Guest post: Retiring the boobs

Today I have a guest post, thanks to the lovely Karen from Adventures of a Monkey-footed Mummy. She talks very openly and honestly about how it feels to feed her last baby.

Almost a year ago I wrote a post ‘Its all about the boobs‘ for Kate. At the time, I was having a struggle with a tongue tied baby and baby blues. I was wary that my journey wasn’t going to be a smooth one. Well I was right, after that post I was struck by a bout of mastitis, something I had never experienced, then another and another, throw in a corneal transplant rejection, and 4 further months of ill health and you can picture the wreck that I had become. I won’t lie to you, there have been days and especially nights that I have struggle with feeding my little Termite. But …..One year on, we are still feeding and she has thrived on it, weighing in at a lovely 22lb my little chunky monkey now feeds just on a night time most days, sometimes we have a sleepy afternoon feed but all in all we get along just great with our feeding routine.

My issue now is not will I manage a year, can I do it, should I give a bottle (which she has never had). My issue is how to stop? I’ve always had a milky bedtime feed with the big two until they were about 2, but they had bottles of expressed milk and then formula from 7 months. Termite doesn’t take a bottle because she has never had to, there seems little point in instigating one now.

So do I cut her off cold turkey and completely change bed time having milk earlier and excluding any kind of milky drink, or do we have milk in a cup with a quiet cuddle? Do I even want to give up feeding her? I feel under pressure to stop but wont let that cloud my judgement. Part of me feels sad that I will never nurse another child, Termite is my last you see and when this feeding stops then that is that, no more babies, no more feeding, no more providing in a way only mammy can, or is that silly?

Retiring the boobs - #breastfeeding

I would love to hear about how Kate’s lovely readers have dealt with bedtime after nursing has ended, or did you keep going past a year?

What do you think is the best way to stop breastfeeding? Should Karen go cold turkey, or did you find a better way of retiring the boobs?

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6 Comments

  1. September 4, 2014 / 2:37 pm

    Great post! I am currently in a similar situation, in that my daughter (who is my first baby and will be my last) is now 8 months and I am thinking about my options re: ‘retiring the boobs’, I will be going back to work when she is 11 months old so I have a lot to consider.
    It’s been a challenge and we’ve had our ups and downs with breastfeeding but when I think about stopping it makes me really sad. Surprising really as in the early days I was just trying to make it through the day, then to 6 months and now I don’t want to stop until she is ready, but with going back to work with long days I am not sure we have the luxury sadly.
    Will be interested to hear how others have dealt with stopping breastfeeding.
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  2. September 4, 2014 / 7:58 pm

    I actually haven’t stopped haha! My boy is two and a half now and still has a bedtime breastfeed, if he’s poorly likes last week he also has a lunch time nap feed too.

    I too had a lot of health problems for the first year and found it a huge strain, but when I seriously thought about giving up the boobs I didn’t feel ready, so I kept going.

    The best piece of advice I can give you is to ignore any pressures, just think about you and your little one, what you both want and what is best for you both. Don’t push yourself before you are ready, take your time and do what you feel is right for you.

    Be kind to yourself and good luck with whatever you decide to do. X

  3. Mo Ade
    September 5, 2014 / 2:53 pm

    Difficult one. I have battled to get to where i am now with my little one’s feeding and I really hope to continue for as long we both want it.

    I agree with Mummy Whiskers that you should ignore outside voices and focus on just want you and your little one wants. If you’re happy to continue, then continue. I suppose you can ask yourself why you want to stop earlier than you did with your older ones, your little one might you this question in the future, or not.

    And if you choose to stop, gradual and using distractions is better than cold turkey; cold turkey will be painful for both of you and i’m not sure it’s even fair on both of you.

    All the very best whatever you decide!

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