My 816 days of breastfeeding.

So my first week not breastfeeding A since she weaned herself  just happens to fall on World Breastfeeding Week. 816 days, 116 weeks, 26 months. However you want to count it, it has been an awesome ride.

We had a bumpy start. She was extremely sleepy during her first 36 hours and only fed a handful of times. The night nurse said that she had to feed and since she kept falling asleep at the breast, she brought in a bottle of formula. I didn't want to use it so I didn't. It just sat there and they took it away the following day. She then spent the day under the uv lights and came out a whole new little ravenous girl.

6 months turned into 1 year and then just kept going  When my maternity leave was approaching its end, I realized  it didn't have to be "all or nothing" for my breastfeeding relationship with A. When she was 14 months old, we slowly weaned from 6-8 feedings a day to just 2 (bedtime and when she woke up during the night).

Then I became pregnant. My breast became so tender and sensitive that I wanted to wean her myself so bad. Luckily, the pain was short lived. She then decided to wean herself from her nighttime feeding. Occasionally, she slept through the night and when she came crawling into our bed, she just wanted to cuddle. 2 weeks ago she just wanted to hold my hand while she fell asleep at bedtime. Then she surprised me a couple days later, when i was 12 weeks pregnant, and actually wanted to nurse. Little did I know that that would be our last breastfeeding session together.

I'm happy I allowed A to decide for herself when she wanted to be done breastfeeding. Fortunately, I never got many of those unnecessary "Are you still breastfeeding?!?" comments. I'm sad that she is done. But I am totally excited for roughly 26 weeks from now for my next breastfeeding relationship to start!