In response to Teresa Pitman's request for stories on
early weaning, I am willing to "come out of the
closet" about my oldest daughter.
Emma started out nursing with no problems at all. She
went to breast in the recovery room within a short
time after being delivered via Cesarian (3 hours
pushing with no descent, malpresentation, beginnings
of cervical edema...sigh). I still laugh remembering
how the nurses had to "log roll" me onto my side so I
could nurse her, since I was still totally numb. She
nursed like a pro, then the nurses flopped me over to
the other side so she could have the other breast.
Em was exclusively breastfed until 6 mos. of age, when
she began eating small amounts of rice cereal (mixed
with EBM) once a day. Then, only a week or two later:
NURSING STRIKE! Her first tooth was erupting and she
was quite uncomfortable. I pumped like a madwoman for
3 days; she would take a bottle, but I was unable to
get her to the breast...perhaps the pressure she had
to exert with her mouth to bf made her gums hurt more?
Everything went back to normal for about 2 weeks when
she had a second strike to go along with the arrival
of her 2nd tooth. Again, pumping and bottle-feeding
for 2-3 days got us through; she went back to nursing
every 3-4 hours during the day.
Emma's interest in nursing seemed to decrease during
her 8th month, according to the notes in her baby
book; by 9 1/2 mos., she was no longer going to
breast. I was not ready to wean her and had to grieve
for some time. I remember the last time she nursed,
when she suckled vigorously for several minutes, then
came off the breast and fretted, clearly hungry and
not getting what she needed.
I can only theorize as to what may have happened. My
periods had returned during the 8th month; she was
showing increasing interest in solids and a decreasing
interest in slowing down long enough to nurse. I do
think her personality had something to do with her
early weaning; she is, and always has been, very sure
of her own mind and her own desires...and I love and
admire her for that.
As to my 2nd daughter, she is nearly 2 1/2 and shows
no signs of losing interest in nursing. Having Claire
at breast makes me wish all the more that I had been
more assertive in trying to keep Emma nursing longer.
Oh, well...20/20 hindsight.
Carole
(who is sweltering in humid southern California!!)
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail
http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/
***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
|
