Breast Feeding Mama
So, I have decided to complete the weaning process with Jessica. No more nursing. I've really been weaning her since 12 months, and she's currently only nursing once a day, right before bed. And I know that now its at a place where we're only nursing for me. She could care less. She's gone a few different nights when I wasn't home and didn't nurse, and she went to bed no problem. I was actually surprised how easy it was to wean her to just once a day. Now I've decided its probably about that time to wean her completely. I was thinking I was fine with it, until I talked to Steve about it. And I burst into tears. She's no longer my baby, she's a big girl now. If I think its hard now, what am I going to do with our last baby? So then tonight I wasn't sure if I was really ready to wean her or not, so I decided to ask her. So after her bath, we were reading a book and I asked her if she wanted to nurse, or if she wanted to go to bed. She said "night night" and pointed to her bed. I had to hold back the tears as I tucked her in. She really is a big girl now :( I am very proud of her, and I am loving her big girl stuff, but it went by way too fast!

So, since I've also decided I need to do more "journaling" type stuff on the blog to help me out in the scrapbooking department, I am going to journal about the Nursing adventures of Jessica and I :) Enjoy!


Jessica and I have had quite the rollercoaster when it comes to nursing. It started off EXTREMELY painful on my part, we're talking cracked and bleeding. Obviously it was the first time for both of us, so when the nurses at the hospital told me everything was fine (idiots) I thought that was just how nursing was. Not fun. Turned out that Jessica was tongue-tied. Once I got a fabulous lactation consultant to diagnose that, we popped on a nipple-shield and searched for a doctor who would perform the simple procedure of a frenectomy (snipping the skin under the tounge so that the tongue can move). First doctor thought we were crazy and I left her office crying (this is like 5 days after Jessica was born, I was still very hormonal and sleep deprived!). We called around and found a Doctor (her current pediatrition) who sent us to a specialist. So at 1 week old Jessica had her first surgercal procedure. It actually took less than a minute and recquired no antiseptic/medicine. I left the room (I couldn't handle her crying!) and Steve held her and she cried for two seconds. She nursed right after.

She was weaned off the nipple shield at one month. And I was painfree nursing, very happily :)

Oh, and I finally stopped pouring out the otherside as I nursed (I used to be able to collect like 3 or 4 ounces a time. I seriously had enough milk for triplets.......) so since I no longer had so many contraptions to put on when I nursed, at night I discovered laying down while nursing, and basically started to get WAY more sleep. Score.

This was also the time I decided I had to go back on birthcontrol cause I was freakin out about getting pregnant again. So I went on the mini-pill, which wasn't supposed to effect my milk supply. But it did. Jessica lost weight, and I gained like 7 pounds. Not cool. So stopped taking those, Jessica gained weight and was fine, and I had still had an extra 7 pounds back that I obviously wanted to lose. GRRRRRRR

By the time Jessica was 3 1/2 months she was sleeping through the night in her own room and crib, so no more night nursing. She would nurse at 5 in the morning in bed with us, then I'd put her back in her bed to sleep for another hour or two.

It was smooth sailing until she started to teethe. Yeah, this was when she bit me. Also not cool. She figured out how to be more gentle, but it still hurt!

For the first six months I went to a weekly breast feeding group, every Thursday. It was awesome. The first few weeks I went to weigh her and ask questions, and to hear from everyone else it got easier (the first week I actually cried. Dude, the hormones made me everywhere!). After that I went to chat with the friends I had made, and to let the newbies know that it got easier, and was sooooo worth. At six months Jessica finally got a schedule down, and her nap fell at the meeting time. I would go occasionally, and I went for the very last one (they lost the leader and couldn't find anyone to replace her), the day before Jessica's first birthday.

Around one year I decided to wean her. She was at a point where she would come up to me and start pullin at my shirt and rubbing her face in my boobs. I wanted to wean her to just nap time and night time, and it maybe took a little over a week to get there. Around 14 monthsish I got her down to just night time. Once we got to just night time, after a few weeks, she really didn't seem to care if she nursed or not. I left her with Steve over night and she went down just fine. And this is where we're at now.

Jessica was 100% breast-fed. Never had formula, and only drank out of a bottle under 10 times. It was defiently a journey, but I loved the bond of nursing, I love that she got the best food she could ever get, and I'm amazed at how healthy it kept her. She had one ear infection, maybe one bad cold, and she lives in a preschool! I'm totally positive it is because she was breast fed. I'm all about the breastfeeding, and if you want to do it longer I think thats awesome. I just don't think its for me. I wanted to nurse for at least a year, and I made it for 15 months. Its sad that this part of Jessica's childhood is over, that she's no longer a baby :( Needless to say there have been a lot of tears on my part. (BUT, I should be having a few more babies and nursing them, too.) Jessica is growin up, and I'm loving watching the little girl that she is becoming.

So, since I'm sure no one wants to see pictures of my boobas, I won't post pictures of us while Jessica was nursing. Instead I"ll leave you with a few pictures from mothers day.

They surprised me with breakfast in bed. Jessica was so excited!! (yeah, and I obviously just woke up. Focus on Jessica's cheesy grin instead of me, please!)

She colored me a card, so sweet, I almost cried!

Daddy and Jessica found the perfect strawberry in the garden!

Showing off her belly, as usual ;)

Have a fabulous week!