Bye-Bye Breastfeeding: My Weaning Experience (pt 1)

From what I've found there's no exact science to weaning. You basically slowly cut back on breastfeeding sessions one at a time and replace each with whole milk, formula, a sippy cup, a bottle - or a combination of them depending on when you wean a baby. I have been breastfeeding my daughter from day 7 (more on that later) until now, just shy of a year. Our breastfeeding journey has been a wonderful one, although I have to admit it's a miracle it's lasted this long. It's been filled with nipple shields, finger feeds, 24 hour a day pumpings, a brief return to overnight work, a week apart (with 100+ ounces of milk pumped and dumped), a nursing strike and a few bites. But as my milk supply slowly dwindles, due in part to my daughter's increasing appetite for solid foods, I'm slowly weaning her from breastmilk directly to whole milk in a cup. Am I doing it the "right" way? I don't know. Am I doing it the way it works for us? Yes!


Why am I getting teary-eyed writing this? To be completely honest I was never emotional about breastfeeding. Sure, I loved the bond that my daughter and I shared. She needed me to survive, even more so than a child who gets a bottle. She needed me. I was happy to provide a boob and a meal, but now the time has come. My husband might tell you it's been too long. About six months ago he was afraid my daughter would soon look up while nursing and say, "I'm done." That's when I reminded him that he was breastfed for a full year and when I added...some moms breastfeed their children far longer...like 8 years!

When I started I was nursing Olivia about 8-12 times a day, every 2 to 3 hours. It took forever...nearly 45 minutes per meal. It felt like as soon as she was done nursing she was ready to start again. But for the last two or three months it's been down to four times a day and now the last week or so I've cut out all breastfeeding except the morning and bedtime feeding. I'll need to back up a bit to explain exactly how I got from 12 to 2...so bear with me.

When I envisioned breastfeeding my daughter I imagined it would start a few minutes after she was born, in my hospital bed. Everyone kept telling me the sucking reflex is natural and is strongest in the first 20 minutes after birth. Well, for me and her it wasn't so smooth. Not only did she not nurse right away, it wasn't until about 3 hours later that we even tried..and we weren't in the delivery room anymore, we were in my post-partum room. The first few attempts didn't go so well. So much so that the nurses insisted we supplement with formula. I pumped and got a small amount of milk which the nurses then saved so we could finger feed. That was only supposed to last while we were in the hospital, but as you can see in the picture, that's my husband feeding my daughter expressed milk with a syringe and feeding tube...10 cc's at a time.

I tried constantly, but for nearly two weeks she couldn't or wouldn't latch on. Finally, frustrated and about to give up on nursing altogether I called a lactation specialist at the hospital where I delivered and she recommended a nipple shield. It's a silicone cover that goes over your nipple making it somehow easier for the baby to latch on. It worked instantly and from there our breastfeeding journey began.

At two months and after constantly being told by the pediatrician that my daughter had an enormous amount of gas and her stomach was always bloated, I put two and two together. I did a little investigating and realized that perhaps she was getting too much air while she was nursing because of the nipple shield. I took the shield off while nursing and she latched right on. At this point I was still nursing her at least once or twice through the night. That continued until she was about 4 months old when she started sleeping through the night. I did continue to give her a "dream feed" or an 10pm feeding which carried her through 6am. I knew she was ready to stop that feeding around 5 months when she stopped sleeping through it and started waking up and resisting it. I stopped offering it, but she still slept through the night. Around the same time we cut back on a few daytime nursings as well when she started solid foods. This was a complicated time for me. I wasn't sure exactly how to merge breastfeeding and solid foods. Doctors will tell you different things: nurse before the meal so the child gets the breastmilk, or nurse after the meal so the child gets used to eating and doesn't fill up on breastmilk. I tried several different methods and eventually found what worked for us. As the solids started to more closely resemble meals here's how I integrated both breastfeeding and solids: breakfast, lunch and dinner the nursing took on a different role.

Breastfeed at 6am when she woke up
Breakfast at 8am
Breastfeed after the first nap (10:30 or 11)
Lunch at 12:30 or 1pm
Breastfeed after the second nap (3:30 or 4)
Dinner at 5:30
Nurse at 7pm before bed.

