Of course, he’s not actually a baby anymore. He is now 33 months old and getting bigger by the second. But he is my baby, my beautiful little boy, and he always will be.
E wasn’t breastfeeding too often anymore. Maybe 2-3 times per day, sometimes more frequently at night. When I found out I was pregnant, I noticed a drop in my milk supply after only a few weeks. Not only that, but nursing became increasingly uncomfortable for me.
At first, I tried to drop all daytime feeds, which was very easy to do. There weren’t really any objections. Just the don’t offer-don’t refuse method worked beautifully. I had planned on letting E continue to nurse at night for as long as he wanted. However, when my supply plummeted, he became very angry when breastfeeding during the night because he wasn’t getting what he was used to.
I wasn’t quite sure what to do, so I started telling him that his “juice-juice” was all gone when he woke at night. He accepted that explanation quite willingly and after just a few nights stopped waking up to feed altogether.
Which left us with just nursing to sleep. I continued it until last week, when I decided that I really couldn’t stand the feeling of it anymore. Many women dry-nurse through their pregnancies and I have the utmost respect for them- I just couldn’t do it. The discomfort for me was too much of a negative factor in our breastfeeding relationship that I decided to attempt dropping the last of our nursing sessions for good.
Thankfully, when I told my baby boy that it was all gone, he wasn’t too upset and was able to fall asleep snuggled up to me instead of on the breast. I definitely feel some guilt over weaning him before he was truly ready, but I am also so relieved to not have to dread bedtime anymore.
All of you mommies who continue to breastfeed throughout your pregnancies are superheroes! You tandem nursing mamas are rock stars! I thought I could join your ranks, but I had to throw in the towel for my own sanity.
I’m really glad to still be co-sleeping with my children. I think it has made the weaning process a lot easier and less stressful for everyone. E and I spend extra time before he falls asleep cuddling, which he has really enjoyed.
It’s incredible how fast 33 months fly by. I will miss the wonderful breastfeeding relationship I had with E. I also appreciate the break I get now until baby #3 arrives in January. Definitely a mixed bag of emotions.
This beautiful image by http://bluesilkphotography.com
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