Hello Dear Boobjuicers and Friends!
This week finds me approaching a transition, methinks. Kiddo is pushing 14 months old. I do NOT want to stop breastfeeding, but man o man am I ready to be done with pumping four times in the work day. And my nipples are just plain tired. He's chewing on me and I'm having trouble retraining his latch. He's old enough for moo juice. I want to get him on (organic) cow's milk for his mid-day servings and just nurse him morning and night and on demand for comfort. So there's two things here. The small one: we have to work up the courage to give him some cow's milk. When he was accidentally exposed to cow's milk well before one year of age, he puked it all back up again. Poor little guy. But in the past couple weeks we've tested yogurt and cheese with no ill effect (he even seems to like them), and the time has come.
Here's the second, larger thing. I'm terrified that he'll wean himself completely when we do this. Now, this fear is basically groundless. He's already on bottles when I'm at work. (Yes, we know to wean the bottle when we move to cow's milk. He's using sippy cups too.) We had a couple of challenging moments figuring out good habits with the bottle such that he didn't start chewing on me, but we didn't have any real trouble with his refusing the breast because it didn't go fast enough any more (low flow nipples ladies! Low low low!!!) He still comfort nurses when he's tired and fussy if I'm around. And lots of other nursing mamas have shared their stories with me and none of them have indicated that introducing cow's milk caused any trouble with nursing.
So, I think this fear is really about two things (hm, today's post seems to be brought to you by the number two): One, I feel guilty wanting to stop pumping. My lactation consultant back in California discourages dairy. I'm sure she has lots of good reasons, and frankly there's a lot of anecdotal evidence out there that a lot of cow's milk is not such a great thing. Plus there's the standard dose of breadwinning mama guilt - feeling guilty for not being home with kiddo all day, feeling more guilty for preferring to be the breadwinner over being the primary child care giver. Secondly, I know I'll be heartbroken when he doesn't want to nurse anymore. Well, okay, I *predict* that I will be heartbroken. Who knows, maybe he'll be four years old and I'll be totally done with it, or maybe I'll be pregnant (no we're not currently trying for Kiddo II) and my boobs will hurt and I won't want to nurse anymore, or they won't hurt but the protokiddo in my belly will console me for Kiddo wanting to stop. Who knows. But at the moment, I am looking in the face of they hypothetical (if probably totally imagined) possibility of Kiddo stopping nursing because I stopped pumping, and it brings a lump to my throat. Right now, while I'm typing.
So, we're going to try the cow's milk this week, and I'll keep pumping 4x/day for now. And when he's on the cow's milk during the day, I'll probably cut down gradually - three times for a week, then two times, then see what happens. But meanwhile, I could use your prayers and good mojo, 'cause I'm a scared little mama. I feel silly for it, but there it is.
Wide eyed in the corner, with love,
Suzi
You might want to try raw cow's milk first. When milk is pasteurized it kills all bad bacteria but it also kills the beneficial enzymes in it that help you digest the milk. And not to worry about possible harmful bacteria, all raw milk is tested for harmful bacteria and it's a higher quality of nutrients since the cows are actually grass fed, because feed-lot cows (or shit-lot cows as I like to call them) cannot produce milk without bad bacteria contamination. It's expensive but might ease the transition to cows milk and you can switch to the pasteurized stuff in a bit.
ReplyDeleteI feel you on the stopping of mama's milk--it's no fun and you feel guilty no matter what!!
I was told to mix te breast milk with the cow's milk to get him used to it. I would up the ounces on the cow's milk slowly until I got him weaned. I understand the guilt. I was working full-time when he started weaning himself at 12 months. He was full-weaned by 14 months. But I will tell you that I still feel a special closeness with him that I don't think I would have had I not nursed (and pumped). You are a good momma, Suzi and you will figure out what is best for you and the little man. He is getting so big!
ReplyDelete