Bryn is still a boobie baby. She'll be 16 months old next week, and I still nurse her twice a day. She eats first thing in the morning, and right before bed at night. Its not a hard-fast rule. If I'm not there at bed time, she'll happily go to sleep without me. And she naps during the day just fine. I know that she doesn't need me, but I think that I need her.
Some days I miss my babies so much. I feel like their cute little-babyness is slipping away so fast, and I'm missing out while I'm at work. It assuages my guilt a bit to feel like I'm still contributing to her growth and development. Besides, I love our cuddle time. She's such a busy toddler now, but I have those precious moments where she'll still lie still with me. I'm not ready to give up those moments.
We have our nursing routine down. First thing she needs is her "bees" (her blankie with bees on it). She snuggles up with the bees, and then nurses. She loves for me to kiss her fingers and toes while she's laying there smiling and sucking. Sometimes she'll take my finger and move it up to her face, signaling that she wants me to stroke her cheek. I think that is the sweetest thing she does.
I know that our nursing days are numbered. She's getting entirely too big, and she's started biting sometimes. And, daddy wants me to wean - and he's very vocal about it.
I'm not sure why it bugs him so much that I still nurse. Sometimes I feel its that he's embarrassed to have a wife that nurses a toddler. It is true that I've been either pregnant or nursing (or both) since August of 2003. That is 4 straight years where my body has been nourishing another. But, I love it. Part of me doesn't want Bryn to grow up and change - she's so perfectly sweet the way she is right now. As long as she's nursing, she's still my baby.
1 comment:
Perhaps your Dh is tired of sharing our boobs.. hehe. I nursed H until she was almost 16 months. I knew I was doing it for myself & not for her. I had a friend who was nursing much more often than I was & just stopped cold turkey. Hearing that gave me the strength to do the same (H was only nursing once a day, sometimes twice.) It was hard at first... I wanted to start back up, but she didn't care, I was the only one missing that time. I'm glad I quit when I did, because it would have been that much harder the longer I continued. But we have continued the nightly cuddles & daddy loves that he can share with that now.
On the bright side of weaning, I have a body that holds onto a little extra fat storage while nursing & despite the fact I was working out & running it didn't make much difference until I quit.
So those are my thoughts... do what you feel you need to do & do it on your own time.
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