Sadie was 15 months June 10th.
This means that Sadie nursed 15 months as of June 10th. This is a victory for the two of us. I have a whole post on the challenge of nursing, you can read it here: http://www.thewomansgift.com/3/post/2011/05/my-nursing-story.html Today I am facing a new battle, weaning. I have a child who is attached to nursing. If she falls, if she's bored, is she's tired, is she is feeling anything, if she even remembers that my boobs are within a ten mile radius she demands to nurse. She will come up to me, get my attention, look me deep in the eyes and make the sign for nursing. I have successfully managed to wean her at night. She can nurse to sleep in the evening and then she doesn't get to have any milk until 5am. It has done wonders for me. I actually get to sleep for 4-7 hours in a row (depending on when I go to bed). I haven't gotten that much sleep in a row since before my pregnancy. This is outrageous! This is amazing! Okay, okay. I won't lie, we do have some nights where she wakes up crying either from teething or some other reason I can't figure out and I don't get a perfect night of sleep. However, I have maintained my resolution not to nurse after she has gone to bed and I love it. About a month ago I put my foot down. She had regressed to nursing every hour and I was going nuts. I mean seriously, I was suffering from horrible sleep deprivation. It had to stop. I had tried when Sadie was 10 months to stop nursing her at night and she cried for hours. She was in bed with us and I would try to pet her, kiss her, calm her down but she refused to settle with anything less than my boob in her mouth. So I gave up. I mean, after a few nights of thoughtful pondering, I made the adult decision to continue nursing Sadie at night. I am the boss here after all. It was all my decision... Err, anyway. Last month I felt Sadie had gotten big enough to survive the night without nursing. She cried for a small period of time for the first three nights and then she started to sleep deeper through the night. She actually had some nights of sleeping from 9pm until 5am without waking up. Logan and I could talk in the room at night and she would continue to sleep. It was a miracle! Last Friday I was diagnosed with an ear infection and prescribed some antibiotics. They gave me a very mild antibiotic that they prescribe to pregnant women. As of today I'm still feeling some discomfort in both of my ears. I am worried that the medicine isn't strong enough. I have a long history of ear infections during my childhood and have some memory of penicillin not working for me in my teenage years. The prescribing doctor recommended minimizing the amount of nursing Sadie does to avoid thrush and passing on a heavy dose of the antibiotics. I decided Friday I was going to wean Sadie. I did not want to deal with another round of thrush. I hate thrush. Thrush is evil. I spent over a month fighting thrush when Sadie was a newborn. Sadie did not like the idea of weaning during the day. She threw a three hour fit with tears and screaming - this is while I am sick and have little energy to do anything. After a very long day and talking to two veteran mothers (a mother of 6 and a mother of 4) I decided to minimize nursing, stuff as much yogurt into her that she would eat and hopefully the antibiotics wouldn't have an effect on her. I was strongly suggested that cutting Sadie off in a day was not a good idea. My breasts didn't like the experience either! I have decided that Sadie gets to nurse for two years and then we're done. I am cutting her off. The deal is over. Even now I don't really "love" nursing like I used to. I know she doesn't need the calories and I am not providing any extra nutrients. She can and should survive on food. And frankly, I'm nervous about those 7 big teeth that I feel grazing my nipple every once in a while. Nursing has become a game of Russian roulette. You've got two years Sadie, two years. You better enjoy them!
1 Comment
Chani M
6/13/2011 02:50:45 am
i stopped nursing Benny at 14 months, he was a total addict. Some kids move on and some just aren't ready! Good luck with Sadie, nursing with teeth can really be hell!
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Meet the Blogger!
I'm a mom. A writer. A lover of good fantasy. A proponent of nursing when possible. A birth advocate. I am absolutely horrible at keeping my house clean or the dishes washed or the laundry done. I strongly believe in women having a positive birth. When we start to respect women's rights to birth the way they want, we can start to treat women as equal people in this world. Archives
February 2016
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