Weaning

We started the weaning process this week.  I thought I'd have to wait till Shaylin was actually 12 months old but have been advised that that's not necessary.  She'll be 1 in less than 2 weeks so it's close enough.  Besides, it's still going to take a few weeks so she'll still be getting some breast milk past her birthday.

There are a lot of emotions that go into this.  I mean, it's the end of an era.

For one thing, I'm excited because this means I meant my goal of breastfeeding through the first year.  The first few days were rough & there were some other rough times, like mastitis.  And then in the summer when my supply was suffering I really doubted if we'd make it to a year.  But I'm so happy that I stuck with it.

I'm sad to be losing this bounding time with Shaylin.  I realize that mothers who bottle-feed still bond with their babies.  But this bond was very special for me.

I've been nervous that Shaylin won't handle weaning well, or that I won't for that matter.  I've also been nervous about hormone changes & physical discomfort. 

Now that I'm weaning this also motivates me to be more consistent in eating better (I type that as I'm eating marshmallows out of the bag!) & working out.  Breastfeeding has been my easy calorie burner.  They say you can burn 600 calories a day.  Really helps with losing the baby weight.  So now I won't be burning those calories which means I need to find other ways to burn them.

So far we've dropped one feeding.  There are 4 more to go.  Shaylin is still learning to use a sippy cup.  Her main issue is she doesn't know to hold her head back.  I've tried one of the cups that has a straw & she didn't know what to do with it.  But we will keep on persevering.  My goal is to have her completely weaned by the end of February.  I don't think that's too unreasonable.