Nursing has been an adventure to say the least.
While Shasta was in the NICU I was committed to pumping. She was too small to latch and I knew how important it was to nurse her so I pumped and she got my milk through a tube and bottles.
Once she came home I still pumped for the next month. I was scared to switch her to full time nursing. I liked that Nick could take a turn feeding her, especially during the night. I would nurse her once or twice a day and give her bottles the rest of the time. With all the pumping I made too much milk for her anyway so I couldn't give up pumping completely. Then one day I switched her to full time nursing and it's never been the same since. We had to use a nursing shield because it was still hard for her to latch, but eventually we were able to do away with that.
Remember how painful nursing can be when you first start getting used to it??? Yeah, I got to go through that twice. First with pumping, and then with actually nursing. Before having a baby I had heard so many horror stories about nursing and I was so afraid I wouldn't stick with it. I think Shasta being premature made me stick with it because I knew how much more she needed it than a full term baby and for that I'm grateful. I pushed through the pain because I knew how good it was for Shasta.
The first time I nursed her in public was a disaster. We were at church and thankfully I was the only one in the Mother's Room. (Usually there's 4-6 mothers in there at a time.) It was my first time using a nursing cover and I had no idea how hard it would be. I was struggling to see what I was doing and she was still new enough at it that I had to work at getting her to latch. Then finally she was on and all was well until she decided to break her latch. I peeked under the cover to see what happened only to find there was milk spraying out of me which I didn't even know was possible, right into Shasta's face and all over my skirt. So hear I am struggling not to expose myself from under the nursing cover for fear another mother would walk in, desperately trying to get a burp rag out of the diaper bag to catch the milk that's spraying out of me while having no idea how I was going to make it stop, worrying about my skirt being soaked in milk and having to still attend the remaining meetings of church, when Shasta decided to spit up all over everything. It was seriously the most spit up I had ever seen come out of her and that's saying something because she was a big time spitter. Needless to say, my first time nursing in public was awful and after that you can bet I practiced using the nursing cover at home until I had it down!
Then there was the first time I nursed her in a public place other than at church. Nick and I went to Ogden to pick up her crib and I forgot to bring the nursing cover. We ate lunch at Applebees and I had to nurse Shasta under a blanket. I was so afraid someone was going to say something negative to me about nursing my baby in public, but nobody did.
In the last year there has only been one time that Shasta exposed my goods for the world to see. As she's gotten older nursing under a cover has been more challenging because she's so wiggly and wants to see what's going on. Well, one day she decided to fling the nursing cover out of the way and just as quickly as it happened I recovered myself. But still my face went Bright Red! I was so thankful it happened at a baby shower full of women and just as thankful that she was still latched so less of me was exposed. And the girls I was in a conversation with were really understanding and did their best to make me feel better, but I was still paranoid the rest of the time that she was nursing thinking that I'm no longer covered and couldn't tell so I checked every 2 seconds to make sure!
Then at 8 months, Shasta sprouted 6 teeth all at once. Two on bottom and four on top. I was really nervous for a while that she was going to bite me, but she never did. At least, not for the next couple of months. She eventually started digging her teeth into me while she nursed, like she was suctioning so hard her teeth couldn't help but be in the way. It wasn't too big of a deal until it started making little sores and then it hurt. I tried using a shield again, but of course she refused to latch. She knew better.
Now she's decided to bite down every time she latches. She doesn't bite hard, but it startles me every time. I once thought I would end up being that crazy mom who nurses her child until she's in kindergarten, but I'm getting more and more ready to be done. It's been important to me to nurse Shasta for the first year. It's such a short period in my life that I'm able to do it and I know one day I'll have a midlife crisis and realize it's something I will never do again, so I want to do it while I can. But there is no evidence that nursing past the first year has any added benefits, so the time is coming for us to move on. The problem is I don't know if Shasta will ever be ready to be done. I have no idea how I'm going to wean her. She's SO dependent of nursing. She nurses a minimum of four times a day including first thing in the morning, before naps, and before she goes to bed and sometimes she nurses in between those times. She'll be a year old next week so I'm in search of finding tips on weaning her.
How do I go about weaning her?
How long will it take?
What tricks or tips can you give me?
4 comments:
I've been thinking about writing a nursing post for the last little while. go visit my blog cuz it's too long to put into a comment.
I've weaned 3 kids... it's different with each.
What I would suggest is to NOT do it abruptly. Some people say it's better with a baby like Shasta who LOVES nursing. So, my advice might not work for Shasta.
But... to me, it's easier on mom and baby to do away with one feeding at a time.
I'd go down to 4 strictly. Only nurse her 4 times a day - no more, even if she wants it. Distract her with a sippy of milk (or even a bottle if she'll go for it) see if she'll go for a snack. She might be grumpy about it, but she'll adjust. Then, in a couple weeks when she's ready, drop another feeding. Again - give her a bottle or sippy of milk and a snack instead. It's hard because she likes to nurse before naps, that really is tricky!! So you might want to just try cuddling her and singing to her before nap time instead. After another 2 weeks or so, drop another feeding. And so on until you are just down to 1.
It's so much easier on mom this way. The milk will just eventually go away and it will be very comfortable.
:) It's a hard thing to do I think. I felt sad when I nursed Claire for the last time (she was 12 months). I cried a little when I nursed Linus for the last time (he was 13 months) and now I am still nursing D. I think I'll keep going until 15 months if I can. She's not that interested anymore, except morning and night, so I only nurse twice. But I know I'll bawl like a baby when we are done. She's so ready though.... more than I am. :)
I hope that helps... if not, sorry!! Let me know if you have any questions.
I loved your embarrassing stories. Makes me laugh. :) Deirdre was a good latcher, but HORRIBLE about staying on (she still is for that matter). She would latch and unlatch about 10 times per feeding. So, if she did that right after the letdown she would get sprayed in the face. :) Which happened often.
Emmett and I took things kind of at his pace. We didn't rush into anything. Stopping abruptly will be tramatic for both mom and baby. I really liked Tannie's suggestions. The first nursing's I would cut out would be the inbetween ones. If she wants to nurse give her a sippy and a snack. Naps would be the next ones. If you think she is hungry give her a little snack first but if she is just nursing for comfort do your routine of singing and rocking her. When Emmett and I reached the point of just nursing in the moring and right before bed I just let him decide when he wanted to wean. Emmett was ready to be done nursing before I was. I was happy to be done for the freedom but sad to lose the bonding time. Good luck and you are a super mom for nursing!!
With Olivia I gradually cut out feedings like Tannie. I originally tried to wean her at 12 monthes, but she would have nothing to do with a sippy, so I kept nursing her, but it was only three times a day. I eventually learned that it wasn't the change of milk that she didn't like, it was the sippy cup that she didn't like. So, maybe when you are getting ready to start trying her with a sippy, try a few sippies with her if she has a hard time swithing. Good luck with everything.
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