Weaning

Since Oliver was born, I've had to limit his nursings. That sounds cruel, I know, but Oliver would nurse for about 45 minutes to an hour and then want to nurse again 30 minutes later. I'd push him to go 45 minutes to an hour between nursings. At three months old, he'd rarely go even two hours (it was usually an hour and fifteen minutes to an hour and a half) between nursings (unless he was sleeping at night).

I was stoked when Oliver started goinga solid two hours between nursings, and then, for a short while, he'd go for three and then four hours. Then, in early September, he got sick, and I nursed him as much as he wanted. Since then, I've been lucky if he'll go three hours between nursings during the day. I know, as a nearly 1 year old, Oliver does not need to nurse that much, and he does not need to nurse in the middle of the night. It's very difficult to push him, though, when he climbs on me, pulls at my shirt, and rams his head into my collar bone repeatedly.

Yesterday, I offered him food and water instead of milk a few times. Between that and some will on my part, I was able to make him go for longer stretches. It also helps once Andrew gets home because then he can be held and played with without thinking that there's milk available.

Today, so far, he nursed at 3am (that was after pushing him from when he woke at 2am), 6:30am (he gets so mad if he doesn't nurse when he wakes up for the day), and 9:30am (because he was freaking out). However, I'm proud to say he went down for his nap without nursing to sleep, so that's something. I'm determined not to nurse him again until his next nap, which should happen around 1:30pm or 2pm. I'll be very liberal with his lunch, snacks and water until that time, and I know there's no reason he can't make it four hours between his nursings.