Breastfeeding Beyond 6 Months

Mara just turned 6 months a few weeks ago and a part of me just rejoiced that we have made it this far with our breastfeeding journey.  I know its a topic so many moms struggle with and I not writing to advocate one way or another.  (You have to do what's right for you and your babe) As always I just want to document where we are right now and how we are moving forward.

From the beginning, like most new moms, I had serious doubts that we would even make it to the 6 month mark breastfeeding.  It seemed like there were too many potential hurdles to get over. But we did it.  Despite a few issues with a tongue-tie we have been blessed to not have any other obstacles to overcome.

So here we are at 6 months with a healthy little girl who loves to nurse!  We usually nursing in the morning about an hour after she wakes up.  Then it ranges from every 2 to 4 hours. At night she's finally increasing her sleep time.  I can normally get anywhere between 4 and 6 hours of sleep before she wants to nurse again.  As the morning comes her awake times get closer and closer together.  Usually though she will only nurse twice at night.

I haven't tried to put Mara on a schedule when it comes to feeding and I think this has really helped us.  I still nurse on demand which I believe has really kept up my supply.  I'm not perfect.  There are days I don't drink enough water.  Maybe I have a drink or two but my supply has still been there.  The only thing I don't really make time to do is pump, but that's a whole other story.

So where do we go from here?  Well honestly I'm not completely sure.  I've started to try to pump more so I can have extra milk for when she starts using a sippy cup or to thin out solids but at the same time I'm not ready to stop nursing.  I think for the time being we'll just keep doing what we're doing.  I'd love to breastfeed her till at least a year and the way she loves to nurse I don't see her wanting to stop.  But as with anything related to this whole parenting thing, we shall see.  I've stopped trying to put expectations on it anymore.  Each day, each time she nurses its an accomplishment.