Thursday 5 July was the last time I nursed Mushroom. For all my worrying about how to night wean him, in the end he kind of did it himself.
Had I known that night would be the last time, I’d have done something different. What, I don’t know. It’s not as if we’d have had a ‘Mummy Milk’ (or ‘Nee’ as he liked to call it) party with a breast shaped cake to mark the occasion but I do feel as though the moment just kind of passed us by. On that Thursday night, he asked and I nursed. Friday night he didn’t ask – he didn’t even lift my t-shirt. This was a first. I put him down in his cot and he just turned over and went to sleep. I high fived the Mr and made us dinner. The next night Mushroom did ask. ‘Nee?’ he said hopefully. I thought ‘it’s now or never.’ So I said no. And he just went to sleep again. Just like that, no arguments. He did have a few biting episodes around this time so I introduced a dummy into the bedtime routine which seemed to solve this, however, I now think the biting had more to do with his teething than my refusal to nurse him.
At first I did get a little uncomfortable overnight but that settles down within a week and as it did, I realised what a massive milestone this was. Along with walking (check), talking (not quite) and sleeping through the night (Only once so far and that was recent. More on that to come in a later post!), I now feel that night weaning is a sign of emotional development that needs to be reached when both mother and baby are ready. I was ready months ago. Mushroom wasn’t. When he first caught up with me I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about it. A week after his last night feeding I looked down at his contended little face and wondered if he even remembered… He certainly doesn’t now. But I do. It’s funny, most breastfeeding mums can tell you roughly when they last nursed their child, but it’s not something we write in the baby books along with their other milestones. I guess that’s why I’m writing this post. As Mushroom becomes more and more of a little boy (well, toddler – we’ve had the first few tantrums already) I’m feeling that his babyhood is slipping away almost unnoticed and I wanted to record this, which I feel is one of the biggest milestones for both of us.
Did you/Do you continue to nurse your child past 12 months? What kind of reactions do you get when you tell people? When did you/do you plan to wean? If you already have, how do you feel about it now, looking back? Please leave a comment below and share your stories!
