the weaning machine

i'm in the middle week six of our weaning calendar.

this means i am now nursing three times a day

and giving her a bottle twice a day.

6:00am - nurse

9:00am - bottle

12:15pm - nurse

3:30pm - nurse

7:00pm - bottle

 

so here are a few things i've found that have helped.

first - helped ME.

since the goal is to produce less milk

i want to gradually drop my supply,

but i have had clogged milked ducts TWICE

so i wanted to make sure and avoid that.

i found a good way to do this is

by reducing the amount of time i pump per week.

my schedule goes a little something like this:

7 mins the first week

5 mins the second week

2 mins the third week

no pumping the forth week

after that i'm ready to add another bottle to our schedule

and so i start all over.

so far, so good.

and i like that i at least get one week with no pumping.

my hat is off to all you working mammas.

if i had to pump for the last 8 months

i don't know if we would still be nursing.

it sucks.

 

 

now - helped HER.

two things.

one - i changed up her feeding routine.

i found that if i sat in the same chair i used to nurse her

with the boppy and gave her a bottle,

she was a little fussy when the bottle was finished.

i think she had a connection with those things and nursing.

now i don't use either and she is much more content.

 

two - the nighttime bottle started off way more challenging.

i was getting her all ready for bed and handing her off to ronnie.

after the bottle was done she would scream.

like crazy, i will kill you, give me my mom scream.

ronnie was not pleased

and it was taking him awhile to get her calmed down and finally asleep.
we were ready to wave the white flag.

after a few nights of this,

i wanted to try something new.

since it worked so well on the night i went out,

i thought that i should just removed myself from all bedtime routines

for awhile so she doesn't even see me or know i'm around.

so now after dinner, ronnie pretty much takes over.

he does everything and she has gone right down with no tears.

well... the majority of the time she goes right down.
we've still had a couple hard nights,
but i'm blaming her teeth for that.

 

big points for ronnie.

he has been super about taking charge.
especially since he gets off work and
can't just come home and call it a day. 
it's nice that he gets what it means to be a dad.
here he is getting her ready for a bath.




and yes, for ronnie, that requires a beer.