I can't believe I am already starting to write this, because that means we are pretty much done with this adventure :( and that makes me really sad!! Breastfeeding to me is the most special form of bonding!!!
I nursed both kids until 1 year and they both self weened because they liked whole milk and how fast it came out!! Bittersweet, but even tho I miss our special cuddle time, I do enjoy having my body back and knowing I can sleep in any day without having to get up and nurse first.
Darren latched right away without problem. He was nursing from day one like it was no problem. And we had no problems the entire journey that is until 10 months. He had recently started getting teeth and at first I associated the nipple pain I was getting to him having new teeth and his latch changing. It took me a couple weeks until the pain literally wasn't bareable, to realize something was a little off. He didn't seem to be bothered but I was having to count down from 10 to get through each nursing session and changing positions...it was so painful. That was about when I noticed a little bit of white on his cheek.
Thrush!! I knew it right away, never thought we would get it. I always thought thrush was something that tiny babies got, and had no idea that at 10 months we could still get it. So we headed to Urgent care to get some Meds. We were on Meds for 4 weeks. The stuff didn't seem to be working. One of us would get it cleared up and the other would still have it and it would come back to the other one. At this point we were already at 11 weeks. The pain was still out of control. Finally I started giving Darren whole milk once a day so I could catch a break with one less nursing session. And that was the catch. It helped so much and we finally cleared up thrush completely.
However, he had already gotten his taste of milk. And it didn't take long for us to be down to just once in the morning and once before bed. At that point I wanted him to want to nurse those times, I wanted to keep our little bit of quiet time. But by the time he turned one he only wanted to nurse before bed to help him get sleepy. I was so sad, but was gonna let him go at that for as log as he needed it. But within a week or two he was done. He self weaned and we are both okay with that. We did try to relactate when he got sick, and was miserable. But he just kept pushing the boob away.
Extended feeding isn't for us, we both like our independence and that is great, but he still comes to me for cuddles and loving and that works for me!!!
