2 Friday Funks in a row?? Crazy. I must be on a roll over here. I’ll call this one the “No More Moo” edition, because I’ve been given the green light by Lana’s pediatrician to start weaning her from breast milk. Time to start shutting down the milk factory.
The reason for doing this is kind of a need mixed with a want. She NEEDS to start sleeping through the night again, and her doctor said weaning will absolutely help with that. I took her in the other night for her first sick check because she’s had this congestion and cough for months now, and I was afraid she might have an ear infection since she tugs on her left one all the time. Ears look perfect, the doctor said, but she said she still sounds a little croupy. Something in her upper respiratory system is definitely still bugging her, so she’s currently on a 5-day antibiotic just to try and kick whatever keeps running around in there.
But anyway, I was telling her how terrible Lana’s sleeping at night has gotten, and she was pretty surprised to hear that she almost always wakes up 2-3 times per night now. A complete sleep through is essentially nonexistent these days, which is really shitty for a 7 month old.
So after we discussed the decline in night sleeping and I asked about maybe stopping breastfeeding soon, her doctor said yes, let’s definitely start to wean her. That’s where the want part comes in.
I’m ready to be done nursing this time around. I don’t know if it’s the novelty wearing off earlier the second time around or maybe the fact that me having been home basically all of Lana’s life so far with her she’s just spent more time actually nursing than Della did since she was in daycare so much or what, but I’m pretty much over it. That “magical bond” between mother and nursing babe just isn’t that magical anymore.
As when Della was stopping breastfeeding, I would love to not have to worry about it over the summer. Taking my stupid hand pump to all-day events gets so old, and enduring the pain of engorgement when I’d rather just not have to think about it is getting annoying right now. Plus we need to get Lana to know that boobs are no longer an option in the middle of the night. That’s the worst part – as long as she continues to wake up inconsolable save for nursing, we’ll keep taking steps backward instead of forward in this process.
So enter Enfamil, the formula I’ve always dreaded due to its price tag. The act of giving my baby formula doesn’t bother me in the least; it’s paying for the crap when I know I can provide plenty of breast milk for free. But like I said, I’m willing to sacrifice the dollars for a few months this time to get my body freedom back. Selfish? Probably. But Mama needs her sanity too, thank you very much, and Lana will thrive just fine on formula for only a couple months. For when she turns 11 months, we’ll put her on whole milk anyway.
Day 1 of the weaning saga was yesterday, and it was an utter failure. The doctor said to begin by replacing the least important breast milk meals with formula until there is no more nursing, so we’re starting with the one she usually has between her now solid lunches and dinners. Yesterday I whipped up a 6 oz. bottle containing 4 oz. of breast milk and 2 oz. of formula, thinking that would be more than enough breast milk to mask whatever the foreign taste of formula is in there. Nope. She drank a couple good gulps, then refused the rest of it. Well shit. I even made a separate 1 oz. bottle of strictly formula, thinking maybe the breast milk was bad. Still refused. Double shit.
I was afraid of that. Della did the same thing when she stopped nursing, refusing formula. She was about a month and a half older than Lana is now, though, so I just pumped another month or 2 until she started whole milk. I’m not pumping for 4 more months this time, though, so we have to get this to work with Lana. Fortunately round 2 this afternoon went better. I made another 6 oz. bottle for her, but this time I used only 1 oz. of formula and 5 oz. of breast milk, and she drank the whole thing without hesitation. Much better.
My hope is that I can just keep upping the formula ratio in this afternoon bottle and her mid-morning one over the next week or so until those 2 are strictly formula. Then we’ll work on switching the morning wake-up feeding to formula, then lastly the bedtime feeding. The doctor said that’s the order of importance for the feedings to be breast milk. I may start transitioning the bedtime feeding to a mixed bottle sooner, though, so I can make it bigger. When she nurses I obviously have no idea how many ounces she’s taking, but her doctor said to give her a bigger bedtime bottle (at least 6 oz.) to help her stay satisfied through the night better. Makes sense to me. Let’s get this pony rolling.
I would love more than anything to have her nearly fully weaned in the next 3 weeks before we go to Colorado, but I won’t push it. I’ll try, but if I have to take the damn pump, I’ll take it. So wish us luck on this journey! Any and all easy weaning juju you can send our way will be much appreciated.
Speaking of Colorado, my sister had her baby today!!!! I could just poop I’m so excited for them. His name is Roan, and from what I’ve seen so far he is absolutely perfect. I simply cannot wait to hold this newest little Goonie nugget, and Della already knows she has a new baby cousin. She can even say Roan pretty well. I’m so happy we’ll get to meet him when he’s still so little. I just hope my sister and brother-in-law truly know what they’re signing up for when they invite us all to stay with them with a newborn in the house. Heh.
What else? Oh yeah – my race last weekend. Dudes, I kicked its ass!! I was hoping for under 27:00, secretly wishing for under 26:00, and I blew that thing out of the water. 25:11 was my time. BOOM to the OOM! 8:06 pace. I was floored. No way was I expecting a time like that, which is one of my fastest 5k times ever. Let alone after having 2 kids and just getting back to running a few weeks ago. It felt like a terrible run, too, because I started off way too fast trying to keep pace with a group of grade schoolers. Note – never EVER try to keep up with 7 year olds in a race. They’ll destroy you every time. So when I saw sub-25:00 on the score clock as I approached the finish line I was ecstatic.
Then it was off to Miller Park that afternoon with great friends for the Kenny Chesney concert. Yahoo!! That was an absolute blast. We skipped the first couple opening acts and went in for Eric Church and Kenny, and we had so much fun. It turned out to be a gorgeous day, and we had a wonderful afternoon and night.
I think that about wraps everything up for this week. Just another batch of random I wanted to write down before I forgot it all. We’re off to Madison on Sunday for my cousin’s wedding, which will be awesome. So you all have a great long weekend, thank you to those whom we remember in the name of this holiday, and I’ll talk to you later.
