The Weaning Plan
I realize that experienced mommies everywhere are laughing simply at the
title of this entry – as if I can make a plan for this sort of thing and
stick to it. And more importantly, make Maddie stick to it.
But
she’s a year old now (I can almost say that without stuttering) and
we’re at the date we planned to begin weaning, way back when we were
young and innocent and thought babies cared about plans.
Our
pediatrician said at her one-year visit that we want her to be getting
most of her nutrition now from solids, not liquids, and gave her
blessing to both introduce cow’s milk and wean Maddie off breast milk.
She cautioned us against giving her too much milk, not wanting her to
fill up so much on cow’s milk that she didn’t eat a balanced meal. But
otherwise, we’re good to go.
Right now Maddie’s still nursing four times a day: when she wakes up,
when she goes down for both naps, and when she goes to bed. She’s not
eating a huge amount at any nursing except the morning one, so I know
they are mostly for comfort and habit. But I’m loath to cut them too
quickly for a few reasons:
1- The only other liquid she drinks right
now is water, and that’s maybe four ounces a day. I want her to be
solid with the cow’s milk before I take out her main liquid supply.
2-
She’s just gotten into solid, decent-length naps for a few weeks, and if
nursing her down buys me that 90 minutes of peace I’m ok with that.
Just not ready to have to sleep-train the naps – again - yet.
3-
That first nursing of the morning? It’s usually around 6:30 or 7 a.m.
when she’s wide awake, and it often coaxes her back to sleep for a bit
more. Even if it doesn’t get her back to sleep, nursing her in our bed
lets me lie there and doze a few more minutes, and she’ll talk quietly
to herself for a bit afterwards. I’ll freely admit this is totally
selfish; I really really don’t want to get up for the day at 6:30.
4-
I love cuddling with her those few times a day. The day will come soon
when I don’t have an excuse to put my feet up for five minutes read a
book, and snuggle with my baby. I’ll soon be no more necessary to her
than her dad.
5- How’s this for selfish: with nursing burning an
extra 300 calories a day, I get to keep eating dessert every day. I’m
dreading the time when she’s weaned and I have to start watching
calories again.
So I’m not rushing to cut every nursing
immediately. At the same time, I’ll be ready to get my boobs back and
not share them any more. I’ll be ready to wear a dress rather than a
skirt and a top (access). And I’ll be ready to stop pumping after work.
For
now, then, the plan is to get her on cow’s milk and see how she likes
it. When she’s solid with that we’ll try giving it to her with snacks.
Then we’ll try it in the morning, while slipping out a feeding of any
kind at night.
Yep, that’s a fancy plan, I know.
I’m
guessing it’ll take a couple months. For right now, I’m happy to know
breast milk is not vital to her, so if I pump a bit less one night it
won’t stunt her growth or anything. Wish me luck -
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