*I will be discussing bodily functions now. If you are my father-in-law, please look away.*
After two-and-a-half-years of faithful daily lactation, I think we've finally ticked off the lastlastlast "baby" milestone: weaning! (Although Richie is stubbornly still teething his last two top molars. So really, he's doing two final milestones at once.)
The boobs are relieved.
How did I finally do it? Well, as per a previous post, I got my head right and after that it was extremely simple. We did have one or two times in the night where Richie would beg and plead a bit and it was hard to keep the resolve, because Richie is so very cute and persuasive (can I have boob? pleasse mommy?) but I am lucky that Richie is also so relatively old to be quitting boob, and so clever, and so manipulative, so when he realised that no boob was forthcoming he generally howled a minute or two and then just turned over and went back to sleep. I mean, it's the middle of the night, he's tired, after all!
So we got rid of those 2/3/4 nightly feeds and just with that he was already sleeping a LOT better. Next step was to can the first "go-to-sleep" feed of the night, and I chose to just explain to Richie that "boobs are for babies" and that he is a small boy now (Richie shouts very crossly when you say he is a big boy. That's Felix. Richie himself is the small boy.) The age of the boob was over.
The first night I could not believe how easily Richie accepted the new regime but every night since then has been the same story, no tears, no fuss, no drama.
Last time I fed Richie was Saturday night, and it's now Thursday. I lie. There was a 5AM feed on Tuesday. It hardly counts. I wanted Richie to sleep in because it was Sean's bithday and I had Things To Do and Breakfasts To Cook. And my boobs were full and painful. (I am SUCH a milk cow. Those faitful cans have just been producing and producing and producing.)
But nothing since, and the milk production seems to have gone down/stopped.There has been no need for another session of expressing or anything to relieve pressure. We are all GOOD!
I can harldy believe it, people. I know for thousands of years women were either pregnant or lactating or both over their entire adult lives but to me it feels like an unusual or exceptional state of being. And now I am just a regular human again!
After two-and-a-half-years of faithful daily lactation, I think we've finally ticked off the lastlastlast "baby" milestone: weaning! (Although Richie is stubbornly still teething his last two top molars. So really, he's doing two final milestones at once.)
The boobs are relieved.
How did I finally do it? Well, as per a previous post, I got my head right and after that it was extremely simple. We did have one or two times in the night where Richie would beg and plead a bit and it was hard to keep the resolve, because Richie is so very cute and persuasive (can I have boob? pleasse mommy?) but I am lucky that Richie is also so relatively old to be quitting boob, and so clever, and so manipulative, so when he realised that no boob was forthcoming he generally howled a minute or two and then just turned over and went back to sleep. I mean, it's the middle of the night, he's tired, after all!
So we got rid of those 2/3/4 nightly feeds and just with that he was already sleeping a LOT better. Next step was to can the first "go-to-sleep" feed of the night, and I chose to just explain to Richie that "boobs are for babies" and that he is a small boy now (Richie shouts very crossly when you say he is a big boy. That's Felix. Richie himself is the small boy.) The age of the boob was over.
The first night I could not believe how easily Richie accepted the new regime but every night since then has been the same story, no tears, no fuss, no drama.
Last time I fed Richie was Saturday night, and it's now Thursday. I lie. There was a 5AM feed on Tuesday. It hardly counts. I wanted Richie to sleep in because it was Sean's bithday and I had Things To Do and Breakfasts To Cook. And my boobs were full and painful. (I am SUCH a milk cow. Those faitful cans have just been producing and producing and producing.)
But nothing since, and the milk production seems to have gone down/stopped.There has been no need for another session of expressing or anything to relieve pressure. We are all GOOD!
I can harldy believe it, people. I know for thousands of years women were either pregnant or lactating or both over their entire adult lives but to me it feels like an unusual or exceptional state of being. And now I am just a regular human again!
Congrats. Go out & buy yourself a sexy bra & brow!!
ReplyDeleteSo glad for you.
ReplyDeleteOh yes! Although I really loved breastfeeding I felt a huge sense of relief when eventually we stopped.
ReplyDeleteSounds like it's time for #3!
ReplyDeleteNooooooooo - I don't think we have the energy!
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