The little Apple is now mostly night-weaned. For about a year now, she has not nursed between the hours of 10pm and 8am (mostly because after I nurse her to sleep, I sneak out of her bedroom and she sleeps on her own the rest of the night). The rare exception occurs when she is sick and I feel particularly sorry for her (so I accede to her requests to nurse). The challenge now is…how to wean her completely! She’s already almost 2 years and 3 months old.
So far, I’ve been allowing her to take the lead, and that has meant that we are still breastfeeding. She likes to nurse first thing in the morning, right when she comes home from day care, and immediately before she falls asleep. Strike that. I should say, she LOVES to nurse. She told me once, “Mommy? Nay-Nay is so yummy!” (Nay Nay is how we say “breast” in Chinese). For my part, I can’t understand how she is getting any breastmilk out at all. I haven’t pumped in over a year, and when I try to express milk on my own, nothing comes out. She MUST be feeling the drought too, because last night, we had a VERY funny conversation:
- Little Apple: “Mommy, can I have this Nay Nay?”
- (I give her my left breast.)
- Little Apple (30 seconds later): “I’m done with this one, Mommy. Can I have the other one?”
- (I give her my right breast).
- Little Apple (30 seconds later): “Mommy, do you have any more Nay Nay for me?”
- Me: “No, honey, I only have the two Nay Nay you see before you. Mommy’s Cafe has only got two tables, and you’ve sat at both of them now, so I think you’re done.”
- Little Apple: “Okay, I’ll have this one again then.” (She points to my left breast.)
Where can I get me some more breasts? Looking like the goddess in the statue would come in VERY handy sometimes (although not when going to the beach, and certainly not when those puppies start to SAG). I guess if I really thought about it, I must not be truly ready to give up nursing, or I would not be having these thoughts about acquiring more breasts. I still really enjoy the wonderful cozy feeling of having her voluntarily cuddle up to me, her little hands cupping my breast, and her little feet tucked in beneath her. My daughter is normally so active that nursing is the only way I have of getting her to sit still and let me hold her. I feel like I will lose that ability once we do wean, and then it’ll just be a lifetime of chasing her around and begging her for a quick hug or kiss.
All of you Moms who have already weaned…how do you get your cutie pies to stay stationary and let you love up on them? If anyone has any good ideas, I’m open to implementing them. I think once I get over this mental hurdle, it will be much easier for me to move forward with weaning. For now, I guess neither of us is really ready!
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My previous posts on night-weaning (complete with doodles of breasts):
- Night-weaning and the Battle of the Breast: I’m Losing!
- Night-weaning: An Update on the Boob Front
- Night-weaning Update: A Real Roller Coaster Ride
- Night-weaning update: A Fistful of Boob Will Suffice
Hi,
I totally understand your frustration when your milk supply seems to be tapering off before you are ready to let go of those precious moments. This is a good thing because it means your body and your baby’s body are ready to fully wean from the breast. To keep that much needed contact time with your little girl, start a new tradition. At bedtime my boys (2 & 3 1/2 yr) and I all cuddle up in one twin bed and read three stories, sometimes four. This gives us time to talk, boosts their imaginations and gives them time to ask questions away from the distractions of our hectic life. I then rock my youngest, and sing to him for 5 to 10 minutes. This gives me even more snuggle time. If my oldest son wants to be rocked I will rock him too, but he is naturally growing out of it and asks or says that he wants to be rocked less and less often. A little sad, but he’ll stop playing most of the time to give me big hugs and kisses. This may be due to the fact that I work quite a bit so I’m not around enough for him to take my presence for granted.
Not sure if this will work for you, but it’s been great for me and even my husband too, to get snuggle time in while we still can. Good Luck!
I love it this great idea. I do read to my little one already, and she loves it, although she has stopped sitting on my lap to be read to, and prefers instead to sit next to me. When I do try to pick her up to rock her, she immediately turns to the breast and asks to nurse, so she is still focused on that at the moment. I am just so in love with this time right now – when she is still small and precious and loves her Mommy, that I dread when she gets older and wants to hug less. Is there some way we can keep them chained to our side forever? LOL. I don’t mean that, of course. Not really.