Weaning before a year

The details;
Sunday Jan 25th, just a week shy of Charlie turning 8 months, I chose to stop nursing.  I did not stop pumping and giving my baby breast milk at that point.  But I choose to cut off the association of my body as her food source.

At the beginning of 7 months, I eliminated the 3:30 am pumping session.  I decided at that point to go half and half with formula and breast milk.  My body needed a break.  I was constantly feeling run down and ragged.

However, as we went on into the month we also hit the 37th Wonder Week.  Within the amazing developmental hurdles my daughter was conquering, she was also teething and had a cold.  To top that off, I became sick with the stomach bug that last 3 days, followed up by a sinus infection I couldn't seem to get rid of.  Charlie was clingy and whiny and would only deal with me.  She wouldn't let Steve soothe her or even hold her for me to go to the bathroom.  I was physically and emotionally drained and I made an impulsive decision to cut out nursing cold turkey.

Impulsive maybe, but I don't regret it for a second.  On that Sunday, we nursed for the last time that morning.  She was distracted but it wasn't a bad nursing session, certainly not our worst.  At that moment, I hadn't made the final decision but I was leaning heavily towards it.

That day, she went to my mother in law's for a few hours.  But refused to take the bottle I had packed.  When she returned, she fought taking the bottle from me.  Steve and I handed back and forth and tried to persuade her to try.  I knew in my heart though, eventually she'd give in to me.  I also knew that when she did, she'd recognize the end had come.  For the rest of the week, she took half formula, half breast milk bottles for day care and my mother without issues.  I continued to pump twice a day.  The first few evenings at home were rough.  She was in the routine of nursing as soon as we got home at 5 pm.  We would give her baby food, distract her as much as we could just to get through that special hour.  It took about 3 nights before 5 pm wasn't a screaming battle.  At night, she refused to take a bottle for me.  She just sucked on her thumb as we rocked to sleep.   Oddly enough she never woke in the middle of the night, hungry or wanting to nurse.

Finally on Thursday, she took a bottle at bed time for me and everything has been a breeze since.  She seemed to forget what life was like before.  She didn't grab for my shirt, she doesn't whine or demand to nurse.

We got through that following weekend on half and half bottles.  I dropped to one pump session on Saturday and Sunday, dropping the time in half.  But on that Monday, I pumped for the last time.  It's taken about a week and a half for my boobs to realize that they no longer need to produce milk.  I have a few small lumps that I can only assume are plugged ducts.  They've gotten smaller with each day that passes.

So for a time table, as a working mother, it took me about a month from start to finish to stop breastfeeding.  The first step was to eliminate one pump session.  There were 2 weeks of only two pump sessions during the week and nursing twice in the weekday evenings along with nursing on the weekends.  Next step was eliminating nursing cold turkey.  I'm sure there's a more gradual approach for this, but I didn't know how to go about it.  I thought it was more cruel to confuse her with a bottle from me and nursing with me.  I continued to pump twice a day and gave half and half bottles for a week.  During that week, I cut my pump sessions by 10 minutes.  Next up I cut out another pump session.  At this point, we changed Charlie's bottles to one ounce breast milk, 3 ounces formula.  I pumped once a day, reducing the time by another 10 minutes, for 3 days.  Then I stopped pumping completely and switched Charlie to formula only bottles.

There's no information online through blogs or websites on how to wean before a year.  Its frowned upon by the society of breastfeeding mothers and it shouldn't be.  Even when your physically capable of continuing to breastfeed, it doesn't mean you should or have to.  My sanity has been saved by switching to formula.  I'm happier than I have been in a few months.  And I'm positive my decision was for the best.

Charlie 8 Months

Baby girl is growing like crazy! At 8 months she's been doing quite a bit.  Although this month has some major changes and challenges, we made it through in one piece!

- There was a small week long phase of hating bath time at the beginning of 8 months.  It didn't last thank goodness because Daddy sure does love bath time with his little girl. 
- In the first week of 8 months Charlie really started to get the crawling motion going. She's rocking back and forth. Already she can push herself backwards and loves to do so on Ma's slippy hardwoods.
- Waving with the hand, in her sleep, while she's nursing, sitting in her jumper. She has the Queen wave, and the brush off wave etc.  
- In the second week into 8 months, Charlie was waking every night about 230 am to nurse and right back to sleep: it also seemed she dropped a bottle during the day this week. This lasted for 2 weeks. We aren't sure if it was due to the 37 wonder week, teething or not feeling well.
-  Tooth four finally broke through the skin on the bottom. So she has four teeth in a row on the bottom! We also saw the glimpses of a top tooth coming soon. 
- Breast milk, formula and baby food were your regular routine this month.  At the beginning of 8 months, I dropped the 3:30 morning pump session.  The intent had been to be half formula and half breastmilk/nursing for a few more months.  However, that plan went out the window when mommy battled the stomach bug, followed closely by a major sinus infection during the same two weeks that Charlie decided to wake in the middle of the night, becoming intensely clingly to mom and mom only. To make a long story short, we stopped nursing cold turkey and went strictly to bottle.  You can read more about the weaning in this post. 
- You were in for a well check up due to exorcist type vomit episode during your two week mayhem.  At that appointment we learned you weighed 15 lbs 44 ounces and you were 26 inches long
- Wearing size 3 disposable diapers
- In clothes Charlie is just all over the place but I imagine that most babies are.  She is wearing 6 months, 6-9 months and a few 9 month outfits.