At 12:26 PM 7/3/01, Teresa Pitman wrote:
>Diane W. wrote: But what about the one
>who weans at 14 months? Was the weaning influenced by bfing management?
>Cultural expectations? The way solids were introduced or sleep was
>structured? Was it a perfectly normal weaning and I needn't give it another
>thought? What's a problem we can help a mother avoid and what's just a
>combination of normal events and personalities that represents one end of
>the bell curve?
My oldest (now 9) weaned herself at 25mos, 10days. Yup, I even remember the
moment she last nursed. I was surprised and disappointed; she hadn't shown
any signs of being ready to wean even just a month or two before that. She
weaned about two months before her little sister was born. For a very long
time, I felt that I had *caused* her weaning by being pregnant. I was sad
to think that I had misjudged her needs and forced her to grow up faster
than she might have otherwise. However, looking back now, I think it was
more just her time. She didn't complain about the taste or the quantity of
milk I had, she started eating a lot more solids (we just let her have
however much she wanted), and she started going to sleep without nursing.
She was never the cuddliest baby, and particularly didn't like anyone
touching her while she slept. We did family bed until she kicked daddy out
of bed one night. Then she had a mattress on the floor next to our bed that
I laid down with her in until she rolled away to sleep by the closet door
<g> I was most convinced that my pregnancy didn't cause her to wean,
however, by my experience with my other children. My second child (now 6.5)
and third child (4) and fourth child (2) are all still nursing. My 6yo
*did* complain about both taste and quantity of milk during both of my
pregnancies, but she still needed to nurse, so she did. As of the 17th of
July, all three of my younger children will have nursed longer than my
oldest did, but I was a stay-at-home, sling wearing, LLL mom with the
first, and I don't think she weaned because of any cultural expectations or
management issues. She's always at one end or the other of any bell curve <g>
Cheri Singleton
mom to Melinda (7/92), Heather (10/94), Nicholas (3/97), and Matthew (6/99)
married to Jim for more than a decade (12/90)
[log in to unmask]
"I am growing, in the knowing, that my children are my teachers, that my
children simply teach my soul."
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