I don't know what came over me last night but when she woke up in the middle of the night I decided that I just wasn't going to give her another feeding during the night. My daughter will be two in less than a month and the other day I noticed her last two teeth coming in. As of today she still nurses. Hold on, before I start getting comments of horror that I'm still breastfeeding let me first say that I'm weaning her. The only times she still nurses is going down for her nap, right before bed and when she wakes up in the middle of the night.
Personally, I am SO proud that my body has been able to produce milk for her this long. I absolutely love the bonding experience I've had with her through breastfeeding. I love that we can be in the middle of no where and I am fully capable of providing comfort and nourishment she needs. I know if we were caught in the middle of a zombie attack my survival chances would be higher cause I wouldn't need to find formula. (haha) Just checking if you were paying attention. This being said, I'm ready to get my boobs back. They are ready for a long vacation, well at least until we have another one.
As I was saying, last night I decided to get her weaned by her birthday. That means the middle of the night feeding goes first and let me tell you that night one was horrendous! She was absolutely PISSED that I would not give up the goods. She cried on and off for over THREE hours before finally knocking out until the morning. Everything I did, holding her, rubbing her back, giving her cow's milk as a substitute, laying down with her, talking soothingly to her, laying her on my stomach, etc. did not work. Each and every time she started falling asleep she would wake with a start and ask for the boob again. Each and every time I said "no more booby" the crying started up again.
The foot is down and I will not waver. I better not waiver! Let's hope that night two goes more smoothly than last night. Cross your fingers, toes and eyes for me. :)
Oh man, I remember trying to wean Ethan. NOT FUN!
ReplyDeleteBy that age it is usually down to before naps/bed but they are sure addicted/attached to going to sleep that way by then. I am pretty sure he was sleeping through the night by then tho, so luckily we weren't dealing with that too.
I decided to try to stop around his second birthday also.It ended up taking an extra month. I was hoping he would start to lose interest but that wasn't happening at all. Just laying together and rubbing his back wasn't enough for him either. So at 25 months I decided we were gonna go cold turkey. At that age I'm sure you've noticed they are old enough to tug at you and lift your shirt, which he tried to do as I lay with him. I ended up having to lay on my stomach so he couldn't get to me while he just cried and cried. It sure made me feel bad for him, along with annoyed at this situation, but like you I had decided it was time. We went thru a crying fit for about a week, then he accepted it.
It is such an amazing experience BF. And as much as forced weaning sucks, I wouldn't trade that for all the wonderful times we did have.
Good Luck to you. It will be rough, but you can do it.