Little E had her last breastfeed on Monday 11 July 2011. I didn't know it was going to be her last one; we stopped the next day because I was sick and taking medicine that wouldn't have been good to pass on to her.
She was fifteen months and one week old, so there was absolutely no nutritional need for it, and she was only having one feed a day anyway (just before bed); but had matters not been taken from my hands I think I would have let her continue for as long as she wanted to. I don't know how long that would have been, perhaps another month or two? The feeds were very quick, 5-10 minutes max, and she was getting pretty wiggly, so I think she would have stopped herself sometime soon.
Because I was really unwell, lucky D got the job of persuading her that it was ok to go to bed without special cuddles with Mumma in the armchair. The first two nights she put on a bit of a performance, by the third night she went to sleep quickly and without fuss. The fourth night I was back in her room reading stories etc with D, and she seemed to briefly remember that she hadn't always gone to bed without milk, but only cried briefly. She now doesn't even look for it and takes somewhere between 5 and 20 minutes to talk herself to sleep each night.
I am sorry that the decision to stop or not was taken from us, but I am glad that she is big and healthy enough that she doesn't need milk anymore. I am also pretty excited at the prospect of buying some new underwear in a month or so!
3 comments:
There's no better moment than getting to ditch the nursing bras!!!
i wrote a post with the same title this week because my son has given up his day sleeps. every milestone feels like the end of something doesn't it! I am currently still breastfeeding my 13+month old and am hoping that he will decide to stop not me make the decision for him. my older son did so at 15 months and i was pretty happy with that length of time. it was harder on me when he decided to stop!
popped in from flog ya blog friday x
The end of breast feeding was rather emotional for me. We were heading there but I wanted to be in control of the final feed, to say my final goodbye. I almost missed my chance. Thankfully, I got one more brief go and took a few special photos and that was that.
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