The end

My baby is officially weaned.

It was a long process, but went well, and I consider myself so blessed that I was able to breastfeed him just over 12 months. Amazing accomplishment for both of us.

My last time nursing him was two weeks ago. The first week was pretty rough, but we survived.

Believe it or not, I really struggled with making the decision to wean. I first had to be convinced to breastfeed, then was practically counting down the days, but had a tough time making the decision to just stop.

So ... the process began right after C turned 11 month birthday. At that point, Cooper was taking in about 12 ounces of pumped milk daily, while I nursed him morning & night. I also had about 40 days worth of milk frozen, so figured I could take away the pumping. My lactation consultant confirmed this, and also encouraged us to begin the transfer to a sippy cup.

Over that first week, I dropped to pumping just once a day (had been 3-4 times, maybe 5 if I threw one in before bed). Honestly, at this point I really was barely making enough to feed him the next day, so it wasn't so bad. About a week later, I quit pumping completely {love!} while continuing to nurse in the morning and before bedtime.

We had a few struggles with the sippy. Mainly, he would drink a few ounces and then just play and chew on the cup. So we'd usually end up pouring the rest in the bottle. But once he turned 1, we decided no more bottle, and if he didn't drink from the sippy he didn't get the milk! We also began using cups that were harder, so he couldn't chew holes in them {poor little teething monster!}

I wasn't really sure on when to stop nursing, but a few days after C's birthday, hubby encouraged me to begin moving that direction. Especially since Cooper was beginning to pull up my shirt when he was hungry - ha! So, from the suggestion of my lactation consultant, we first cut the morning session. I was incredibly concerned about this, as I figured it would put Cooper in a bad mood. And boy, for the first few days it did. Hubby would get him out of bed to make the transition a bit easier, but it still stunk.

After about a week, we came up with a routine of: get out of bed, hug & kiss, change diaper/dress for the day, then morning milk with Cheerios and/or banana. This worked really well, because he can just chill in the high chair until I am all dressed and ready for work. Right now, he basically chugs his first 8 oz. of milk, {and yes, I still heat it} then I give him a couple more and he'll just play around with it and ultimately take it to the sitters.

At the end of the first week, hubby and I had a Christmas party so I ended up not nursing at all on Saturday. By Sunday night, I was in pain and C was whiny, so we went ahead and nursed. After that, we figured we would just play it by ear, but I ended up not needing to nurse again - it didn't pain me, and hubby and I both felt Cooper would do better with a consistent schedule. Cooper now does fine with a sippy before bed and I didn't experience any engorgement

He now takes whole milk just fine. Of course, we began by mixing it 50/50, but he now goes through a full gallon on his own before it expires! We give him 8 ounces each for morning and before bed, about 6 ounces for lunch, and water at other times. No juice. He also gets milk via string cheese, in his oatmeal, and if we have yogurt.

I am so, so grateful to have had such a great breastfeeding relationship with this little man, and hope it's just as successful with any future children we may decide to have!

{I've been working on this post for some time, so in the full interest of disclosure, I wanted to note that, this week, we stopped 



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