This was our routine from about 7.5 months until 11.5 months. Around 11 months I started to sense that Olivia was getting hungrier earlier and earlier after nursing. She could no longer make it until 1pm for lunch or 5:30 until dinner. I was starting to feed her lunch closer to 12:30 or even noon and dinner around 5pm. I believe two factors played into this: she's more active so she's burning more calories and requiring more food and she's not nursing as long because of both the solids and a lack of interest in sitting still long enough to wait for a second letdown.

That brings us to now, when I decided to make a conscious effort to wean her. Here's how I'm starting to cut out the last four feedings. About a week ago (11.25 months) I replaced the post-nap 1 breastfeeding with a small, healthy snack such as half a banana or crackers with cream cheese AND a sippy cup of whole milk. (Introducing milk deserves it's own post, but I will say my trick was to offer it when she had something dry to eat so she wouldn't refuse it, which she did at first. You can also mix it with expressed breastmilk if you have any, I did not.) I then pushed lunch up to 12pm. (If she got up from her first nap close to noon I would feed her lunch and then offer the same type of snack as mentioned around 2pm, before her second nap). I did the same thing in the afternoon, offering a sippy cup and small snack to replace the post-#2 nap breastfeeding. At times I was so tempted to lift my first and offer her what she really wanted...afterall, how can you refuse a little baby pointing at your breast and giving you the baby sign language sign for milk (especially after working so hard to get her to use the sign)??? It was difficult, but after a few days she started to really accept cow's milk.

Now we're down to breastfeeding twice a day and I'm still torn on which I'm going to let go of first. The morning seems the most logical, but I think that's one the she's most attached to. There are nights she goes to sleep without having the breast or bottle first, so that seems the easiest to give up next. I guess we'll see what works for both of us. Until then...I'll continue to update you on our weaning breastfeeding journey.

As promised, here's your update (8/10/09) with more on how I've successfully completely weaned my daughter after a year of nursing.

More Breastfeeding Resources

Increasing Breastmilk Supply

Tips for Breastfeeding Moms When Returning to Work

Breastfeeding & A Baby-Free Vacation

Donate Unused & Sample Formulas

TSA Rules for Traveling with Breastmilk (with and without baby)

Pumping & Dumping

Nursing Strike??? My Baby Won't Breastfeed

The Real Smart Pill: Breastmilk

Why Milk Products, But No Milk?

If It's Not in the Diaper Bag, Forget It

This is my 100th post as New Mama and so I thought I'd share a special story, fit for all new mamas, with you! Now, don't laugh too hard because I'm warning you, this will be you one day. (While you're reading I want you to think about the fact that not too long ago I sold a lot of 11 purses on ebay...my description said something like "because I tote a diaper bag, instead of a purse 99% of the time.)


A few weeks back I was sitting with my girlfriend and her son (who's a week younger than my daughter) and I was noticing the enormity of my diaper bag. For God's sake I had my life in there....or at least the toy box, the changing table, my daughter's closet, the snack shelf of the pantry and my entire financial life aka "my wallet." Anyway, I looked at her said "Ya know, Christy, I'm so use to lugging around this diaper bag, that one of these days I'm going to go pay for something and not have my wallet." No sooner did the words come out of my mouth, did they come to fruition. And at the worst possible place.

Since we'd been on vacation, I hadn't been to the grocery store in nearly two weeks. So, as I do nearly every Friday, I ran around like a chicken with her head cut off after breakfast, but before the first nap, and tried to squeeze in my weekly shopping trip. There was no need to take the diaper bag...was I really going to plop my daughter down in the middle of the frozen food aisle to change a poop? So I grabbed a few toys, the sippy cup, and a binky (ya know, the essentials) and threw them in my purse. Olivia was very cooperative as I nearly filled the cart. When I went to the checkout lane I started loading up the conveyer belt. The receipt just kept getting longer and longer. Finally when the nice cashier was finished loading my groceries in my bags and into my cart she said something like $150. I weeded through the toys, the binky, the sippy cup, the keys, sunglasses, old receipts...I had the kitchensink but I didn't have my wallet. Through the mortified expression on my face I told the young woman I did not have my wallet. She politely looked at me and said, "You can run out to your car and get it." Apparently she didn't understand. I knew right where it was...at home in my diaper bag. (I just look at this picture and imagine my little girl saying "Here it is mommy."

