Weaning

Foster offers Parkour his bottle

A few months ago I started reducing the number of times I nursed Foster each day.

It's amazing to think back to when he was first born and they say to nurse at least every 2 hours...all day....all night. I don't know if we were ever up to 12 times a day but it was close. That's a lot of time with your boobs out because every session at that age lasts anywhere from 30 minutes to over an hour.

Over time we went to 8 times a day, then 6, then 4 and now twice. Needless to say my breasts and I have become quite distant (in more ways than one unfortunately) over the last year and I've decided that it's time to reclaim them.




The decision to start weaning comes from a few places:

1. Ryan and I are talking about baby number two and I can't imagine having the energy to nurse and grow another human inside me. Not to mention I got such bad morning sickness with Foster the idea of weaning while puking really doesn't appeal to me. 
2. Foster has been getting less and less from nursing and more and more from drinking other milk that I don't think he needs it. He doesn't seem overly attached to the idea of continuing nursing, it's more like we both are just in a routine so it's what is expected at certain points in the day. Don't get me wrong, the kid loves it and it's still the only thing that will calm him down sometimes but it's not like he pitches a fit if he doesn't get it. 
3. See above paragraph about missing my boobs. 

So Foster and I have been nursing twice a day for awhile. Once right when we wake up and once right before bed. I really do love it. It's so great to have that time in the morning snuggled in bed together, and then again right before he goes to sleep when nursing gently lulls him into a state where he's ready to just roll over and hug his teddy bear when he's put into his crib. I went back and forth with which of these two prized sessions to cut next. Seeing as how if I had a 'regular' project I wouldn't have the luxury of the lazy nursing time in the morning and it is really nice to use nursing as part of our bedtime routine, I opted to cut the early time.

We're one day in and it's going well in the engorgement capacity. I thought for sure I'd be ready to burst by nighttime but I really didn't even notice. Foster seemed a little confused, but not upset. I'm still worried about those nights when he wakes up crying and nothing seems to work where boobs always worked in a pinch, but hopefully a bottle will work just as well when combined with a good snuggle.

So I think we're on a good path to recovery...that being said it looks like he's starting to teeth again so we may fall off the wagon here any day.