Post Breastfeeding- 6 Months and 10 Pounds Later
I stopped breastfeeding Saioa in June and I am so discouraged that since then I’ve gained 10 pounds! For me, breastfeeding kept all my excess weight off and it was awesome. I didn’t necessarily eat unhealthy, but there were times when I could eat like a man and see no sign of it on my body. After breastfeeding, even though I’ve not changed my eating habits…. slowly, slowly…. 10 pounds have crept on. Not only that, but breastfeeding kept my spirits up. I will testify to the fact that it was a natural Prozac because when I stopped, my hormones and emotions went awry. I felt down in the dumps a lot and couldn’t really put my finger on what the problem was. I think that might have been what contributed to my weight gain, because I tried to eat my emotions away. I also felt zero motivation to get
Fully Weaned But Still Interested
Nora has been weaned from the breast for almost three months now. I had hoped that the ¼ of a year would cause her to forget about breastfeeding. Yet she still asks me for “Mommy’s milk.” Thankfully Garrett and I have been able to give her soy milk, almond milk or water as a replacement without too much of a fuss. However, I can’t believe she’s still asking about it! She will even try to sneakily latch on, pull me out of my clothes, etc. Then she’ll get mad when I prevent her from latching. Is it normal for her to still want to breastfeed despite the fact that she has seemingly accepted that we’re all done breastfeeding? I am really hoping that Nora forgets all about breastfeeding in the next couple of weeks since baby Mulder #2 is due in about eight weeks. I really don’t want to be
Hasta La Vista Boobie
I am no longer breastfeeding Saioa. I never had an end-date in mind but at 15 months old I felt like it was time. Being able to be at home with her and nurse her for this long has been an absolute dream. She never did take a bottle and fortunately it was never really necessary. Once she started eating solids there was no need for me to push the bottle on her and by then our nursing sessions were reserved for naps and bedtime. Now she drinks whole milk out of a sippy cup and it’s nice that I won’t have to wean her off of a bottle. There have, however, been some unexpected changes. 1) I thought that I would be emotional about not nursing her anymore but I wasn’t. She’s a happy, healthy baby and there’s nothing for me to be sad about just because we’re not
Milk’s “All Done”
I’ve blogged before about breastfeeding my toddler, and I’ve blogged about the benefits of breastfeeding a toddler… but much like Sarah and Isaac, Nora and I have officially ended our breastfeeding relationship. My decision to wean Nora hasn’t been an easy road, particularly after I got pregnant. I knew from all of the research I’d done that my body was perfectly capable of sustaining two lives at once. Nora also thoroughly enjoyed our breastfeeding relationship and showed no signs of wanting to wean. So I continued to meet her needs. As my pregnancy has progressed it became more painful for me to breastfeed. I became more annoyed with something that had once put so much joy and awe in my life. Nora was oblivious to my annoyance and continued to need me as much as ever. Torn, I turned to the Jacksonville La Leche League for help. I met several
Weaning A Toddler (And A Mommy!)
After twenty-one and half months of nursing my child, you’d think I’d be ready for a break… Not so much! Truth be told, I am having a much harder time with weaning that Isaac is! I decided that this was a logical time to stop nursing for two reasons: One, my sweet angel (insert sarcasm here) is beginning to display some pretty impressive tantrums as he gets closer to turning 2, so I figured the “girls” should get while the gettin’ is good, so to speak. And two, Chris is taking the kids to the Grand Canyon for 10 days in the middle of June, so obviously there will be no breastfeeding happening then without me there, and weaning cold turkey on vacation seemed unnecessarily harsh. So there you have it, everything makes sense, right? It’s go time…and at first it wasn’t so bad. I had gradually gone down to
Breastfeeding Mothers Behaving Badly?
Since one of our themes for this month is behavior challenges, I’d like to address a mommy-related issue that was recently in the news… While visiting one of the Smithsonian museums in DC, a woman was asked to stop breastfeeding her 11-month old daughter in public and sent to the bathroom by a security guard. According to the story, Noriko Aito did as she was told, but not finding any room in the bathroom to sit, returned, where another guard directed her back to the bathroom and advised her to sit on the toilet. The mother, understandably upset at this point, left with her family and later filed a complaint against the museum, to which they issued a public apology several days afterward. In response, some local DC folks staged a 2-hour “nurse-in” at the museum a week later where an estimated 150 nursing mothers and supporters showed up and
