Xander Week 25 – Done With Breastfeeding
March 6, 2007
I mentioned previously that Xander is suffering through his second cold. This time around he has a very unpleasant cough, and a loss of appetite. For about a week it was quite a bit of work to get him to eat 3 or 4 ounces in a sitting. So, instead of two “meals” in the evening, Xander was pretty much snacking his way through the night. When he’s sick and very stuffy, he has a hard time nursing.
All last week he had difficulty, and ultimately wouldn’t nurse. I experienced this during the last cold – he had two days where he wouldn’t nurse, but not because he didn’t want to – simply because he couldn’t breathe through his nose. I assumed that was the case this time as well. When the fourth day went by, he began to stiffen his whole body and wail when I brought him close to me. This continued for another four days – every time I attempted to nurse him, he stiffened and cried. It’s been about a week and a half since I last nursed Xander, and every attempt I’ve made since then has failed. I’ve tried again and again but with no success. Yesterday I actually managed to get him calmed down and latched on, but after sucking for about 10 seconds, he gave up and started to cry again.
So, without any say in the matter, my son is weaned from breastfeeding. I had every intention to continue as long as possible in the first year, but apparently Xander was ready to stop early. It’s pretty clear that he has developed a preference for the bottle, which is logical since it’s less work. Unfortunately, since I can’t stay home with Xander, using a bottle was unavoidable, and from everything I read, it was pretty safe to introduce a bottle to babies after about 4 to 6 weeks. I guess Xander doesn’t fall into that standard category. I’m trying to stay positive about the whole situation – I get my lunch hour back. Instead of spending the better half of it pumping, and then inhaling my food before I go back to work, I can once again visit with people, and eat like a normal person. I can sleep on my stomach more comfortably these days. I won’t have to worry about when or how to wean my son – he did that all on his own.
Ultimately, I’m really sad that I didn’t have any input around when Xander stopped nursing. It’s thrown my schedule off quite a bit – I actually forgot to feed him before day care on Monday morning – he drank a bottle around 4:30 am, but I usually nurse him before we leave the house, and since he wouldn’t nurse, I completely forgot (not that he complained about being hungry). I can’t really recall anything special about the last time that I nursed him, and I won’t ever be able to do it again.
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