I must have amazing knockers.
I mean, I really must. A midwife did remark once that I have
lovely breasts for nursing a baby and they have served me and my growing babies
well but why oh why must it be so impossible to wean?
You would think, and I certainly hoped, that by my third child, I would have some small clue as to
how to bring the breastfeeding gig to a peaceful end. But I didn’t know then
and I don’t know now.
Luca breastfed for 17 months.
Ziggy breastfed for 19 months.
Harlow is still breastfeeding at 15 months….and she shows NO
signs of stopping.
In fact, Harlow is breastfeeding ALL NIGHT LONG. Every night, she
wakes for boob. Most nights, I bring her in with me after that first wake up
because I know that if I put her back in the cot, I will only have to get up
again when she wakes an hour or so later.
The current arrangement is supposed to be the best way for
me to get maximum sleep. But I am still exhausted, my back is ruined from
trying to accommodate a restless 1-year-old in my bed, and the tipping point,
Bren has now moved out of our bed and in with Ziggy to prevent him from getting
up during the night and hopping into bed with me as well. I would invariably
end up squished between the baby and the three-year-old since they both prefer to be velcroed to me at all times. Bren was often left clinging to the edge
of the bed (queen-sized) but at least he was left alone.
They say that a situation is only a problem if it’s a
problem for you.
It’s a problem for me.
Harlow is my last baby. In some ways, it would be nice to
let the breastfeeding come to a close when she is ready…..so long as she is ready in the next two months. In fact, she could
feed even longer than that if it was just once or twice a day, maybe first
thing in the morning, but this overnight feeding is breaking me. She is teething
at the moment so is extra clingy. I don’t want to get to the point I did with
Zig where I resented breastfeeding and felt like it would never end. But we are
drawing ever closer to that point.
If you are wondering why I don’t just do whatever worked the
two times previous, it’s because I can’t fucking remember. Well, that’s not
true. I remember that we swapped Luca to a bottle of cow’s milk overnight and
that worked. I remember Ziggy wouldn’t take a bottle so I fretted and worried
right up until he had his last breastfeed. Sadly, I have no recollection of
what I actually did to get to the last feed, I only recall the fretting.
And now there is baby Harlow who won’t take a bottle AND is
allergic to cow’s milk. So I’m fucked twelve ways to Sunday. TWELVE WAYS. Possibly more.
Additionally, I harbour a selfish desire to wear bras with underwire
and to wear clothes that don't button down at the front.
I understand I am on the precipice of a tough call. The
night feeds have to go. HAVE TO GO. So this means I will need to get up to my
baby and cuddle her back to sleep and she is not going to like that. I mean to
say, that is going to really piss her off. So in order to stop feeling so
exhausted, I will have to endure a few exhausting nights. Maybe a week? What I
do know is that once the overnight feeds stop, generally the frequent waking does, too. I can’t help but be excited about that.
But the journey from Point A to Point B? Is daunting. I need to commit.
So please leave your miracle solution in the comments
section below or forward bottles of hard liquor to my postal address…
Thanks in advance.
Rose is 18 months now & still wakes me 4/5 times a night for my booby cafe. We co-sleep but I am still dragging my eye-lids behind me every day. I just can’t stop though. So I have no miracle solution, just lots of hope that it is easier for you than you are expecting!
xx
Ahhh, Angie. This is no fun. NO FUN! I remember these days too well. I went the hard line too – ie. planning cuddles back to sleep instead of dearly beloved boobie-juice – and much to my surprise (and delight) it just sort of happened. The first night I went in once, and then e next she just didn’t wake. I probably shouldn’t have told you that ’cause now you’ll have a hell of a time… but just wanted to throw some hope out there. Damn those lovely knockers you’ve been cursed with, and their glorious milk! Good luck! X
Yep had to cold turkey at 13mths as I went on strong antibiotics and she had to take a bottle (cows milk) took a few types of bottles till I got onto the pigeon bottles and “walla” sleeping through the night where as she used to be up 2-4 times feeding. I don’t think my supply was enough through the night.
Good luck with it all, I felt sad but relieved once I stopped.
Yes, Bec, I think it will absolutely be that combination of emotions! It’s really the overnight feeds I want to put the kybosh on for now. I know we’ll get there.
Thank you. xx
I think maybe all the worrying I do before taking the leap is worse than the actual leap itself! I hope so.
Okay, your words have given me courage…and hope! Thanks, honey. xx
Thanks, sweet! I hope so, too.
And Harlow Rose and Rose are booby twins, I swear. ALL NIGHT LONG.
xxzzzzzzzzzz
Oh love, I hear ya. Just did it with Jack no more feeding to sleep and no more dummy. I was surprised though, I thought he would take it much harder. Who knows Harlow might surprise you too. You’ll never know if you don’t give it a go! Good luck darls. xx
Wear Bren’s shirt when you go in at night for cuddles and not milk – or send Bren in to do the cuddles??
