Weaning and milk snobbery

At 13 months and two days, we were done breastfeeding.

The last month, especially, was simple - Elle nursed in the morning, then usually once right before or after her morning nap. Since I'm not around most nights, she wasn't comfort-nursing at bedtime. About five or six weeks ago, she seemed to lose interest in the second nursing session of the day, and we were down to one. With the new job on the horizon, I realized that it wouldn't be fair to wake Elle up to nurse her and then leave, because then she'd be wide awake and ready to play with Daddy, who will still be working the night shift. With our next trip coming right before I started the new job, I didn't want to layer on levels of change and stress, so I wanted to start weaning Elle well ahead of time.

Cute photo that has nothing to do with milk.

The first day, I prepared a bottle of frozen breast milk and brought Elle and the bottle in to our bed. I expected Elle to fight and fuss, straining to nurse like she had for the last 13 months. Instead, she grabbed the bottle and gulped it down, rolling back and forth to look at Tim and I periodically. The second morning was the same. The third morning I got tricky and tried to sneak an ounce of almond milk in with four ounces of breast milk. REJECTED. The fourth morning was a return to straight breast milk, and the bottle didn't stand a chance.

A few days later, she had a bottle of breast milk that was a little more chilly than usual. That wasn't going to fly with her. A day or two after that, I tried a slightly warmed up version of coconut milk with her breakfast (I basically ran the bottle under hot water briefly). Again, no dice. This time, at least, she would take a sip, but then she'd make a horrible face and shake her head like she'd been subjected to drinking the worst thing imaginable.

The verdict? Baby loves her breast milk. Her warm breast milk. And that's about it.

"I will now eat breakfast. Sans milk. Get over it, people."

Our pediatrician isn't concerned about Elle's disinterest in non-breast milk, because she gets calcium from other sources, like cheese and yogurt, two things that she LOVES. I'm going to keep trying to introduce milk (we've tried cow's milk, soy milk, almond milk and coconut milk), but I'm not stressing over it. I don't really like milk, and neither does Tim. We're a milk-on-our-cereal-and-in-ourmy-coffee kind of couple. Elle loves sharing our cereal with us, too - not minding that milk one bit. Maybe some day Elle will start gulping down milk by the gallon. Until then, she's pretty happy with water and her other dairy products, so I'm cool with that, too. Generally, she's not a picky eater, but when she doesn't like something, she DOESN'T LIKE SOMETHING.

In many ways, weaning was sad. I didn't mind the natural course of weaning when we introduced solids (via baby-led weaning) and gradually dropped nursing sessions. But now that they're all gone? Elle and I no longer have that special experience together. It was something we'd done every day of her existence. Every morning (except two, when I ran in early-morning races), she would come in to our bed, and I would nurse her. It was such a deeply ingrained habit - it was my favorite part of the day, waking up with my loves and having Elle cuddle in, acting like she hadn't eaten in weeks. As we weaned, we still replicated the habitual part of that with the bottle - Elle came in to our bed and drank it while we cuddled with her, made her laugh, watched her reaction as the cats brushed against her and tickled her feet. But as far as not nursing goes, Elle was completely unfazed, which was both reassuring and upsetting. I realized I was glad she was so go-with-the-flow about it but I hadn't expected her to be SO go-with-the-flow :)

"Take me to your cheese and yogurt, please."

In some ways, though, weaning was satisfying. I had met and exceeded my breastfeeding goals, and I know that Elle is thriving and flourishing. I packed away my nursing covers, bras and tanks and was not at all sad, trust me. I am so thankful for being able to breastfeed for so long and especially grateful that we didn't have any major obstacles. I love that her first signs were "milk," "more" and "eat." I am appreciative for all of the support I received - from my husband, family, friends, my breastfeeding support group and other mommies. I know it would have been a lot harder if I hadn't had such an amazing support system. Elle is independent in so many ways, and we still have plenty of bonding/cuddle time. She took a bottle of frozen breast milk in the morning up until the morning we left for Ohio (conveniently, that's when my frozen stash was gone), and now that we're back, Elle and Daddy can start their new routine.