When we started having children we made the decision that I would breastfeed. There were a variety of reasons, but I'll just leave it at that is the decision I made. Furthermore, I decided that I wouldn't necessarily wean them but allow them to self-wean as to not make it a traumatic or stressful situation.
When my daughter was 14 months old, and still nursing, I got pregnant with my son. There were some problems and my doctor suggested I try to wean her. I tried for a few weeks, it was awful and horrible and all the things I thought trying to wean a child who wasn't ready would be, so I continued to allow her to nurse. She eventually weaned herself at 19 months. I had three glorious months of wearing normal bras and no one was pawing at my boobs uninvited. When she was 22 months I gave birth to our son.
He is now 25 months old and shows no signs of being ready to wean, even though I'd like to be done nursing him. I know I could wean him, I really do and I know everyone has an opinion on this issue, but I am pretty against the idea of weaning him solely for the sake of my convenience. A few months ago, my ob/gyn switched my birth control, but warned me that it would more than likely decrease my milk supply. I said I wouldn't mind that and then secretly prayed my milk supply went away. No luck, still going strong.
So, I say all of that to say that last night I was nursing my son and thinking about the fact that out of the past 48 months (4 years) I have been nursing a child 45 of those months. Oh, how I long for the day that my boobs are once again mine.
** A reference to how I feel my boobs are going to look when the milk supply is gone.
3 comments:
Wow! I'm JEALOUS. Seriously.
I switched to bottle feeding only a few days after my son was born because the LaLeche woman who was supposed to be "so helpful" was a bitch and I didn't have any mother or sisters or support around me to help me though it.
I would have loved to have been able to breast feed (but may have lost my mind if it went on for that long). You Rock Moxy!
Good luck with the weaning though - I can imagine you'd want your boobs back after a while!
Oh thanks for the laugh, tennis balls in a sock! I bottle fed both my kids from the get-go, so I don't know a thing about what you're going through. But I sure hope your son weans soon, and that you start tallying the months to yourself again!
Nancy, that is awful about that woman. I know without the support and help it can be an unpleasant and impossible experience. Thanks for your kind words!
Joanne, thanks also for yours. I definitely would like to tally months to myself. :)
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