To a year that is. A year of breastfeeding. I'm pretty damn impressed with myself. I really had no goals going into it but in the back of my stubborn mind I didn't want to have to purchase formula. I will successfully accomplished this silent goal on Friday. The day my girl turns one.
I am stubborn. And to me, going to formula was easy and giving up. So I've persevered and toughed it out and on Friday, I will proudly proclaim it has been a year.
Has it been easy? No. We used a nipple shield from within 24 hours until 4.5 months in when she decided she didn't need it anymore. It would have been easy to give in. Make a bottle. She nursed super slow with the nipple shield and sometimes she would nurse for 45 minutes in a session. Sometimes it was every 90 minutes. But I kept at it. I'm stubborn.
I had a stomach bug at Christmas and was so dehydrated and sick she had to go away from me for the night and my supply tanked. I've popped more fenugreek, ate more oatmea3l, chugged more tea than ever in my life. But I did it. We did it.
She started teething. With every new tooth my nipples would get some lovely bites. We dealt. I got my first post-partum period. Thank you stomach virus, bitch. Once a month my supply tanks some more. I get a few love bites. We persevered. We don't give up. We keep on trucking.
And now my sweet baby girl, is almost a year. I feel she is hurtling towards weaning herself and I'm getting okay with that. After we hit 6 months I pretty much decided a year was GOING to happen. No giving up. Days away from her first birthday and she nurses when she wakes up, sometimes she can wait about a half hour, other mornings it is MAMA NOWWWWWWWWW. She nurses before she naps and sadly, she doesn't even need it at night time all the time anymore. I say sadly, because I will gladly let her wean when she is ready. As long as that day happens after her first birthday, cuz her mama isn't a quitter and I really don't want to be bit as I force it to my finish line. ;)
Will we nurse past a year? Maybe. I'm anticipating my period this weekend so we will see what happens. I'm going to guess she will nurse when she wakes and before a nap for a bit longer, especially when I am home for the summer. But I'm going to stop asking her if she wants to nurse. I will go solely on her cues unless I can tell she is so frustrated she needs to hear it.
But dang. We did it.
I'm impressed with myself. I start so many things and never follow through. I followed through. I nursed MY child for a year.
Never give up. Did I mention, I'm stubborn?
3 comments:
You've done a great job. Congratulations are in order!
You've done a great job. Congratulations are in order!
Congrats! This is a huge feat! I know exactly how you feel pushing yourself to keep going because it's quite the marathon. My only problem is that somehow in my push to keep nursing, I got my babe addicted to the boobie. I don't see her self weaning annnny time soon. Oh well, we made our goal and that's what matters. :)
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