  She wasn't malnourished.  I didn't struggle to keep it up this long either.  Sure, the first few weeks are hard...but it's downhill once you get over the hump.

So much for being imaginary.