I realized tonight that I never followed up with my breastfeeding/weaning saga and decided that I would give closure to all of you sitting around, waiting with baited breath just wondering, “I wonder what ever happened with Sara and her boob issues?” Well, tonight I’m going to wrap that up for all of you….I know, I know….please try to control your enthusiasm as you read on.

As many of you know, for Natalie’s first year of life, I nursed her to get her to fall asleep….for every nap, and every night before bed.  Then I would nurse her several times throughout the night, not because she was hungry, but because that was the only way she would fall back asleep.  I had created quite a monster and breaking our bad habits was not easy, but shortly after her first birthday, we succeeded.

Since the pregnancy of child number 6 developed, I worked diligently to wean her from the breast.  It took several weeks, but we both came through it with flying colors.   Part of the problem was that she refused to drink cow’s milk from a cup so she wasn’t getting the adequate amount of fluid intake that she needed.  It was quite a stressful couple of months going back and forth between staying strong and not giving into breastfeeding and then caving because I got myself all worked up that she hadn’t wet through enough diapers for the day.

Well, one day we were playing in her room and she found one of her old bottles.  We had a few on hand for the times I was out and about and daddy needed to feed her.  She picked it up and started sucking on it as if to say, “Hey you moron, if you would just give me the cow’s milk in this here bottle instead of trying to force me to drink out of those darn sippie cups, then we would have no problem with this weaning business!”  So I followed her lead and gave her the bottle with whole milk, and she sucked it down in 15 seconds flat.  It was a victorious day for both of us and the true weaning process began on that day many months ago.

It’s now been several months since I last breast fed Miss Natalie and there are still many times I miss it dearly.  I rock her in her room at night feeding her a bottle and most nights she takes it just fine, but she still has her moments. When she is really upset and tugs on my shirt as if to say, “Please mommy, I’m really having a hard time right now, and I just need that comfort food you have stored in the homemade bottles you are hiding down your shirt.”   I can only equate it to someone telling me that in my darkest hours…. in my most hormonal moments….that I cannot turn to chocolate for the comfort I need to get me through the day.  But even worse is that I’m her mom and I’m the one denying her that comfort food!

I know…I’m a monster.  But it was truly getting to be unmanageable in our house and the madness needed to come to an end. Given that and coupled with the fact that in just 5 short months I will be turning my boobs over to the next baby, I know I did the right thing by weaning her.

So now you know the ending to my breastfeeding tales, and I’m sure you will all sleep better tonight for having the knowledge that Miss Natalie and I got through it and we are both doing alright.