Weaning Part I

So I thought it over and we are in the beginning stages of weaning. Actually, when you read about weaning from the breast, they say it begins when you give the baby the first solid meal or cup or bottle.

We have successfully dropped the 4pm feeding. She loved her yogurt and fruit yesterday and my boobs seemed to hold up ok against the missing feeding. So this morning, I started working on weaning myself off the pump.

Since I went back to work in September, I've worked hard to keep an extra supply of "just in case" milk. This means that I feed Suzanne on one side in the night/morning and save the other for an early morning pumping session. This milk either goes to the milk bank or to Suzanne if she decides to eat a lot at the nanny's. Rather than getting out of bed at 6:39 this morning to pump, I didn't pump until 11:00. My boobs were incredibly perky (and slightly uncomfortable) all morning. I also think I have a clogged duct, a normal occurence during weaning.

I thought about it all weekend and have come to terms with the weaning (kind of). Worries of imagined or real weight gain aside, I think it's time. Suzanne doesn't miss the nursing so much. At night, she seems to prefer to have her pacifier to suck on than my boob so that's that.

Jérôme and I discussed a timeline and I have about 3 weeks to wean her. This gives us both enough time to adjust, gives my hormones a hopefully long enough time to change, and give me and Suzanne a chance to get used to the new situation before I go away for 3 days at the end of May.

I admit, it will be easier in some ways if she's not nursing anymore. And I'd quite like to have my boobs to myself again (or will they now be my husband's?)