So we left the cart at the end of the aisle, I put Olivia back in the car, drove the 5 minutes home (did I mention she fell asleep in those 5 stinkin' minutes) I grabbed my wallet and drove back to the store. Oh, and then I waited in line with no groceries behind a woman who had nearly two carts full so I could pay for my pre-carted groceries...which must have looked a little odd to the man behind me. I just look at him, smiled, and said "I'm a new mom."

Ehow's Legit...Don't Say I Didn't Tell You So

By now you're probably thinking, "Enough about Ehow." But I just have to pass along proof behind my success and that of so many other stay-at-home moms. This month I published a whopping seven articles, and with three days still left until payout I'm already more than $20 over my next highest earning month. For the first time, I'll pass the $200 mark in a month. For about 4 hours worth of work, I'll make $200+ all while staying home with my daughter. Could there be anything better? Well, yes, I suppose I could be Maria aka Writergig who makes 5 to 7 my monthly earnings (and has obviously figured out the ehow secret)...but hey, I'm getting there!

And for anyone who still thinks eHow is a scam, not legit or whatever...Ehow got some major press this month. Both NBC and Time Magazine published articles on the success of eHow and its writers. Both articles point out what a great gig it is for moms who want to stay at home with their kids.

So...if you know something, anything about anything start writing for eHow. It's totally free to sign up and there's no referral program so I'm not making any money off referring you.

Recommended Reading:

Make Money Mondays: Ehow Pays Moms for their Expertise

H-E-L-L-O, Mommy-time!

I'm having mommy-time right now. I'm sitting at Panera baby, husband, and dog-free. I think mommy-time is essential to keep your mom-sanity. It's especially important for stay-at-home moms whose weeks and weekends tend to blur into one with anything resembling a real break from fulltime baby-land.

I enjoy writing, it's the way I used to make my living...until I had my daughter, of course. Now I do some freelance writing online when I have time, which is usually less than an hour or so a day. So for my mommy-time today I highjacked the laptop, waved bye-bye, and said I'd be back later. I'm happy to report I've accomplished one of my goals...successfully writting an article (interruption free and in one sitting!!!) for my Examiner gig...and and now, after more than a week of being MIA I'm updating my blog. As you can tell, I'm pretty much just wasting time by writing a blog post about writing a blog post.

Yeah, so what, I'm trying to extend mommy-time until it's back to reality. Which I guess is about now.

Pregnancy Complications, Questions, & Still No Answers...One Year Later

"It's not that we've never seen this before, most of us have never heard of it before." Those words, from my doctor, will forever ring in my head. It was exactly one year ago today when my husband and I went for what was supposed to be a routine weekly checkup at my Baltimore-area OBGYN. I was 32 weeks pregnant with my first baby. Little did I know that day would change everything... certainly the rest of my pregnancy and perhaps the rest of my life.


As I sit here trying to figure out how to describe what I was feeling that day I am getting chocked up. Even knowing my precious baby girl is perfectly happy and healthy it's still very emotional. So, as I tear up over what could have been, I'd like to finally share the story that I've considered blogging about for a year, but never known exactly how to put it into words.

As I mentioned, I was 32 weeks pregnant. It was July and our baby was due September 2. My husband, Bob and I waited in the exam room at my OBGYN just as we did every other check up. I distinctly remember saying to Bob about how we waited for so long in the waiting room and then every appointment was the same: the doctor came in, he or she (they rotate through doctors in this practice) would listen to the baby's heart beat, take my blood pressure, and say they'd see us the following week. Five minutes later we'd be were on our way: Bob back to work, me back home to sleep since, at the time I was working the overnight shift. But that's not how it went last July 15th.

