My little man is 10 months old. He is still nursing twice a day. But let's be honest, he's kind of crazy when he nurses.
He likes to roll over onto his belly when he nurses.
Or even stand up when he nurses (when we're laying on the bed)
He does more socializing than eating when he nurses.
I know there are some of you who are totally into nursing babies for 12+ months, and that is all kinds of wonderful for you. But for me, I don't know how much longer I can take of this nonsense.
He doesn't like me to hold him close to my body like when he was a newborn. He doesn't want to just drink, he wants to drink, look around, talk to the big kids, drink some more...like I am his milk on-tap.
But here's my problem. I don't know how to stop. I don't know how I did it with my other kids. With my Little Man, I think I just quit cold turkey. I don't remember any pain on my side and he was pretty happy with the formula. My Princess had acid reflux really bad, so when I stopped nursing she stopped spitting up. Making it easy to stop because she was finally feeling better.
But my Little Man is not like the other two. He's such a momma's boy. He still clamors for my chest and he still wants to nurse. Plus, when I don't nurse him, I hurt. It's painful. Obviously I am still making milk because he's gulping it down, but do I have to sacrifice my own personal space/modesty to nurse this baby-almost-toddler?
He's fully capable of drinking milk, he's had it before. He feeds himself finger foods. He holds his own bottle. So why do I feel I need to continue nursing this baby? Is it because for some reason I feel like I won't be as good of a mom if I stop nursing?
Am I waiting for some sort of miraculous weight-loss if I continue this torture (which on some days it truly is) or do I just continue to have this bonding time with my son. Do I let him nurse while he twirls his hair in his hand, just so I can gaze into his beautiful brown eyes?
I am torn inside. Part of me wants to quit and part of me is afraid it will hurt. Hurt physically and emotionally.
So I just barely weaned Nick (it's been 4? days since he last nursed), although I should say he weaned himself since I did nothing; he just didn't want to nurse one day and that's that. Which was a relief, that's what Max did. But when we were coming up on his first birthday I was having little panic attacks in my brain 'cause I was ready to stop but I didn't know how to wean and was really hoping he'd just do it himself. But even though it got to be such a pain at the end (I mean really, nursing bigger babies is NO fun for the reasons you mentioned above) it was a relief to know that he was getting vitamins and stuff from me, so if all he would eat all day was carbs and no vegetables (Nick is SO picky) I could rest easy knowing he at least got real nourishment from me. So, I know that was probably no help at all, but I guess what I'm trying to say is there are benefits to keep going, but if you quit it's completely understandable:)
ReplyDeleteThat is a tough call. I think Finley would still be nursing if I hadn't weaned him. He loved it and loved cuddling. I don't know how you do it with him moving around so much! that sounds crazy!
ReplyDeleteOh man, I am going through this right now too! I kept saying I would wean Carter, and now he turns 1 in a few days and I STILL nurse him! I NEVER produced milk past 4 months or so, so it was never MY choice to give it up. So this is SUCH a hard thing to do now. Part of me is okay to keep nursing...and part of me knows I just need to end it soon. But how....sigh
ReplyDelete