i'm still nursing levi.
he's 12 1\2 months and we're still going strong.
that's a new one for me. i never thought i'd make it this long. you can ask mike, he thought for sure i'd stop eventually. from the beginning i told myself i'd give it 6 months. no questions, no "what ifs" no, it'd only be easier if's... i was just going to do it for that long before i considered anything else... lo and behold by the time i got to 6 months it was so easy, that i never thought twice about doing anything else.
so now he's a year, and i keep getting asked if i'm still nursing him.
i say yes, and i get "the look"
you know
"the look"
the one that screams...
oh, you're one of those crazy, all natural, cloth diapering, baby wearing, kind of people...
i don't really know what to say to that, other than, yes i am. no i don't plan on nursing him forever, but i'll do it until he seems like he's not interested anymore, and right now, we're doing just fine. he nurses twice a day, early morning and then again before he goes to bed.
i have been considering dropping one feeding, but i'm not sure how to go about that. he seems so content right now, and i don't want to mess with it, but it's just a little bit of a thought i have at the moment.
how long did you nurse your kiddos?
did they wean naturally or did you wean them?
i'd love to know what other mama's have done.
7 comments:
It's great that you and Levi have been able to share that special time together for over a year now! :) Way to go!!
Okis nursed until he was 18 months. I think he likely would have gone longer, but we were all really really sick at that time. He had to spend some time away from us, and that's when he weaned. I probably could have gotten him to nurse again afterward, but we were wanting to get pregnant and things were not back to normal for me yet.
Babolly nursed until she was 21 months old. I got many "looks" with that, even though lots of people nurse for longer. It's annoying. I just felt like saying, "It works for us. We are fine with it and it's none of your damn business!" ;)
i always planned on nursing for a year. libbs nursed until a couple days after her 1st bday...she weaned herself. leila i started using nursing & formula when she was about 9 months b/c i was really sore and she didn't seem to be getting enough. she was done nursing at 11months. nadia turned 1 today and she is still nursing strong. 4 sometimes 5 times a day. i'm just going with the flow...planning to let her self-wean at this point. i love nursing my babies!
Oh, and Babolly weaned herself. Just didn't want to nurse one day, and that was that!
#1 self-weaned at 23 mos.
#2 self-weaned at 2 1/2
#3 weaned at 22 mos.
all weaned while i was pregnant, so i think they would have chosen to nurse longer if i wasn't. i think that letting the child choose is best, but i had to wean #3 by my choice b/c my milk was gone (again, pg) and his latch was causing me a lot of pain. i tried to fix his latch for two months before deciding to wean, though.
if it's working, don't worry about what other folks say. you're the mama.
I made it almost 6 months with Jenny - then I went back to work. She has always been quite independent, so it wasn't a big deal for her to quit.
With David, we made it just shy of 11 months... I only quit then because I needed to take some steroids to get rid of a bad case of poison ivy. He probably would still be nursing if I would have let him - and there are days when I wish he still was.
Each baby is different, as is each family. Don't let anybody make you feel "odd" if you're not following the "cultural norm"! :) We're all a little odd at times.
I nursed my first until she was about 2o months or so - she weaned herself as my milk dried up, because I was pregnant with #2. She probably would have nursed longer.
With #2, I nursed and nursed - she finally weaned "officially" when she was 28 months. We had a party and everything. Very cute. She had dropped all but 1 nighttime nursing (and that wasn't even every night)at that point. It wasn't needed so we just nudged a little bit. :) Made everyone happier.
Good for you, if it's still working for both of you, why mess with a good thing! I found those post-first-birthday nursing sessions to be some of the few times when the kiddos were calm and settled enough that we could really just enjoy snuggling. I never thought I'd nurse into toddlerhood (before kids I remember stating that if a kid could ask to nurse they were too old), but both times it's just worked.
Joshua was 15 months old when he stopped nursing, and it was all him. He'd been doing 2 feedings since about a year, and then at probably 14 months switched himself to just the morning one. Then one day (the week we found out we were expecting Lydia, actually) I offered it to him, he latched, then let go and rolled away and was abruptly done from that point on. Cold turkey!
Lydia nursed until she was 18 months old, and she probably could have kept on for a bit longer if I'd wanted to, but she was only using it as a bedtime stall tactic by that point (As in, I'd put her into bed without her asking for it or remembering, and once she was lying down already she'd sit back up and say "night-nights mama?" So I decided at that point that it wasn't really about needing/wanting it anymore and we started to work on weaning. It took a couple of weeks start to finish, but really only one or two rough nights (I didn't for a couple of nights, then gave in on the third...mostly because I was actually really sore and engorged...which I did not expect at all) and it didn't seem to be hard on her at all.
It's one of those things where one or both of you will know if it's time to stop. Until then, enjoy those sweet little nursing/snuggle sessions!
Post a Comment