It is with mixed emotions that I put this out there. I am not feeling that eloquent this evening and am not going to be able to write this in a lovely way but here goes...
1. my baby girl is almost 11 months old.
2. I love her
3. A lot
4. two days ago when nursing she bit me so hard that she drew blood (To be fair, she did cut a tooth this weekend, perhaps even two...)
5. she often tries to grab my nipple and put it in her mouth
6. she has only nursed "properly" about once a day for the last few days
7. she eats like she's a pro footballer
So, is my baby self weaning? Is she sending me signs that it is time to move on from the blessed boob?
Part of me is excited, giddy even, at the prospect of having my tatas back. While the other part, most of me, is quite sappy about losing this part of our magical momma/baby relationship.
I didn't honestly see myself nursing much longer than a year anyhow but this has kind of snuck up on me.
Please tell me your stories. Please share your weaning experiences here.
I say stories because I know each one of us mommas have baby boobie practices that are as unique and amazing as our mammarys. Oops I mean babies.
Sigh. As my baby approaches toddler hood. I smile with pride and my heart swells with so many emotions, or is it hormones. At any rate, I can see why we women often give birth to more than one of these precious little beasties. I mean babies.
I told you I wasn't feeling the writerly vibe tonight, you should have known by the time you read the title...but there it is.
Discuss.
6 comments:
I'm not sure if she is giving you the signals. Our daughter's signals were different. She started loving drinking out of a sippy cup at 7 months. I pumped for a little while after that, but then we started putting formula in the sippy cups after a month. It was bittersweet.
Ruby could be teething or growing and may go back to more regular nursing. You can wait it out a bit, or you can wean now if you think it's a good (easy) time.
I would be ecstatic if my kids showed interest in self-weaning, but oh lord, my children never want to give up the boob. I weaned Bee at 25 mos only because I had to go to my dad, and I was already 5 months pregnant with Dove, who, at 18mos, shows no end in sight. The nice thing is that we've never done formula (or even bottles), and I still love our good night cuddle/nurse.
I have always said that when they undo my bra themselves, they are done.
I don't know if Ruby is weaning...Megan bit me a LOT and I bled and even got gross skin ulcers on my nipples, but she still wanted boobs.
We are still not weaned over here, although we've only been nursing once a day for the past 4 months. Megan shows no interest in the boob other than first thing in the morning. As long as she's interested I'll keep breastfeeding her, and am already mourning the loss of my baby even as I celebrate the gain of an awesome and increasingly independent toddler.
It sounds very similiar to our teething situation. If after the teething subsides a lttle and she still shows less interest, Then you may know if it's weaning. But from the sound of it right now, it's strictly teething related.
I am so sorry about the biting. My son bit me so hard that I actually blacked out from the pain. Thank God my husband was home. It hurt that Bad
well, I am not there yet, but my friends who BFed for a long time have told me that teething time lead to increased biting.
Thankfully Isaac has let up on the real biting (he still nips every once and a while), but he does pinch...
We might have to start weaning when I go back to work as they are talking about sending me away for weeks at a time. I'm still pumping though and Isaac takes his boob milk from a sippy cup at the sitters; so hopefully this will work for Jason when I'm away. Do you pump? IF you do and IF you want to keep giving Ruby breast milk a cup/sippy/bottle might be the way to go. Otherwise, she's been breastfed more than LOTS of other babies out there and if she's eating well and you are both comfortable with it go ahead and wean guilt free mama, your beastie is thriving.
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