The end of an era (weaning at 26 months)

[Marie000]

Well, my girl is officially done with breastfeeding. It wasn't exactly self-weaning, but I think we are both happy with how it ended.

It was quite a journey. When she was born, I was lucky to have lactation specialists available 24h a day at the birthing center. While I was there, every time she was hungry we ended up calling the specialist to help with the latch. I don't know how we would have done without that help.

Then we went home and things went pretty well. We had a bit of thrush early on but otherwise things went well. First night at home she nursed nonstop (until OH came downstairs to find me crying from exhaustion and ordered me to go get some sleep). She had another big growth spurt at 5 weeks, nursing non stop for two days.
At 4-5 months, she started biting. First without teeth and then with. It passed with only minor injuries to my boobs (I did have to stop nursing from one side for a few days due to injury)

At 6 months she started solids (BLW) but still nursed a lot. At around 17-18 months, I decided to only nurse first thing in the morning, before naps and before bedtime. Soon we dropped the morning feed. It went on like that after that, feeding twice a day.

I have been thinking about weaning for a few months, but with us moving and Ariane starting daycare, I didn't want to force too many changes at once. A little over a week ago, I decided to start offering her to have milk in a cup instead of breastmilk. I expected it would be a long process of replacing nursing with cow's milk, but she immediately chose the milk in a cup and never looked back. I still offer her both, but she always chooses milk in a cup.

So we are done now. Sad thing is, when I nursed her for the last time, I didn't even realize it was the last time. That, and we never took a picture. I'm always the one behind the camera, so there are few pictures of me and her at all.

It's been a long journey. Despite the absence of big problems, I found it hard. It was hard having no personal space and I often felt that my body was not mine anymore. It also had a big impact on my sex life.
Still, I am happy we made it this far. I feel a little guilty about pushing her to wean, especially right in the middle of cold and flu season (she was never really sick as long as I caught the cold first). But I just needed to move on and get my body back.

Oh gosh, I'm crying now. I can't believe how grown up my little girl is. I wont have another either, so that is all for me.

Thank you ladies for all the support during that time. I wouldn't have made it without it.

 

[justplay91]

Congratulations! Wow, kudos to you for being able to breastfeed for so long! I loved breastfeeding my son, but for many reasons, it didn't work out. It doesn't seem to me like you pushed her to wean at all. If you offered her a cup of milk and she chose that, it sounds like she was really ready to be done with nursing. I think you did a great thing and you should be so proud of yourself for doing it. You have given her the best possible start in life, and now you get to have your body back to yourself (mostly. As moms, it seems like our bodies and time are never entirely ours, are they?). Good for you!

 

[bcos21]

That was such a bittersweet post 😊

 

[Mrs Bee]

Beautiful and bittersweet.... I'm down to nap and bedtime nursing(and most nights at least one middle of the night wake up nurse) so we are almost done with our journey too, I'm so ready to be done but I didn't realise how emotional it would be....it really is the end of an era. Well done to you for giving your daughter the best start you could give her

 

[Literati_Love]

Great work! You breastfed longer than most and you have given your daughter an extremely healthy start in life. Don't feel guilty at all and as a pp said, she really seemed like she was ready not to nurse anymore and chose the milk in the cup option. Loved this post...definitely bittersweet but you did great!

 

[Marie000]

thanks everyone!

It is bittersweet to watch my little baby so grown up.

Last night, she did ask for breastmilk again so I guess we're not 100% done. She has a really bad cold so I guess she needed the comfort. I don't know if it was a one time thing or not. We'll see. If she keeps asking after she gets better, I might have to push the milk in a cup a little.