I never thought we'd be here. Even though I knew my goal was to stop nursing at 2 years - I really never pictured a life where I wasn't nursing her. But, yet, here we are!
Brandon & I discussed that when Emily woke up on Monday morning, he would need to get her out of the crib. If I did, she would want to nurse. So, he greeted her with a nice breast milk bottle & she wanted NOTHING to do with it. Cool dude, I love pumping for you to not drink it. Once she found me downstairs, she wanted to nurse. I knew it would happen and other than cuddle her and love on her, I wasn't sure how else I would handle it.
She fussed for maybe 10 minutes. I loved her through it. I talked to her & told her mama was pumping milk for her to drink, and somehow that seemed to help. With plenty of other distractions - we made it through one of the biggest hurdles in the day, or so I thought.
Emily has been drinking almond milk (because we're still not sure dairy will be okay in her system) for months. She doesn't love it, but if i'm not home or we're out and about, she will drink some almond milk. So, I have been offering her almond milk, breast milk, and LOTS of water. Without nursing, I am so worried she is going to get dehydrated, ESPECIALLY because it's only a MILLION degrees in Arizona right now. She is hardly drinking anything. This mama is freaking out. So, if you have any suggestions for sneaking in milk and water, PLEASE drop them in the comments.
But, despite the struggle to drink anything, she has been doing great. We had her gymnastics class yesterday morning and as she became really tired towards the end - she asked to nurse, but she wasn't phased when I said no. I think it also helped to that we were in a fun environment.
But, NAP TIME, oh boy. My girl has never been a good napper and add in the fact that I can't nurse her to sleep, there was NO WAY she was going to nap. So, what did we do? We drove around until she fell asleep. Mama got to eat lunch in peace, in the car, while baby napped. WIN WIN.
She didn't ask to nurse the rest of the day! She was such a champ. I couldn't believe it.
Then there was bedtime. I wasn't home two nights ago for bedtime. I let my husband take over, and if I am not home - shes great!! So, last night was truly the first night where I was home and participated in the bedtime routine but wasn't going to nurse her. Ahhhh. She screamed bloody murder when I left the room.
YOU GUYS. My mama heart was breaking. breaking. I could just go up there and nurse my sweet babe to sleep. She wouldn't need to cry. But I didn't - we're committed to weaning & I don't want to send her mixed messages. This is the best for both of us - but NOT easy. She settled down after just a couple minutes and let her dad put her to sleep. She even drank some of my pumped breast milk. #momwin
We survived Day 1! We did it!!
Will Day 2 be the same? Harder? I'll update you tomorrow!! Wish us luck!!
Until next time, much love,
