I am mother-led weaning my son, and today is the last day. I have nursed him for 3 years and a week! I've loved it most of the time, dreaded it sometimes, been through mastitis, awful engorgement, pumping at work, transitioned away from daytime, nursing, and down to just at bedtime. Nursies have fixed his hurts, healed his pain, soothed his soul, and filled him with love. They sustained him for a year through dairy and soy allergies, and helped him outgrow and heal those. They have been our "come back together" point at the end of a long day at work, and our, "I love you's" at bedtime.But, it's time.... I'm now nearly 7 weeks along with our third, and nursing is extremely painful. I have virtually no milk, and DS says it tastes yucky. He is restless at the breast, picking, pinching and squeezing for more milkies. He is still waking to nurse some nights, cutting into my precious few hours of sleep in my first trimester exhaustion. And he is three. He is strong, and beautiful. Healthy, well and confident in himself, and in our relationship. We've talked about the other ways we will show we love each other, and how I will help him fall asleep. We've talked about how there will be milk again, for a new baby, but he is a big boy, and gets lots of other food. He has been hugging my breasts off and on the last few days, saying "I love you nursies!" and looking up at me, "I love you too Mom!"
I suspect tonight will be rough, he has nursed to sleep every single night but two his whole life. We made nursie cupcakes, and I gave him the book Someday
. I cried reading it to him, and he said he wished his present was a toy, LOL! I know he is ready, and I know this is best for me at this point. I'm just feeling teary and sad. My big boy!
Congratulations on this big milestone. Make sure you take it easy on yourself--- the combination of weaning and pregnancy could make your hormones CRAZY. Please update us on how it is going.
