One of my big steps in getting ready for transfer has been to wean Charlotte from the breast.
I first learned I would need to do this pretty early in my conversations with Whitney. Back then, Charlotte was still nursing 5 times a day or so, and she nursed to sleep a lot of times for naps and bedtime. Ellie had weaned at 13 months, but it seemed like Charlotte would breastfeed forever if I would let her. I used to post brelfies (breastfeeding selfies) to Facebook and Instagram with the hashtag #boobgirl because she was. Charlotte never learned to take a bottle. For the first sixth months of her life, I was her sole source of nutrition.
So when Whitney and I talked about how I would need to wean, I told her that I would probably nurse Charlotte until she was at least two. I really wanted to let her wean herself. I was pretty darn sure that was what was going to happen.
Wellllllll, that wasn’t the case. I started feeling really touched out and done with nursing. It quit being something I loved, and I had loved it. Nursing a teeny baby is so wonderful and special. Nursing a toddler who wants to stick her fingers up your nose is not so much. I decided to move weaning up a bit.
First, I started dropping the nursing sessions around naps. I just quit offering. She didn’t demand the breast, so within a couple of weeks, she was only nursing first thing and the morning and last thing before bed. Then, we decided to drop the night feed. We already knew that she could go without because on Thursday nights, I had choir rehearsal until late, and Jesse put both girls to bed on his own. For a few nights, Jesse took over bedtime with Charlotte, and very easily, we were down to just one feed a day.
We thought maybe we could just go ahead and drop everything, and Charlotte very quickly made it clear that that was not the case. She was quite demanding for her milk first thing in the morning. We continued like this for several weeks.
Then one Sunday morning in early July, the girls slept late. We hadn’t gotten them up yet, but I had to run to get to choir rehearsal. I didn’t have time to nurse Charlotte before leaving. I told Jesse good luck and I would see them later.
That was that. Charlotte did great that day. The next day, I decided we should see if she could go without milk again. She was a bit fussier than normal, but she never asked for it. The same thing happened the next two days. After about four days without the boob, she wasn’t even fussier than normal anymore. Charlotte had officially weaned.
I’m writing this as I sit at the airport, waiting to board a plane to go to a friend’s wedding. When we initially planned this trip, I had a lot of anxiety about having to pump to keep up my supply and what the heck Charlotte would do about not having me around to nurse. Weaning her took away all that anxiety. I’m so glad to be sitting here, pump free, knowing my kiddo is going to have a great time while I’m away, totally boob free.
It’s Not My Baby 