Weaning Wednesday: Nine Months of Breast Feeding

L was a few hours old here and we were feeding for the first time. 

It was the start of our journey and it has had bumps, highs and lows, but has ultimately been very successful. 

Now that we are in the midst of weaning L has started to drop feeds and replace them with snacks and water. It's a blessing and a bit sad. 

It means that we no longer have to worry about L having to have milk feeds when I am not around. Rather than the formula she was having L is preferring to go hungry until I return. This includes sleeping through the night full of food alone. It also means that I can wear clothes previously difficult to wear! Horray for round neck clothes. 

I've done it all very naturally and hardly thought about it. We do the Baby Whisperes EASY and so now L's day goes;

Wake

Eat- Boob + Breakfast

Activity - Play

Sleep - Nap 1hr

You - shower, cooking, chores

Awake

Eat- Snack

Activity - play or out and about

Eat - Lunch (I tried to have lunch after nap but L sleeps better when she has it before)

Sleep - Nap 30mins - 1hr 30mins

You - my lunch if different to L, more chores, more cooking, maybe some blogging

Awake

Eat - Snack and boob

Activity - playtime, park visit, shopping

Sleep - nap 30mins - 1hr

You - dedicated sit time, cup of tea and a mag, or my bloglovin feed. 

Awake

Eat - Dinner 

Activity - playtime, TV and bathtime

Sleep - before L goes down she has another short boob feed but never feeds to sleep.

You - couple time, TV time, dinner for two if we haven't eaten before.

Sometimes, especially during days of extra teething pain or illness L will have more feeds. She is very obvious in her hungry signs and flings herself on my chest smacking her lips pulling my top down to find my boobs. 

Feeding L now is a bit of a juggling act. She never sits still and constantly wiggles and shifts about in my lap resulting in sore nips and boobs covered in scratches. Ouch. 

I will miss breast feeding but I have also always had an end date for feeding L. I was initially thinking I would stop when teeth arrived, two have completely cut through and four more are currently making their way through L's poor gums. If L bites I am likely to see that as a sign to stop, otherwise I am happy to wait till I return to work. Our mornings will be too rushed for lazy long feeds. 

At this point weaning will be complete as L no longer has her milk feeds from me. And as she continues to drop milk feeds as a toddler, milk will be no more than a healthy bone strengthening snack. 

It's been a good journey, a journey seeing L continue to grow fuelled by my boobs. I am proud of our achievement. Of working through the growth spurts, the sore nipples and night feeds. 

We did good.