Day Seventeen | Amanda's Journey | A Story of Weaning in Aurora
Almost everything has changed since my son got out of the NICU. He is almost three now. Of course, he is still a little ball of fire with determination and will power. But now instead of being in a teeny tiny human using that as a strength to make it, he is a tiny two year old using it to drive me crazy.
He still nurses several times a day and to go to sleep. Most days it feels like he will never be done compared to back when I wondered if we would ever be able to nurse at all. As stubborn as he is, he really is a great kid. His smile lights up the room and he is so smart - giving me a run for my money on an hourly basis.
When we started our breastfeeding journey I just wanted to be able to give him my milk and have him thrive and grow. Then I wished I could leave the pump behind and my goal was to be able to get him to nurse. Once we achieved that goal we took things month by month.
He couldn’t handle solid foods until he was about 18 months. And still didn’t really eat them with any consistency until about 2 years old. His dairy allergy means both he and I have to be careful what we eat. Hopefully as his stomach continues to mature he might outgrow that. But right now, my goal is to be done nursing by his birthday in October. I don’t know if that will happen. He is very determined to keep going.
We started with night weaning and that was pretty miserable for a week or so. We are now trying to eliminate sessions or use distraction to redirect him. However, he is not easily distracted and it has not been a fun process. I am feeling like reducing sessions is just not going to work for him and we might have to go cold turkey - which I don’t like the thought of.
The biggest issue is that he really doesn’t eat very much, and he uses nursing for comfort when he is hurt or upset. Sometimes it is a battle for me to get him to eat real food instead of nursing. Although if I’m not home he does fine eating.
He is a kid who knows what he wants and won’t settle. This will be an awesome quality throughout his life, but is making weaning very difficult. I probably give in too often as well. Sometimes I don’t even think about it. We’ve been nursing so long I don’t always realize what I’m doing until he is already latched.
We had also made progress and then I had to go in for gall bladder surgery. The whole situation made him pretty uneasy and it set back the weaning goals quite a bit. As his comfort and the fact that he didn’t understand what was happening to mommy made me want to give in just to make him feel safe.
I am just ready to have my body back. I get super touched out some days. Most days I would just love to go an hour without someone attached to me. Thankfully, my husband is really great about playing with the kids when he gets home so I can have a few minutes where no one is hanging on me.
At this point weaning him has created so much frustration because we are not seeing eye to eye on the subject. I do feel bad for trying to wean when he obviously still wants to so badly but I’m just done with it. He is almost three and I know he doesn’t nutritionally need it anymore.
Each situation is just so different it’s hard to give good advice. I think if you really want to do something you can. We struggled to nurse and I exclusively pumped for almost three months until he was big enough and we could figure out how to nurse.
Every child is different too. I nursed my daughter until almost three as well but I don’t actually remember weaning her as being a big thing like it has been with my son.
Get help where you need it, be persistent in your goals, and do what is best for you and your baby. That is different for every mother and child.
Be sure to leave some advice or encouragement for this lovely momma in the comments below. I would love to tell your story or give you a private gallery of images of the bond you have with your little ones. If you would like to set up your session, contact me and we will create the perfect session for you.