Thursday, January 23, 2014

the boob-free diet

the dreaded word:
weaning.
 
my sister-n-law, jaime, and i were talking about nursing.
when to stop.
how to stop.
the best way to do it.
there is such pressure to get it right.
i don't want this to be hard on brette or me.
i want it to feel natural and, dare i say, easy.
with my niece madeline, she weaned herself.
and since i'm a stay-at-home-mamma
that would make the most sense for me.
just let brette naturally grow out of it.
except (can i have a selfish moment here) i'm not going to do that.
my goal has always been 11 months.
so random right?
but ronnie and i have a vacation planned at the end of may in mexico.
my bff is getting married and a whole group of us are making the trip.
i really really don't want to lay by the pool and pump.
(i guess that's another selfish decision.)
sure, it would be easy to pack a pump
none of my friends would care,
and if brette was younger, i would.
but, to me, it doesn't make sense to keep up my supply
to just wean her off a couple weeks later.
 
plus, i'm hoping that transitioning a month before her first birthday
will help also lead to an easy transition to milk instead of formula/breastmilk.
(my plan is start milk cold-turkey when she's a year- - pediatrician recommended)
and i'm still unclear of my plan for getting rid of a bottle.
maybe i'll try that at the same time?
not sure.
(suggestions welcome)
 
anyway.
back to nursing.
this all seems sudden.
it was like a slap to the face when i realized that
may is actually right around the corner.
i only have a little over three months to get this going.
only three months of nursing left.
that's sad.
i've turned into one of those moms.
the ones that really enjoy it.
and so this is bittersweet.
oh sure, it will be freeing
but i know i'll miss it too.
and my biggest concern: that brette will miss it more.
one good sign:
i think brette is giving hints that she is ready for this.
i read a good way to tell is if she's ready
to be weaned is if she nurses for shorter spurts
or if she is easily distracted.
this is a picture i took the other day because our morning "session"
was taking f o r e v e r.


she was much more interested in seeing the world upside down.
also, at night, she is IN LOVE with her bottle.
so much that she cries until i give it to her
and THEN she'll nurse.
i'm hoping that means that this might be a good time.
to make it easier, i'm going to start by replacing one feeding with a bottle.
and just slowly take it away little by little.
i'm starting with the one she'll miss the least - - - 9am.
that means i'll still nurse her at
6am
1pm
4pm
7pm

i'm actually thinking about taking the 7pm next.
i know usually that's the last to go,
but brette has been taking a bottle at this time since she was 4 days old,
so i don't think it will be as big of an adjustment as other babies.

i studied a calendar to try a figure out a schedule
(because that's just the way i roll).
if i start tomorrow
and i add another bottle every four weeks,
i can be boobie free by may 14th.
2 days after she's 11 months old
and 7 days before we leave for mexico.


slow and steady wins the race.
hopefully i'll be waving the checkered flag soon.




 

6 comments:

  1. Great plan. I'm starting Monday. I've said this for 3 weeks now, hard to do. So easy. Starting with afternoon session. Hope to be done by my bday. I need to get on the ball.

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  2. By so easy I mean nursing is so easy, don't want to make bottles. I've done my share, Todd's turn.

    As far as whole milk goes, do 75% formula/breast milk and 25% milk, until you are at all milk.

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  3. did you also start offering his milk in a sippy cup instead of a bottle? or did you save getting rid of the bottle for later?

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  4. I breastfed Lakelyn for about 6 months but had a supply for 7 and I quit because I didnt want to breastfeed through the summer on a boat. I felt bad about it at first and had second thoughts on it after I quit but you have already gone longer then most people do and who wants to pump in Mexico?But my advice on stopping is to do it a few weeks before Mexico. Clogged milk ducks cause horrible pain and make you feel like you have the flu. You may not get them but thats the last thing you want to deal with in Mexico. At 11 1/2 months we started Lakelyn on whole milk. We had just ran out of formula and her dr said it was fine to switch her over. At this same time we switched her to a sippy cup. She took right to the whole milk and to this day would rather drink milk all day then eat. My advice on the sippy cup is to go with the cheap First Years multicolored Take and Toss cups (we don't toss). I feel like we bought 500 different ones (probably just 5 ;)) and ended up going with these. Lakelyn seemed to get to much milk in her mouth with the others and then would spit it out, with the Take and Toss she had no problems. Good luck!!

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  5. As for bottle. Cold turkey. It's so much harder on mommy than baby. At least that's the way it went for us. D didn't even know they were gone. I weaned feelings like you plan to and I didn't have any pain. Mayyyyybe a day. And then...the boobs were gone. Maybe not gone. But flat as flapjacks. ;)

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  6. thanks girls! LOVE the advice!

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