The last time we nursed was Monday, April 23 in the morning. You were a little over 15 months old, and like every other morning for your whole life you woke up and came to snuggle in bed with Daddy and me before we all got up for the day. We were down to only nursing once every other day, and the milk was just about gone. The past 2 days you have wanted to nurse, and you got a little sad when I told you that the milk was all gone. But we snuggled instead, and you seemed to understand that it was ok for us to be sad about it together. Then we came downstairs and ate a banana and forgot all about being sad.
Someday when you are a Daddy of your own, I hope that you are supportive of whatever your wife decides to do. And if she decides to nurse the baby, I hope that you encourage her, wake up in the middle of the night (7 times a night some nights), and tell her how special she is like your Daddy did for me.
I love you so much, and I will always remember our 15 months of nursing with pride and warmth. You won't remember it; and that is ok. We'll build other beautiful memories together, and we'll eat a lot of bananas!
Love Always,
Mommy
I loved nursing. The first 6 months were really challenging. Preston was insatiable and refused to find any other way to self soothe. I had to pump up to 18oz of milk at times, but I never had to supplement. I feel so blessed about that, because I know that many moms struggle. After 6 months it got easy! Pres was a nursing champ. He could drain a boob in 3 minutes, could latch without assistance in the dark, and basically knew what he was doing. I know they recommend to nurse for 6 months, and I was ready to quit so many times in those first 6. When we finally made it we had no reason to stop. Right around his first birthday I decided that I needed to think about weaning. He was the sweetest, loviest boy for everyone but me. I got the whiny, sad, clingy boy, and I wanted a better relationship. I cut out the daytime nursing sessions first, which was pretty easy, because we were only doing it on the weekends anyway (he was getting bottles of breastmilk at daycare still). I just offered a sippy cup of milk instead, and that went pretty well. It was my goal to totally wean by the end of February. At the end of February he was sleeping through the night and still nursing bedtime and morning. He didn't ask for it during the day anymore. I guess through March and April my supply slowly started to diminish, and we quietly and slowly came to a rolling stop. That was the best way to do it. And although it is bittersweet, I know that we did great and I can be proud of us.