Weaning

It’s time guys! I’m finally weaning my baby. My first go around, I breastfed my son for 2 years and 1 month. Each time I tried to wean him, he would cry and I just couldn’t take it. My second son preferred the bottle so I exclusively pumped. (See my latch vs pump article).

Anywho, my son is now 10.5 months and I’ve been pumping every 3-4 hours since he was born and, frankly, I’m exhausted. I slowly started extending the time between pumping and even skipped my middle of the night pumps. I went from pumping 40 ounces daily to know about 12-15. Yesterday, I pumped twice and got 10…. Cue Boyz II Men “End of the Road.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends weaning once baby starts eating which is typically around 6 months. New evidence also suggests continue breast milk for the first two years of life as breast milk is linked to stronger bone development, less likely to develop food allergies, digestive, lung, and/or ear infections.

And I want the best for my babies so there is a lot of mommy guilt around me weaning him. But I’m tired and it’s affecting my mental and physical health (because I haven’t lost any weight breastfeeding). I really thought my breastfeeding journey would be like my previous experience. But I digress…

As I shortened the time that I pumped along with the amount of times I pumped, I produced less and less breast milk. Eventually I stopped cold turkey and it has been about a week. I’ve had some engorgement but it wasn’t too uncomfortable so I didn’t hand express. Some of my mom friends advised that the soreness would go away and it has. The amount of time that I’ve gotten back, is incredible. I no longer have the alarms going off every 3 hours reminding me to report to work lol. So it’s definitely a new start and I love it.

When did you start weaning your little one? What did you enjoy or dislike about it? Was it easy for you? Did you have any guilt surrounding it? Let’s keep these conversations going.