Did you know the first week of August is World Breastfeeding Week? This motivated me to share 3 reasons for extended breastfeeding, since my son is now 20 months old.

This post is sponsored by Evivo but the content and opinions expressed here are my own.

C was born early, when I was at the end of my 36th week of pregnancy. This triggered a lot of extra testing during his first days of life, including blood sugar checks every 2 hours. He was a champ and passed them all, but he was super sleepy and the nurses were nervous he wasn’t getting enough milk since he kept sleeping every time I fed him. At their suggestion, I supplemented with formula a few times during our two days in the hospital to make sure he was getting enough to eat. After we got home I had no problems breastfeeding and C quickly gained any weight he lost after his birth.

Breastfeeding ending up being easy for us and there are a few reasons why. I was in a position to take extra time off work to help establish this relationship. I went back when C was 5.5 months old and worked from home most of the time. C was cared for in the infant room of a child care nearby, and I stopped by at lunch to nurse him most days. This flexibility in my schedule combined with no feeding problems has kept us going until now, at age 20 months. I never expected or planned to continue breastfeeding for this long. From the beginning my husband and I agreed to a “wait and see” approach and my goal was to make it to one year. I believe that fed is best, whatever method is chosen!

There are sometimes questions about why a mother chooses “extended” breastfeeding beyond one year of age. Below I describe the three main reasons why I am still breastfeeding C. We are down to only twice per day, in the morning after he wakes up and at night before he goes to sleep. My goal is to wean him by his second birthday. Until then I’m happy to continue as long as it works for us.

To provide extra nutrients.

C has always been small, ranging from 5-10 percent on the size chart compared to other babies / toddlers his age. He started out as a tiny guy so we have never been worried about this because he has stayed on his curve. However, we are still careful about the amount of food he gets every day and I think anything that adds extra calories/nutrients is especially good for him. Toddlers continue to get protein, fat, calcium, Vitamin A, and other nutrients from breast milk so I am happy to provide that for C {source}.

To promote healthy digestion.

I’m still breastfeeding C because I believe it can help promote healthy digestion. However, one thing I didn’t look into before C was born is adding probiotics to his diet early in life {ideally during the first 6 months}. I breastfed C exclusively for 6 months before we slowly started adding in solid food with baby-led weaning. I wish I would have known about Evivo at the time, which is a probiotic powder mixed directly with breast milk. Evivo can be fed to baby with a syringe. This would have been perfect for us because I pumped after going back to work and it’s simple to mix the probiotic powder directly with a small amount of milk. Evivo comes in a starter pack with powder that can be frozen until it’s ready to use.

To reconnect after a long day.

My sweet boy is certainly a mama’s boy these days so I aim to give him as much undivided attention as possible during my time with him in the morning and late afternoon / evening on weekdays. C loves his evening bedtime routine which includes pajamas, a rousing story time from Daddy, water, and breastfeeding before he drifts off to sleep. I love how much it relaxes him and have found it to be the perfect way to wind down and reconnect after a long day. Toddlers have strong emotions as they are figuring out the world so this quiet, sweet time with C is something I cherish every night.

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