The weaning process

Yes, I am still nursing Madeline.

Yes, she is 18 months old today.

I am conflicted about weaning her because I know she is attached to it. This is probably because she is a year and a half old and is acutely aware of things. She knows her schedule/routine and Madeline is a creature of habit. She likes her routine and I'm not sure if that's because my working situation has required a schedule so I can plan my days or if it is just her nature. I actually think it's her nature because changing her routine, even from a very young age, has been difficult. Craig does bath time and if he's running late and I start bath, it's not nearly as fun. I can do the exact same things that Craig does, but it's not the same to her.  She thrives with a routine.

If you had asked me if I would be nursing a toddler when I was still pregnant and hadn't even started nursing yet, I would have said no. Fortunately, I've never had any supply issues. I've dealt with chronic plugged ducts that almost made me throw in the towel when Madeline was four months old (and for months and months on end), but I figured out what worked to resolve my issues and now that she's nursing less frequently, I do not have those issues anymore (thank goodness!!!). It's really been smooth sailing and I've learned a lot about nursing and what works for us.

But here we are, 18 months later, and Madeline is still nursing. I am proud of that fact, but I'm also ready for Madeline to wean. This past weekend, I dropped the morning nursing session and she hasn't even noticed. I got her up Saturday morning and started talking to her. The first thing she said to me was "eat! eat!" and I told her we had to change her diaper first. We talked about animals and in the middle of her diaper change, she said, "terberry!" (strawberry) so I told her we would go get strawberries. And that was that. She hasn't signed "milk" to me in the morning at all.  I couldn't have asked for a smoother transition.

But the next two sessions, one prior to her nap and the other prior to bed, are going to be much trickier. Madeline puts herself to sleep, but she wants to nurse prior.  I honestly don't know how to approach dropping them, so if you've been down this path before, I welcome your suggestions. I don't want her to be overly upset during this process. She's never had a bottle, so unfortunately I cannot offer her an alternative in a bottle. I can't pump and give her milk because I produce too much lipase which makes my milk taste metallicy shortly after being expressed. I sort of have a plan, but I thought I'd solicit genuine input from other mothers who read this blog and who have gone down this path before. I do plan on taking this slow.

I never thought that weaning would be the difficult part of the nursing process!

I'll do an 18 month post soon! I'm amazed at Madeline's vocabulary and recognition skills. She is definitely a tape recorder...