I was prepared to write this whole long post with questions about how to wean the little lady. Her first birthday is coming up (she's 11 months old today!!) and I am planning on being DONE nursing on her birthday. I want a giant glass of milk, with a Shamrock shake chaser, on her birthday, so weaning will have to commence soon so I don't mess this up. And, though this is the second child I have breastfed and pumped for, I never had to actively wean Baylor; by his first birthday he was pretty much done with sitting down to be nursed and my milk was drying up quickly because I was already pregnant with Mollie. Since I am NOT getting pregnant again, I have been actively trying to figure out how to do this whole weaning thing.
Then this morning happened.
Usually I get up early every morning, start my breakfast, start up the computer, and sit down and pump for an hour and a half so she'll have milk for her cereal (breakfast, lunch, and dinner). I HATE pumping. It is infuriating and boring, but I have been doing it for months since I knew it was best for her and I could physically do it. I also got a fancy electric pump when she was born so I didn't have to use the evil hand pump I used when Baylor was a baby, and I felt pretty good about that.
This morning started out like any other morning. The routine was enacted smoothly. Until my pump died. I think I actually killed the motor. I tried restarting it. It sounded so sad and then fizzled out. This happened several times. Then it wouldn't start.
Awesome.
So, I begrudgingly pulled out the hand pump and started using that. After a few hand-cramping minutes I stopped and found I only had a half an ounce to show for it.
Even more awesome.
Yup, so long story short, I am officially stopping pumping today. Because I have to.
If any of you out there have any advice on weaning a baby off nursing (since we're apparently going cold turkey on the pumping front), I would welcome it!
Now I'm off to do something ... no idea what, though. I didn't expect to have two hands to myself at any point today. Hm ...
1 comment:
I didn't nurse...but to wean off the bottle I just started replacing each bottle feeding with a meal, sippy cup or cuddles. By 12 months they were only down to 3 bottles anyway...morning after waking up, between lunch and dinner and then before bed. Bedtime was the easiest to cut out. I don't believe in milk before bed. I just fed them a good dinner and then we had cuddles at bedtime. For the between lunch/dinner I just fed them a snack. And then in the morning I gave them a sippy cup.
I am a firm believer in cold turkey though and it's how I got rid of pacifiers. :)
Good luck!
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