Our Child-Lead Weaning Experience

When I started my breastfeeding journey I took it session by session.  Having a preexisting medical condition I anticipated a difficult career with it, but my husband and I were pleasantly surprised with the unexpected outcome; 100% success with little man latching & nursing with a shield (on both sides) and an over abundance of breastmilk. In fact, we had such a great supply of milk, it became part of his fruit/veggie purées and later an ingredient in muffins, macaroni & cheese, smoothies, pancakes, oatmeal, you just about name it, we made it with mama's milk! In fact, homemade yogurt was a staple for him! Anyway, we knew we were blessed with what I was producing daily, but we never took it for granted, knowing my supply could drop significantly, of not vanish altogether, at any moment. My only hope was for baby boy to have the opportunity to self-wean rather than being forced to stop nursing.

Like most parents, I read up on the weaning process, both mother & child-lead, to be prepared or to at least have some knowledge of it. (My husband's motto is to wing it, so he wasn't keen on preparing for this moment.) A lot of articles discussed the emotional roller coaster the mother experienced saying goodbye to that special bond between she and baby. I immediately started analyzing what I read. Was I prepared for that stage of development? How would I react to it? Would I too hop on that emotional roller coaster of saying goodbye? Surprisingly, I'm dealing quite well with the weaning process. Little boy is 14 months, 2 weeks old and he has started this process on his own. I'm far from emotional; I'm actually one proud mama!

Our little man overcame mom's need for a shield on both sides through this entire journey. He learned to adjust to my forceful letdown. He gained weight perfectly from day 1 and is healthy. He went the entire first year of his life without any illnesses, fevers, etc. (First sickness was a terrible case of RSV at 13 months.) And, me, I too have developed in the past 14 months. My body produced more than enough milk to provide regular daily feedings. I gave my son the best nutrition I could provide him with naturally. I learned to adjust to a feeding/pumping schedule that worked for little boy. I developed cooking skills and a creative, outside-the-box mentality when it came to make homemade baby food with mama's milk as an added bonus. I stuck with it!

So rather than being sad about our bond slowly coming to an end, I'm happy it happened for many reasons, but ultimately because, like his conception, it's something we didn't think was possible! Like the famous quote reads, “Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.” ― Dr. Seuss. And, I'm one smiling mama!

More information on weaning:  http://kellymom.com/ages/weaning/considering-weaning/how_weaning_happens/

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