Well, she has another ear infection. Really? This is getting old, my poor little kiddo!
So, I didn't see our regular ped as he wasn't in yesterday. But the one we saw was the one that saw Bug in the hospital. Really, it's all good because we like all of the docs in the practice. Anyway, I questioned her about Bug being sick all. the. time. I mean really, this year alone she's on her second ear infection and has had pneumonia. She asked if Bug was in daycare, which she is. Dr B advised that for babies in daycare, they expect to see approximately 11 colds the first year. HOLY CRAP. That's just about 1 a month! Which is the track that Bug is on, she has had just about 1 a month since she was born! YIKES. She also said 4-6 ear infections in a babies first year. Wow, that means 2-4 more is still normal in the next 4 months! Oh boy.
So last night, got her down to bed pretty good, and just as I was getting ready for bed around 9:30 she woke up with these cries that just broke my heart! I could just tell she was in pain. I had looked for the ear drops that our normal ped gave us a while back to help with the pain in the ear earlier, and had not been able to find them. So, I gave her some tylenol and spent 20 or so mins calming her down. Then I found the drops, of course. So I put a couple in and then nursed her back to sleep. Poor little thing, I hate when she's in pain and there's nothing I can really do about it.
The night before that, and even today she has been having a lot of problems nursing since she is so congested. Luckily she really wants to, so hopefully this won't turn into any kind of a nursing strike, really just an 'I'm too sick to really eat' moment.
So, I was talking to a friend of mine last night on FB, and we were talking about BFing. Now, I'm going to be honest here. I've always said that at 12 months I'm done, because beyond that it was always creepy to me. This friend BF'd until 13 months and said she'd give me pointers on weaning. K wants me to stop at 12 months because he thinks it's creepy beyond that. With that being said, while I probably will start weaning at 12 months, I now know why so many mama's choose to do extended BFing. I'll be honest on here ~ I won't work real real hard at weaning her at 12 months. I'll start, but I'll let it be a slow process, especially considering that K is gone 3/4 of the month and will never know! I've realized that this relationship is something so very precious to both of us, and I have a feeling that she won't want to give it up either. She still searches me out to nurse when she's hungry or just needs comforted. To me it's so very very sweet. However I also realize that by doing this I may slow down our TTC journey, as I still have not gotten my PPAF. So I do have to factor that in, and therefore may really wean right around 12 months.
Weaning for me also means weaning the babies that I've been donating to. That for me is a hard pill to swallow as they are younger than Bug and will then need to find other mama's when I stop pumping. So then I have to decide how much of the milk that I have left do I want to keep for Bug versus how much to donate.
I know I still have a few months to make all of these decisions, but I also know how fast those months are going to fly by. I'm just trying not to let it creep up on me.
Well, off to get a few things done before Bug wakes up from her nap. Have a great Saturday!
~Emms
Ahh, I nursed my son for 2.5 years... in part because he never was ready to give up the waking and the going to sleep at night nursing sessions that everyone said would magically disappear, and in part because I was going through a divorce and wanted to have every reason possible to keep my soon-to-be-ex from fulfilling his threats to take Corey away (should have known that if nursing could stop him, the fight was more than half over).
ReplyDeleteWhen I was pregnant with Madelyn, I told my husband I was nursing three months, tops! I might have sounded slightly over-the-top, lol. Of course, then I met the baby I'd been so ready to withhold from, lol... and we had a lot of struggles with nursing. By three months we were barely sailing, but we were. It wasn't the time to stop. She self-weaned by 14 months, but those last couple of months were strictly comfort related. (She wanted to start up again when she saw Fynnie nursing... I always thought I would be the mama who was okay with that. Surprise! Nope, lol.)
With Fynnie, I've made no such predictions (why bother, lol). I do have certain things I look forward to doing once we stop, but I am comfortable waiting almost as long as she wants (unless she's like my son... that was too long!).
As for the decision... if you nurse for a year-ish, it'll be about time to start her on regular milk (or your variation of the same). So you can always start introducing milk for cups/sippies/bottles, but continue nursing at whatever level seems right. Once she's accepted the new milk, you can begin weaning your other babies, too.
Hugs,
Shan :+)
Thank you so much! It's crazy to think that I really just don't know when to stop. I think that you're probably right in that I'll know if it's not the right time, like you did with Madelyn. I think I'll start working on it at 12 months, but go from there in terms of weaning at the pace that works for Bug.
ReplyDelete~Emms