My daughter turned 2 in May and still nurses. Solid foods are her primary nutrition, now, of course. But nursing still provides her emotional comfort, immunities, and some nutrition. There are certain limitations I still have to diets and weight loss ideas, but obviously my caloric intake is not as detrimental as it was when she was younger. I am curious if there are other extended/full-term/long-term/whatever-u-call-it mommas out there and what your methods are.
P.S. - Despite all the hype about how bf'ing helps you lose weight faster? It works for a lot of people, but it SO didn't help me.
I'm sorry to here that bfing didn't help you lose I bf'd DS for 15 months and didn't diet durning the first year but started really addressing my portions durning the end. I ended up drying up because of the decrease in cals and because I was only pumping 1x a day and DS was only nursing 1x a day. Since weaning I have lost an additional 30 lbs roughly. If she's still nursing regularly I think it would be safe for you to start calorie counting but allow yourself an extra few hundred cals to help your milk production. Good luck.
Another extended breastfeeder here. My 3.5 year old weaned back in October during my first trimester (luckily it was after we all got over the flu, I'm glad she nursed through that) and my DD2 (23 months tomorrow) is still nursing. She slowed down a bit toward the end of my pregnancy, but now that the baby is here and my milk is back in she's picked up more.
I'm another one who doesn't ever lose weight with breastfeeding by itself. After DD2 was born I started Weight Watchers and lost 60 lbs, now I'm getting ready to start that journey again.
Good job with the tandem nursing Kestral! I nursed baby #1 and #2 together and it was a LOT tougher than I ever imagined, for me. So before #3 I encouraged him to wean during my second trimester. Since I didn't have much supply it went pretty smoothly. I did the same this time around before #4.
There were so many sweet positives for tandem nursing I wish I could do it. But it was like nails on a chalkboard mentally. Luckily they have been three, so it's hasn't been too sad for them...plus I still let the little one nurse when he asked a handful of times since. He has stopped completely now though.
I'm currently nursing an 11 month old, but I nursed my other kiddos through til around their third birthdays. For me, I've never noticed a difference between losing weight while breastfeeding and after weaning but I know that some people do find a big difference.
My daughter turned 2 on June 20th (2 weeks ago) and I'm still nursing. I plan to go until somewhere close to her 3rd birthday! (Although I had to edit out a typo that said 34 birthday - I don't think we'll go that long )
I've never lost well while BFing. (I did lose 50 pounds the first year - gained it back the 2nd... but none of that was attributed to BFing, it was a strict calorie controlled diet.)
I nursed my son until he was 18 months, when my supply dried up during my pregnancy with my daughter...and I am nursing my daughter now who is 5 months (so definitely not extended yet!!). I was expecting my DS to want to nurse when the baby came (he just turned 2 when she was born) and although he asked once he decided he didn't want to (in fact he drank some pumped milk and said he didn't like it!!). He's more interested in nursing my daughter himself, it's made for some funny pictures!
I'm nursing my 3 y.o. son right now and he has no sign of wanting to stop. I live this stage in our nursing relationship.
I lost about 30 pounds thanks to breastfeeding, but I swear, the SECOND I started feeding him solids @ six mos., it all came back! Darn it. I need to be nursing newborn triplets. That'll do the trick.
DD turned 2 in April and she's still going strong. No plans to wean on my behalf, but she may change that on me!
I gained almost 45 pounds the first year of her life, and I'm still battling losing it. I now weigh about what I did when I went in to deliver her! I am eating a HUGE amount of calories, though, and it's slow but sure coming off.
I noticed that during the first six months I was ravenously hungry and would get a snack after each feeding. It all worked out okay, since he was consuming those those calories. But once the feedings stopped tapering off, I was still snaking (out of habit, at that point) like I did when he was a newborn. Bad idea. I still have to shake off the urge to go into the kitchen to snack after putting him down for bedtime.
I'm not currently breastfeeding, but my oldest breastfed until he was 4 (through my pregnancy with dd and into my pregnancy with ds2), my dd stopped at 2 (one day just told me that was for babies, and she wasn't a baby, so she was done - I was pregnant with ds2 at the time), and my youngest until he was almost 3 and a half.
Completely new here, but I was happy to find this thread. I usually don't advertise to the public but I CANNOT wean my 2.5 yr old girl. My baby is 10 months old and I've tandem nursed them.
Even though their primary source of nutrition is solid food I have read that if they get 3-400 mL of breastmilk a day it can supply up to 30% of their nutrition with the "perfect" food (no extra bad stuff in it). So its not JUSt a source of comfort, its actually still a healthier option for them. I heard WHO (World Health Organization) actually still recommends to nurse at least until their two years old. So I use that to comfort myself in this American society that makes me feel like I need to hide it to be socially acceptable!
Losing weight can be tricky while breastfeeding, while it uses up calories it still slows down your metabolism I believe?
My current dilemma is while I was calorie restricting and losing weight last month, my milk production dropped even though I added the extra 500 calories for breastfeeding. I increased my calorie intake after that and now I've plateau-ed again with losing weight and can't get under the 160 and keep bouncing up and down between 160-165. Frustrating me.
My daughter is 14.5 months and we are still nursing. Not "extended" compared to most of you, but it sometimes seems that way when my Dad seems shocked that I haven't weaned her yet.
Breastfeeding did NOT seem to help me lose weight. In fact, I have only begun losing again in the last couple months, now that my little one is much more active and is interested in milk much less often.
In some ways I am really ready to wean her. I have this idea that I would really like to lose down to goal, have my little girl weaned, and then just enjoy a year of a slender body all to myself before getting pregnant again. Don't know what I will ultimately decide to do.
Any other "extended bf'ing" mommas?
I bf'd DS for 15 months and didn't diet durning the first year but started really addressing my portions durning the end. I ended up drying up because of the decrease in cals and because I was only pumping 1x a day and DS was only nursing 1x a day. Since weaning I have lost an additional 30 lbs roughly. If she's still nursing regularly I think it would be safe for you to start calorie counting but allow yourself an extra few hundred cals to help your milk production. Good luck.
My 3.5 year old weaned back in October during my first trimester (luckily it was after we all got over the flu, I'm glad she nursed through that) and my DD2 (23 months tomorrow) is still nursing. She slowed down a bit toward the end of my pregnancy, but now that the baby is here and my milk is back in she's picked up more. 
) 
I am eating a HUGE amount of calories, though, and it's slow but sure coming off.