I purchased the ‘Gift of Sleep’ eBook and I swear by the technique it uses. My daughter stopped waking for night feeds by night three of following the program. This from a baby that had slept through the night only once in her almost 12 months of life. Yes, nights one and two were hard work, but it really was short term pain for long term gain. Once I was getting some decent sleep again, I was so much happier to hang onto a quick morning and bedtime breastfeed until she was ready to give those up (about 3 months later), rather than worrying about whether she would ever give up the boob!
I think with any of these type of approaches you have to follow them properly and take on a ‘no turning back’ policy. And I absolutely believe that not everything works for every baby (or parent) but it really did work for us. It does require allowing some time to cry, which I know is not every parent’s cup of tea, and admittedly not mine either, but the periods were short and I could live with it.
I hope the weaning works out for you guys, however you approach it and you’re back to getting lots of sleep again soon.
I’m no good with this weaning thing either. I waited until we could have a rational conversation for crying out loud …
Good luck with it, darling. There is no way out but through. xx
Bigs Hugs to you Ange. I feel your pain! I have Josh on Rice Milk instead of Cow’s milk. Maybe you could try that with Miss H xox
Ugh. Yeah, that’s a sucky situation… hopefully not for too much longer, eh?
Pretty much the same durations of BFing with my girls, and what sealed the deal with F – who LOVED boob – was me going away for a friend’s hen’s weekend. She had to choice but to deal with no boob for two nights while I was away, and I have no idea what I’d have done otherwise. The timing was a blessing.
P seemed utterly non-plussed when I decided enough was enough at 18 months. I was actually a bit offended, and wondered why I hadn’t stopped sooner if that was how she felt, little bugger. No magic technique that I can remember, sorry.
It’s amazing how small a queen-sized bed feels these days, huh? Best of luck, and squishy hugs. xxx
Oh dude now I need to make you some soup and clean friands! I have NO advice as I’ve already walked this path twice before and I forget as well. Angy fed for 15 months and weaned when I was about 15 weeks pregnant with Juju, so there is always that option!!!!
xo
From memory there is only a few days between Harlow and my little girl and she was a real boob girl as well and is allergic to all things dairy so I was dreading the time when it came to weaning. I enjoyed breast feeding and was quite happy to keep going (having said that I wasn’t in the night time situation you have at the moment). But I fell pregnant with my second when my daughter was 9 months old and I found by the time she was 12 months my body just couldn’t support a growing toddler and a growing fetus. The tipping point for me was just before her 1st bday and I had had the same cold for over 3 weeks, I had completely lost my voice come her party and I was just getting worse, not better. The nutritionist told me it was ok to move her to soy milk instead of breast milk at 12 months so I started by just replacing her morning feed (her least clingy feed) with a special sippy cup (not one that I use for her water but a completely different colour and pattern so she wouldn’t confuse the two) with soy milk. I was lucky enough that little miss independent immediately loved being in charge of holding her own drink and to be honest she was getting a lot more out of the cup then she was getting from me at that point anyway. After a few days of no issues, I replaced her night feed with the sippy cup. And we haven’t looked back. I must admit I had it very very easy with the transition but you may find that Harlow enjoys the extra milk she gets from the cup and you can mix feed for awhile until she doesn’t notice the absence of your boobs 🙂
Best of luck x
Oh love, tough gig this motherhood business, especially on no sleep. With the two big boys, I weaned at 14mos and 17mos, mainly because I was pregnant and felt like I needed a break before the next baby arrived. With Nicholas, I’m down to a quick pre-bed feed and we’ll probably continue that for a while because he’s my baby and I’m not sure I’m ready for all that to end just yet. But I’m lucky, as he hasn’t fed overnight for ages and I really love sleep. With all the boys, the main things we tried to end the overnight feeds were 1) to send daddy in for any overnight settling (amazing how keen daddy is to stop overnight wakeups when he’s the one having to get up 😉 2) try offering water 3) leaving them for 5-10 mins to see if they’ll resettle themselves. I honestly do think it’s harder on us than it is on them, so definitely worth having a strategy and being consistent until you see some results and you’ll ALL be better off when the Little Mumma is able to get quality sleep (it’s worth it, promise) Good luck cherub xx
ooooh, I read all the comments hoping for a miraculous solution… My 15 month old still wakes 3-4 times at night for a boob so we end up co-sleeping. The feeds and Mr.F’s snoring leave me at my wit’s end. Something’s gotta give! How did you go Little Mumma??