Friday, October 26, 2007 ;
9:39 AM
This post is about breast-feeding. Those not interested in details, be forewarned.
I've learnt that child-led weaning is less traumatising for both child and mom, from some books and the AsiaParents forum. So I waited for ds2 to self-wean.
I have waited for 2.5 years, and I know some moms have done it longer, but I decided to give him some helping hints.
I hung on thus far, besides of the benefits of breastfeeding, I was thinking it may be very easy, one day, he'll decide, I'm a big boy and I don't need milk anymore. ?? But it seems that, the bigger he grew the more attached he was.
There will be alternate phases of him being independent enough to go for Bible class, but then he'll sometimes refuse to let me go and insist I be with him, if not he'll cry badly.
Then he'll want to nurse at the most inconvenient of times. Eg, while I am queueing up to pay for groceries, or while I am driving and he's in the car seat, and we're stuck in a long traffic jam on the I-15, and we're like 40min away from our destination, at least.
If I tell him no, he has to wait... ah ha... did I say he's 2? Yes, the terrible twos stage rears its head. He'll cry and scream. And now he knows how to talk, it gets little more embarrassing. He'll be hollering "breast milk" "breast!" "want breast!" till everyone is looking at me (the earlier eg of the grocery store applies here).
If I try to shush him up and explain we'll do it later, he'll try to "help himself". That is even more embarrassing. He'll be trying to pull clothes up or push them down, otherwise he'll just be groping wildly at the strategic area.
I try distractions and they sometimes work. A cookie or graham cracker, a gummy... But not all the time.
So I decided to help him along. For the past 2-3 weeks, I have been telling him what a big boy he is, so he need not drink so much milk, so frequently.
Whenever he is sleepy or cranky, I try to anticipate first, so he'll not think of milk first, and I quickly offer him a glass of cow's milk (if we're at home) or something to occupy his mouth, and then we'll sing songs, read book or watch TV. If we're out, I'll let him look at many things to distract him. Until he falls asleep in my arms or on the couch.
It's trickier at night. So I've so far tried weaning the day feeds first. The early morning one, when he first wakes, that's done with already. He's gone a month without that. The afternoon one, before he naps, that's still touch and go. But last week has been fine.
At night, just before sleeping, I try to massage him (took one baby massage lesson before, haha, just one!) or clean his ears. The latter one is very funny. He loves the feeling of the cotton bud in his ears, so I'll dip it in some olive oil and just swab it around the outer part of his earhole. Somehow that continuous motion of the cotton bud lulls him to sleep.
Sometimes when I haven't been shouting at them the whole day, then I'll also sing songs while I do the night routine, or tell stories, till they both sleep.
As for the in the middle of the night feeds? I haven't tried removing those yet. We'll do it gradually, step by step! Those are the hardest I think. Cos I'll be very sleepy and semi-conscious, and probably would just give in.
We'll see.. if my journey is coming to an end..
rainbows every day, do not worry for the morrow
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