Weaning is horrible.
It is horrible and terrible and I'm considering nursing my child until she is 4 just to avoid doing it.
(Not really)
(Well, kinda)
It is not a one day thing. I can't just wake up one day and say, "I want to be done feeding" and have it happen. I am not one of those women who has their milk just magically dry up. I'm not one one of those people who says "I tried to breast feed her for a year but after 6 months, my milk just gave up!"
I actually know there are a lot of you out there reading my blog. I have nothing to say to you. I just don't get it!! Someone please explain that to me. How does your milk just run out? Aren't your boobs leaking milk every night? Don't you wake up in a puddle of your own making? Don't you stand in the shower and your milk shoots out hitting the wall 2 feet away? Doesn't this happen to you for the first 8 or 9 months of nursing? So seriously, how does one's milk run out?
That is SO not me. So not my family. We have plenty of milk. You all know that. I won't go into details (That would be the first time, right?) But this post is about me trying to reduce the amount of milk my body makes.
It is not pleasant. Within 2 hours of purposefully missing a feeding, (you know cutting down from 3 feedings to 2 a day) my poor ladies have rock hard nodules in them and are pulsing with pain. Picking up my baby makes them throb and if anything (a hand, my wrist, my baby's hand) brushes over any part of them (the side, the front, the middle) I shout out in pain. I'm counting down the hours to when she can eat right before bed.
On Tuesday, when I did this, my poor girls were so throbbing with pain they ached just as I stood in my kitchen. I finally got my child to eat right before bed, and she couldn't grab on to the nipple!! My boobs were so engorged that they had pushed out around my nipple rendering it almost flat. She tried to grab it once, twice, curled her lips into her mouth against the sensation (it was like she was trying to nurse from a rock) and then. . . .SHE PULLED HER HEAD BACK TO EXAMINE MY BOOB.
She looked at it quizzically as if to say, "It looks the same, it smells the same, but that sure don't feel like normal!!" She then tried one more time, and this time she just forged ahead. It was painful, just like those first days of feeding (you all remember those, right?) but soon the pain dissolved into relief. Sweet sweet relief. It will take 2-3 weeks for my body to get back to where it was previously. And then I just have to do it 2 more times.
So now you know. And seriously, if you see my kid sucking my teat when she comes home from an especially hard day of Kindergarten, please don't judge me.
"Never judge a woman until you've gone a day in her bra."
Truer words were never spoken.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Weaning
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
10 comments:
Ouch, I'm sorry. The things we go through for our kids!!
I nursed both my kids well past the year mark; I knew I didn't have to but it was seriously easier to phase it out verrrrrry gradually (easier on them and on me!).
Oh, and hey -- CUTE picture!
Oh, man. That sounds painful!! So sorry. I'm one of those moms in the 2nd (large) paragraph...so I can't even relate but it sounds really miserable and I'll cry for you if you want. I'm getting a hint of the pain from how you wrote about it. WOW. Moms are superheros. Seriously.
TOTALLY ADORABLE picture of Marcelo and Evi. Green is really good for BOTH of them!
I have no experience with the blog topic but I can tell you that my little ladies grimaced in sympathy pain as I read your tales of misery.
Hope things work out...
You can try cabbage leaves. I don't know how but they do help you dry up. They smell nasty and get all wilted but if it helps, it's worth a shot, right?
I nursed Gavin until he was about 16 or 17 months old and I weaned gradually so it was easier. I nursed Owen until he was almost 2 and by that time I had cut it down so much it was easy.
If they are getting rock hard, try to get some of the milk out - just enough to ease some of the pain but not too much to where your boobs think you are nursing, ya know?
And really, if you are still happy breastfeeding (maybe you're not which is totally fine too of course) then keep at it. Nothing wrong with it. She is still super young! You've done a great job!!!
Oh yeah - a few other things:
Don't bind your boobies - some things suggest that but it can cause plugged ducts and mastitis. Wear a supportive but not super tight bra for support.
Cut down on salt intake - it can cause your body to retain fluids.
Take 200 mg of vitamin B6 each day for 5 days to relieve engorgement.
RE: the cabbage leaves - don't cover the nipple area - change every 30 minutes or sooner if they become wilted - the leaves not your boobs. ;)
If you need to express some milk - just enough to relieve your pain - a warm shower is helpful.
Hope that helps!
Jen-Thanks for the vitamin suggestion and the salt comment. I DEFINITELY eat too much salt so I'm going to try to work on that.
However, I usually just have to fight through the pain. Warm showers are my enemy!! They end up making more milk! And you are the second person who told me about cabbage leaves. The first was this REALLY freaky lady from my ward (You know, the kind that home schools and names her kids "Ammon" "Moroni" and "Abraham") so I really wasn't going to take what she said at face value. But you definitely added credibility to the statement.
Finally, I am happy breastfeeding, but I make way too much milk! Even now, she eats at 6 am and at 8:30 pm, but my boobs are still hard and tender. I cannot be one of those moms that goes 3 days without nursing and then can nurse for a few days, and then 3 days off again. I need my boobs to be regulated. It's the only thing that makes them calm down.
And Like I said, I'm only feeding 2 times a day. I'm going to do this for another 2 weeks (minimum) and then cut down to the one feeding. Who knows how long I'll do that?
The crazy home-school lady told me that the LA LECHE people say you should adopt a "don't offer, don't refuse" policy. But like I said, if I had to go 2 days without her relieving my boobs, and then she asked for it 3 times in one day, and then she went another 4 days without needing it? NO WAY!! It takes weeks for my boobs to regulate and that much change would wreak havoc!! My poor boobs!! I have to take care of them, or they will punish me later in life, I know
Thanks for all your support and advice!! Like I said, I would probably nurse my kid till she was 4 if I wasn't leaking still all the time!! She loves it, and seems to just need it sometimes. (for Comfort or to help her to go to sleep)
Ok, I'm done now
I haven't read your blog in a while.....You are still hilarious!!!! Sounds like your trip to Ecuador was awesome, well while you were there mostly, not the actual traveling part- that always sucks!!!! I can't wait til you have more kids to travel to Ecuador with :) And with the whole weeing thing, that stinks! I am one of those lucky ones where it just stops, even with the twins! Can you imagine you nursing twins? You seriously would turn into an actual milking cow :) Hey, did you know you can sell your breastmilk? For reals! And get SUPER GOOD money! Look into it!
All I can say is...that sounds freaking terrible! Something tells me I won't have to go through that particular trial, being not-so-well endowed in that area, but still it certainly still adds to my general fears of having children!! (I DO want to have children, of course, but I'm still afraid.)
I have no idea about this but i wanted to say that the pic is sooo cute!
Alicia, your boobs are mass weapons!
And maybe if you don't have cabbage handy, try saurkrat?
Post a Comment