Weaning

breast feeding came easily to miss scotti from day one. she has always been a great eater, all her chub is proof. at about five to six months old she got in the habit of nursing to pacify. which led to long nights for months and months! i have been dreading the whole weaning process but couldn't wait to just get her off the boob.  at about ten months we were just constantly nursing, she always ate every 2-3 hours. on top of nursing to comfort and nursing to pacify herself back to sleep. when i told her pediatrician she really advised me not to wean and to keep nursing and to just let her cry it out at night. (not my thing!!)  so I went to my cousin for advice on how to even begin this process!!

i decided to just go with my gut. we started weaning by nursing when she woke up each morning, in the afternoon, and at night! when she wanted to nurse in between i would distract her with snacks and a bottle of milk. snacks were great because she loves food but i could never get her to take a bottle, which i needed her to do to replace nursing. it lasted about 5 days and i gave up.  i realized neither of us were ready!

the end of february we moved into a new house and things were crazy!! about a week later i mentioned to dave that i was ready and that the only way it would work is to do it cold turkey! i told him my plans and that i would start on monday! instead he said, nope you're starting right now!! (this was first thing in the morning) so of course scotti was going to wake up wanting to nurse! so we just went with it!! instead of nursing her, i took her right in to eat breakfast and gave her a sippy of milk which she didn't touch at all. i would normally nurse scotti to get her down for both her morning and afternoon nap as well as to sleep at night! so instead i just paced her bedroom until she went to sleep. the first day she kept pulling my shirt down asking to nurse and basically cried herself to sleep while i walked back and forth trying to comfort her. on the first day it was about 4:00 in the afternoon before i got her to start taking sips of the milk. which was progress!!! nights were hard, and for about a week i decided that if she woke up (which she always did... the little stink!) i would let her nurse at 2:00 am and 5:00 am and if she woke up in between those times i just rocked her back to sleep!! after a week, i noticed my milk supply was finally starting to decrease. so that's when i cut her off completely, even during the night!!

the first couple of days were rough. super rough. we both cried a lot.  and i mean a lot.  i remember sitting in her rocking chair, trying to comfort her and i just started to cry. the ugly cry. we had created a very special bond through nursing from the day she was born. those were our moments. and i was going to miss them. this is how i fed my baby, this is how i comforted my baby. i was going to miss it!! her half laugh when she was hungry and i was prepping to nurse her, she knew what was coming and she was excited and ready! i'm going to miss those laughs!! i comforted my baby through nursing and it was coming to an end! i thought i was ready months ago, but boy was i wrong!! i didn't want it to end and i was sad! i felt like i was losing something between my baby and i. so it was tough and i had to talk myself through it. but cold turkey was the very best way for both scotti and i!

now, i don't think she even remembers nursing!! i just rock her to sleep and thats when we get our bonding moments.  i have noticed that she is a lot more cuddly. which i love. she still won't just lay there and take a 4-6 ounce bottle of milk. (which we are working on) but she does drink quite a bit and will walk to the fridge and ask for it! my milk finally dried up a few days ago!! it took about a month to dry up! it's amazing how much milk your body produces after 13 months of breast feeding!

i am so happy that i was able to breast feed this time around.  it was an amazing learning experience and bond that i got to have with my little babes. if we ever have another baby i will definitely do things differently as far as nursing goes but i will for sure breast feed again!