Praise Jesus, something about this child was easy.
Owen has been nursing once every morning since late March. Prior to that it was 2-4 times a day for awhile.
I have been pregnant since early February, which is when I first started to notice him nursing less and less. Then I went on that trip back in mid-March and couldn't pump much milk but he nursed well when I returned. After a week of being back, I would attempt an afternoon feeding and he would smile at me, and refuse the breast. I thought it was funny and fine by me, actually. I was ready for him to be less dependent on my milk.
Since April, every morning he wakes up in his crib, gets toted into our bed and makes the Baby Sign for "milk" and then he nurses for awhile (5 minutes some mornings, 25 minutes others). BUT that was it. He would refuse nursing any other time, even if he ever woke up upset in the middle of the night. He actually did that a few times and preferred the sippy cup with cow's milk to me.
Then in June he would sometimes ask for "milk" and sometimes not, I suspect my supply was decreasing over time as well. Anyway, this past Wednesday was his last day. He just looked up at me and I could tell there just wasn't much left and he was done. He didn't ask the next day or the next and it's the following Monday now.
So it's over. I would be sad if I wasn't pregnant with #2 due this November. There will be PLENTY of nursing to come. Nursing has been a very sweet experience and I encourage everyone to stick with it past a year.
So I'll enjoy my four month break.
I wanted to make the note to any prospective mom's out there or any mom who nursed for less than 6 months: IT'S WAY EASIER after 6 months and even easier after 9 months. I'll say this again but the first three months are incredibly demanding and I think once you get the baby on a nice nap and nurse routine around 5-6 months, it all works out great.
Second note: if you are a "nursing on demand" mama, none of this may apply to you. I know plenty of women with 15 month olds who nurse 10+ times a day, and all night: a little bit here and there.
On demand is DEFINITELY not my thing. I am not an over-scheduled type A personality but I also knew I didn't and couldn't be available to my baby or child 24-7 with breastmilk. It just didn't fit into my life. Believe me, it was ENOUGH that he didn't ever take a bottle.
So if you are like me, YOU CAN nurse past that 6 month marker and get it down to 4-5 times in a 24 hour period, then 3-4 times then 1-2 times. If you are down to 1-2 times, it might just be first thing in the morning and last thing before bed so it's not like you are at the grocery store nursing... Owen never nursed before bed after 7 months because I needed Matt to be able to put him to sleep. Point being, don't object to nursing because your baby will have teeth or because you don't want to nurse your toddler in public--you can make it work for you :)
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