She has no patience to wait for the let down when it seems to take forever.
She bites, pulls and blows rasberries. She pulls off, looks at me, gets back on and tries again.
She's decided to climb down from my lap and go find a brother to play with. Then a very weak let down comes as her butt crawls out the door. I pick her up and she nuzzles in for a couple of seconds but it's not enough to keep her interested and she climbs down again.
My bras are swimming on me and I wear breast pads now to fill them instead of to hold back the torrent of milk that used to pour out at crazy times like when I was doing a load of her washing!
I think my little girl has decided the world has more exciting things to offer than mum does. Like her brothers before her at a similar age.
I'm not going to stop offering but I can't make her want it.
I'm sad This part of my life is over. No more babies for me. No more boobing up.
That she is able to choose when she weans is a good thing Sam. xo She is growing up, getting older and more independent and much of that is due to your great parenting skills. So while I can see why you're sad because breastfeeding is such a special thing, don't forget there's cause for a celebration too, that Rubydoo is growing up so well. Hugs though.
ETA: Yeah, or, you could keep offering if you wanted.
all of that is part and parcel of breastfeeding a 1 year old. Feeding a busy, squirming toddler is vastly different from feeding that new baby that lay in your arms. But weaning? I think she's a bit young for that.
I thought DD2 was weaning about the age of 1, she barely took a feed at all during the day. Then she suddenly changed and now I just about have to beat her off with a stick she wants to feeds to often :lol
You'll probably find the feeds she still wants are those early morning snuggles when she's still sleepy and the world is not quite awake. What about the night time bf before bed, does that still interest her?
While she *may* be weaning, it's probably more likely she's distracted for a short time and she'll come back to it as long as you continue to offer. Busy little girl - she's growing up so fast!
awwww sam i love the above thoughts, i hope she continues to feed for a few more months.
im scared of when 'that' time comes too, i weaned DD1 and hate the thought that DD2 may one day wean herself.
She's hardly fed for the last 3 days and her nappies have been very dry and her poo today was a bit hard so I know she's not getting enough. I've not been getting any let downs at all.
A bit worried about her being dehydrated because she won't drink much water. I gave her an s26 carton that I had in the cupboard for JIC's when I work and she guzzled the whole 250ml. She is usually ho hum about the stuff.
A bit sad about it ending but I really don't think I can persist with it. I'll keep offering first thing in the morning boobs for a while but I feel like I'm flogging a dead horse here.
Oh Sam, massive hugs I went thought almost exactly the same thing with my DD about a month or so ago. The lovely ladies in here encouraged me to treat it as an older-baby stage of breast refusal, rather than weaning. I pumped (like crazy ) for a few days to build my supply back up and wadaya know, DD is back into it with a vengeance now. We feed long and often and my supply is really good and every feed feels like a stolen treat.
But if it isn't and she is weaning, you know have done an amzing job, be proud of yourself but do allow yourself to be a little bit sad too (I know exactly how you feel).
More hugs darling.
I'm going through a really similar thing with my DD who's just about to turn one. It has been starting to happen in the last 1-2 month and she'd recently got to a point where she was doing exactly what your DD is doing, right down to the nappies you mention. The best feed we had been having in a 24 hour period was a dreamfeed that I've still been continuing to give her for like forever now!
So I've started offering her first feed of the day in the same environment as her dreamfeed - I don't get her out of her sleeping bag or room and I feed her in the dark when she wakes up in the morning, and she has a great feed - empties me. This is great, but as I'm empty at the start of the day and not making much during the day it makes her more inclined to get annoyed at no letdown happening in 5 seconds flat when she wants a feed during the day and then refusing...
But my funny answer to that I seem to have come up with by accident is to offer my BB to her sitting completely up. I mean that I sit completely upright (or sometimes even kneel, although that's a bit more annoying) and let her come to me. I don't get her to lie on my lap. She will feed on her knees or even standing up and leaning over (she's obsessed with standing up atm, close to walking) and it even helps more if I offer both breasts at the same time. She then can pick and choose, and I'm sure she goes back and forth quite quickly because she knows exactly what to do to try and get a quicker letdown for herself too! She usually has a pretty decent feed this way, instead of 5 seconds of sucking and then refusing.
Can you try doing this? I figured that much of what's going on for my DD is that since she is well (and she's had a low grade infection for a couple of months now, so she's not felt good for ages until it all came to a head and we knocked it with some killer ABs) she is feeling full of energy and doesn't want to lie down unless it's night time/sleepy feeding, hence offering first feed of the day as a night-time-like feed seems to help too. I know it's not practical when going out to fed with a baby standing up/kneeling in front of you, but I know for me there's very little chance of my DD feeding whilst out nowadays anyway, so I guess if you're at home it could really work - it does for us
Another thing I could suggest is if you could you try offering a dreamfeed before you go to bed? I don't reckon this would be necessary and it may not work for you or your DD, but it might just help you feel better about your breastfeeding relationship at the moment as that way you might well get a lovely, quiet, long feed, helping your DD get more milk, and you get your lovely fill of quiet, feeding baby that we all love so much (and never want to stop!).
I hand express after our morning feed and our quasi-feed before bed atm - and I know this helping my supply at least stay at something she's vaguely interested in at this point (I get about 60ml all up for the day and use it on her breakfast the next morning). I will express more often if I feel the need. Hand expressing is quick and easy, doesn't feel like a big thing to have to do to help my supply. Is this an option for you too as Epacris has said?
Hang in there, hun. I don't think she will wean if you can offer a feed to her in a way that suits her at this point in her development/daily activity. The way I have been looking at it is not that DD is weaning, but just that I have to experiment to find what she wants now. I am determined to not think of the word "weaning" until I've exhausted every idea and suggestion and she is still refusing, and we're not at that point yet, and I hope that you're not too, hun
ETA - I thought I might just quickly mention that another part of the reason that I think feeding her whilst she is standing/kneeling up helps is because she can still see what's going on around her this way and that is sooooo very important to her - she'll pop on and off quite a lot, but it requires so much less effort that pulling off, twisting around, craning her neck as it did when she was lying down. Now she just pops off to look about, and goes straight back on. I think she also likes the novelty of it - it's made feeding much more fun, attractive activity for her - like a game. Maybe this is why it might be good for your DD too? Just a thought...
Last edited by Acacia; December 13th, 2009 at 10:30 PM.
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I think this is it!
This part of my life is over. No more babies for me. No more boobing up.
That she is able to choose when she weans is a good thing Sam. xo She is growing up, getting older and more independent and much of that is due to your great parenting skills. So while I can see why you're sad because breastfeeding is such a special thing, don't forget there's cause for a celebration too, that Rubydoo is growing up so well.
I went thought almost exactly the same thing with my DD about a month or so ago. The lovely ladies in here encouraged me to treat it as an older-baby stage of breast refusal, rather than weaning. I pumped (like crazy
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