End of an Era

No more of the Good Stuff.

That's right. Angelina FINALLY weaned off the breastmilk.

I've hesistated to say it for fear of jinxing myself. She's gone a few days without it before, but always came back. Now it's been about 3 weeks or more since she's last nursed and she hasn't asked for it (altho she still likes to say "Boobies!")

That means we made it to the WHO recommended at least 2 years. Not that the World Health Organization is WHY I continued to nurse for so long. It was just a good marker. My plans to nurse where 'for as long as we BOTH wanted to." I wasn't going to be too bothered if she quit early, and I wasn't going to stretch it out too long if it was becoming a hardship for me.

I stopped pumping at 13 months (which WAS a hardship. Man, I was glad to put that pump away!) But nursing was easy still. And when she had croup at ~17 months, I was sooooo glad I was still nursing as she wouldn't eat anything for a week. And at least as long as she nursed, I knew she could breathe.

Until about 2 years I was ok with it, especially as by then she was only really nursing just before bed. But it started to get old. I was getting tired of it, and she was gnawing more than sucking. I stuck it out a bit longer, trying the "don't offer, don't refuse" method of weaning. Nights when we were out late she'd totally forget, but if we were home, it was first on her mind. The first nights I tried putting her to bed without nursing were AWFUL. She'd scream and point at our nursing chair and say "Nurse! Mommy! Nurse!" I gave in and decided it wasn't worth weaning. So I tried different tactics: I moved the nursing chair out of the room so it wouldn't remind her. I tried a different bed time routine. But my heart broke when she'd beg "Nurse Mommy!" and I figured it didn't bother me that much, so I'd nurse her a bit. We started counting to 20. I told her she had until "20" to finish, and she always did, but I couldn't get away with "Zero".

Well, then I had a miscarriage (yes, again - officially I've been pregnant four times, which is weird). Anyway, I was in such physical pain for a week or so that I just couldn't handle nursing and had to say no. Frederic did his best to distract her, and fortunately that was the beginning of the end. I'm not sure when it finally ended, I just realized the other day it's been a few weeks without her asking.


No complaints from me. Some women get rather emotional when their kid gives it up. But me, I'm ok with it. I don't regret nursing so long, (which isn't that long when you consider other primates), nor do I regret stopping when we did.

From the kid whom we weren't sure would ever nurse, to the toddler who was so engrossed,the way to get her out of the tub (which she refused to do), was to lift my top.

She was worse than a 14 year old boy for awhile.

Now, she seems to have forgotten what they're for. And that's ok.


Of course, we'll be taking a flight in a few weeks and I wonder if I'll regret weaning, since that was always the way to keep her calm and quiet on the plane!