Time to Wean

So, I am ready to wean Avonlea.

That was the beginning of a blog post I started a few weeks ago, but wasn't really sure how to continue.

All 4 of Avonlea's front top teeth came in during the month of June, and she was REALLY hurting me when she nursed. Combined with the fact that she was still getting up 2 or more times a night, I was done.

I just wasn't sure of the best way to do it.

I posted a question on a Facebook group about how to help with the teeth hurting problem, and got a few suggestions that I tried. But, none of them really helped longer than one feeding. I tried latching and re-latching, but that only seemed to frustrate Avonlea and make her cry.  But, her night feedings were only making ME cry...in pain!

About a week ago, she was down to 4 feedings: 2 during the day (one before her nap, and one before going to bed), and 2 overnight.  She didn't need to nurse to sleep--I had tested that theory out a few times by nursing her an hour or so before her nap, and she went down to sleep okay.  Nursing was still incredibly painful, so I started the blog post to try to ask advice. I just didn't really know where to start to get rid of the final nursing sessions we were doing.

So, I decided, at least for the overnight feedings, to try a technique I had read about: start with 60 seconds on each side, and every night, take 5 seconds away.  And wouldn't you know, she started weaning herself off of the night feedings pretty quickly.  (I think spending an entire day at Disney with only a 30-minute nap helped that, too.) The past few nights, she has only gotten up once at night. Last night, we were down to 20 seconds on each side, and she didn't really eat anything either time.

I ended up posting a quick question on Facebook two nights ago, asking what people did when they weaned their little ones.

Well, wouldn't you know, she started weaning herself right after I asked the question. In the last 2 days, she has only nursed twice. Last night, she refused to nurse before going to bed--a first in her lifetime.  Of course, she screamed and cried for a while, but she wouldn't take nursing for comfort, which was definitely something new.

I did try some whole milk yesterday, which was comedy gold. The face she made was outrageously funny. Needless to say, she wasn't a fan. I'll try it a couple more times, but honestly, if she doesn't take to cow milk, I will be fine with that. (It's one of the few health things that makes sense to me. After all, what is cow milk originally used for? Growing baby COWS. As in, humongous bovine creatures!! If she doesn't drink it, that is fine by me.)

All of the nursing things would not be possible if she hadn't FINALLY learned how to eat food. I didn't feel comfortable trying to wean her before, because she couldn't seem to figure out how to eat any solids. She was so distrusting of me, and wouldn't put anything in her mouth that I was offering, and eating from a spoon was truly hit-and-miss. It ended up being that I had to paint her lips with whatever I was offering so that she would even try to taste it--and if she liked it after that taste, she would eat a TINY bit.  But, about a month ago, right around the time all her top teeth broke through the surface, she finally seemed to "get it".  It started with thin slices of deli turkey and mashed avocado, continued with nearly an entire bowl of pasta and tomato sauce, and hasn't stopped since. She will now at least try everything I offer her, and will eat nearly everything. This has made my confidence in weaning her that much stronger, because I know she can at least get enough calories to support herself without my breastmilk.

What I think is a little funny is that I'm not really emotional about not breastfeeding Avonlea anymore. It has been such a DRAMATIC UNDERTAKING for the two of us, I'm mostly just glad it is almost over. And the fact that she's weaning herself means that I don't need to feel guilty that I'm withholding the important life juice from her (thanks, kellymom, for that one). She's ready to move on, and God knows I have been ready for her to move on for months now.

I'm worried that I'm speaking a little too soon, but I'm just going to continue to not offer breastmilk, and hopefully it will continue to go well at night.