Last July 15 Dr. Guidice (the sole male doctor in the practice and the one I hoped upon hope would not be on call when I went into labor) came into the exam room. I'll never forget: I was sitting on the table my husband was across the room in a chair. Dr. Giudace put my patient folder down next to him and leaned against the counter. He looked at both of us and said "we have some things we need to talk about."

I had recently had my third ultrasound (I was getting more than normal because I have chronic high blood pressure.) He told us the results of the ultrasound came back with what he described as a very rare find. From there everything is pretty much a blur. All I can remember is "rare." Somewhere along the way I also picked up "umbilical cord" "clot" and "induced at 36 weeks, if everything went well" (it might have to be earlier). The condition, which he called an "umbilical vein varix" was so rare, he said, that he reiterated none of the six doctors in the practice had ever even heard of the condition and they were working closely with the Perinatal Center at St. Joseph's Hospital to learn more about it. He then warned me not to Google it. Google is my homepage. Dr. Guidice told me there was little known about the condition and what I would read on the Internet would basically scare me into labor. I never did Google it, but from what I came to understand is that my daughter had a kink in the one and only vein in her umbilical cord which posed a risk for a clot. A blood clot in the vein could be fatal to her. The kink was in the part of the cord after it entered her abdomen. This, I was told, was the good news. Since the kink was in her abdomen, and not in the large section of cord that ran from the placenta to her, there was less of a chance of it being disturbed by her movements in my womb. What it also meant was the doctors needed to keep a very close eye on the varix. I would have to have two ultrasounds a week, for the remainder of my pregnancy, to measure its size and make sure it was not limiting the amount of blood flow to my precious baby girl. I was told I would also have an amnio at 36 weeks to test my daughter's lung development. If it was positive, I'd be induced on 8/8/08. (As the doctor looked at the calendar he realized that wouldn't work, too many women had scheduled to have c-sections that day. This is another blog post in and of itself..but seriously????)

I knew the size of that varix better than any tech, nurse, or doctor. I knew if it grew by a fraction of a millimeter. I knew what to look for on the ultrasound monitor and I knew which techs were the best and which I needed to steer clear of. I had to protect my daughter. But for as much as I knew about this varix-thing, there were 10 times as many things I (and the doctors) didn't know. There had to be a reason she got this, but what was it? Was I taking the wrong kind of medication when I got pregnant, did I have a drink and not realize, did I sleep on my stomach and cause too much pressure...there had to be a reason. Then I'd wonder if there were going to be permanent side effects after she was born? "No," I was told, once the umbilical cord is cut it's useless, the vein dries up and is no longer needed. But how could they know for sure if they hadn't even heard of the condition. The most frustrating part was that all the doctors just kept saying they couldn't explain it...but they kept discussing my case in their weekly "problem child" meeting. Great! I was told it was likely more common than doctor's realized and most often went undiagnosed because most expectant women don't have so many ultrasounds. But the fact that there were so few answers was frustrating. And it made for a long three or four weeks.

Finally, I was able to get an amnio. They would test to make sure my daughter's lungs were ready and I'd be induced the next day. The last month of my pregnancy, the longest, the most stressful (and the non-stop itching on my feet) was about to come to an end. But my daughter had other plans. The amnio came back negative. I was devastated. Not only would she not be born the next day, I'd have to wait at least another week. Two more stress-tests, two more ultrasounds, another amnio and another week of itchy pregnancy feet. A week later, the amnio had a different result. Olivia's lungs were mature and ready to take on the world. The next day I was to report to the hospital at 6am. I became a mom, the happiest, most proud new mama in the world at 8:50pm Friday, August 15, 2008.


Note: My doctors did special testing on the placenta and found nothing out of the ordinary. They also did an ultrasound of Olivia's abdomen and found it to be perfectly normal. So while I still have very few answers, I will forever to be grateful to all the Baltimore-area doctors and staff who spent so much time on my case. By the way, I, the woman who was in no way ever having a male OB, was so grateful for the time and dedication Dr. Michael Guidice spent on my case I made him my routine OBGYN.