Warning to my multitude *wink* of male readers....Nursing info ahead! Warning!!
Anneliese is 8 months and a week and she is on a nursing strike. Last night I had a volleyball tourny and was gone from 5:30 until 9:45 and Jared took care of Sis and put her to bed without trouble.
Yesterday afternoon she woke up from a 2 1/2 hour nap and as soon as I sat down with her to feed she started throwing a holy fit; screaming, arching her back and wailing. I had no idea what was wrong so I tried to soothe her and loved on her. She just kept on until I thought I should try some cereal. As soon as I started making her cereal her little hands started wiggling and she began working her mouth. She ate an entire bowl full and was fat and happy.
This was the second or third incident. My big concern is if she decides she's done while nursing in public there's NO way I can keep her covered with all that thrashing. I'm afraid my tiny baby that has 8 teeth is ready for real food and I'm not sure what to do about it.
1)Is she old enough to go without formula? 8 months seems young to completely cease bottle or breast. She's not a good sippy cup user just yet.
2)Will I be able to get past the weird emotional guilt and pressure I put on myself when it comes to nursing. My plan was to nurse for the first year. I went through a lot to be able to nurse her and it feels like quitting to stop when it's only been good for about 4 months.
3)Jared and I feel completely content with our family and I know you've heard it before but we really do feel she is the last one and it makes me sad to think that my last nursing experience is over.
Regardless she'll decide what we're doing. I can't force her to feed and there are obvious perks to being done. I'm just working through it all in my heart and mind.
3 comments:
I went through the same thing with Paige. I was sure she was done at around 9.5 months and it devastated me. She was doing the very same things that Anneliese is. I did try going to the bottle/formula because I figured she needed something but she never took to that either. She just got mad when I tried to feed her anything but solid foods. I let her decide what she wanted and went with it - she only nursed maybe once a day for a while there. Eventually, she got over her little spell and she's back to happily nursing as well as eating like a "big girl." She's definitely slowing down now and really loves her sippy cup...I know we only have about a month left. sniff, sniff. But hang in there - maybe this is just a phase. I agree with you though - Anneliese has to be the one to decide! Such tiny little people with such big opinions!
She'll probably get it all figured out and want to nurse again, but she definitely is too young to go without milk in one form or another. Babies need full fat milk until they are 2 years old so all the sheaths around the nerves in her brain are fully formed. Her brain can't develop correctly without all the fat. She also needs the calcium for her little bones. If she is very resistant to nursing, formula {or pumping} is the way to go simply because cow's milk is too low in iron for her before her 1st birthday.
sorry, that was my 25cents worth {far too many early childhood nutrition classes in my past!}
Thank you ladies. I figured I'd have to suppliment something. Luckily she seems to like a bottle with juice in it so she should take to it if need be. I'm hoping she goes through a stage & we get back to normal but either way the reality is it's coming to an end regardless and that's okay :)
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