Final Nursing post

Since I have posted about mine and Emma's nursing experience along the way I figured I should do a final post now that we are DONE. Over spring break (beginning of April), I dropped nursing/pumping the middle of the day feedings. I knew I had enough milk in the freezer to make up for it for the last month before Emma turned one. I was ready to be done pumping at work. Life changing not taking my pump and pump parts to work the week following the break. Also due to this I decided to go back to feeding her myself in the mornings before work so I wouldn't have to pump at all (unless I was gone in the morning or at night). For the last month I nursed Emma when she woke up and before she went to bed. The week before her birthday I dropped the night feeding (I was going to Athens on Friday the 5th for graduation and really didn't want to have to worry about pumping or else I probably would have dropped the morning first). I still had enough milk in the freezer to give her breastmilk at night until her birthday. The day before her birthday was my last day of pumping. The last morning I nursed was the Sunday (3 days) before her birthday. I went down on minutes pumping on Monday and then I kinda just stopped cold turkey on Tuesday and hoped for the best. I hadn't gotten mastitis or clogged ducts this whole time and so Emma was really leading the charge of weaning on her own. It worked out for me. It's pretty amazing what your body does and figures out regarding milk. I knew I wanted to be done by her birthday. I was ready for my independence to come back and for me to just be mom. Everyone's journey with nursing is different and this was just my take on it. I used up the last bag of my frozen milk the day after her birthday and we have fully transitioned over to whole milk. We made it to one year! I have to say I exceeded my own expectations. When Emma was born I felt a strong/good goal was to make it to six months. At that point we were in a good groove with nursing and she was really good at going between me and a bottle. If it ain't broke don't fix it was my mentality. I probably won't be able to make it to a year next time (I just know how much harder it is when there's a toddler running around) so I just enjoyed this time with Emma while I could. 

She had a rough two mornings those first two days I didn't feed her in the morning (sorry Tommy!) but then by her birthday morning she was back to normal with taking a bottle from him in the morning.

Now I'm just mom and not her food. I'm enjoying our new nighttime routine and can't believe we made it to a year of nursing and that Emma is a year old! My how time flies!

Pictures for good measure:

Nursing So Far Take 2

Like in my first post HERE I want to keep track of what I've been doing regarding breastfeeding for my own knowledge to be able to go back to late. 

So we have made it now EIGHT months of breastfeeding. To be quite honest with you when I was pregnant I wasn't sure I would make it this long. I am so proud of us! In my head I felt like 6 months was a good goal but now that we have made it this far it's only 4 more months until she is one so I want to finish through. I may aim for being done just after 11 months because I have a bachelorette party away for the weekend at the end of April and I think that might be a good time for me to say I'm DONE!

Emma is still doing great going between me and getting a bottle. She doesn't show a preference really over either. She now holds her own bottle at school (BIG GIRL status!) and will do it sometimes for daddy in the morning. Little princess prefers for him to hold it for her but we are working on this. 

Since starting solids, we have dropped down to 4 feedings of breastmilk a day and I dropped down to 4 as well. I was debating keeping that extra one but it just seemed complicated and limiting to me that I just like to stay on her same schedule. I still pump while I'm getting ready in the mornings for about 25 minutes and most days I only get 10 ounces now. She still gets the freshly pumped milk in the mornings (6 ounces) and finishes it all so I have 4 extra ounces to work with the rest of the day. I pump again at 10:30am and 3pm at work and get usually 5 ounces so it's important that I get those extra ounces in the morning. It's pretty amazing when you think about it that I'm getting EXACTLY what she needs each day. I still have a decent freezer stash if needed as well from my weekend extra ounces and such.

I've been very fortunate that I haven't had mastitis ever or any clogged ducts. This is probably why I've been able to make it this long.

We are now on to table foods which she loves most of the time. Not all veggies are our favorite but we keep trying. I am going to see how she does with the table food and bottles to see if she self weens herself off one of them and we will go from there. Right now I'm not planning on dropping any milk bottles just yet. 

We are going strong and there is light at the end of the tunnel. I love breastfeeding and I think it's such a cool connection for her and I but man it's a committment and ties you down. I feel like I am constantly thinking about the next time I need to feed/pump and when things come up having to figure out when I will pump if I need to be somewhere during a feeding. I'm still drinking LOADS of water to keep my milk strong. Emma is growing like a weed which is another amazing thing. I know she's not solely on breastmilk but the fact that my body is nourishing her is a beautiful thing. We are in the home stretch here!

I've blogged so much recently that I don't have many new pictures to share other than this from yesterday which shows you how "nourished" this "little" girl is! 

(I must add that I am in no way saying that you MUST breastfeed or that it's bad to not. This is just my journey. I know it doesn't come easy to many and we all do what works best for us. This is just our journey and could be very different with future children)

Nursing so far

This post is really for myself to remember this journey later on. Ive been nursing and pumping since Emma was born. 

We had a rough start because she wouldn't latch well and we needed to supplement because my milk was taking so long to come in. Finally on day five my milk came. Those first few days were so stressful and traumatizing. I knew breastfeeding was going to be a learning experience was boy it was harder than I anticipated. 

Emma is a great eater now and does really well switching between the bottle and nursing with me when we are together. I've been very fortunate that I have a really good milk supply. I was really nervous about how I was going to keep up with pumping at work but I've gotten into a good routine and it's going well. 

I pump every morning while I'm getting ready for 25 minutes or so. I usually get between 11-15 ounces every morning. I make her bottle for Tommy from the milk I pump in the morning so I don't have to heat it (she almost always leaves an ounce or two so this way I can use it the next day because it hasn't been heated). Then I put the extra ounces in the fridge to use to make her bottles at night for the next day at daycare. Depending on what my schedule is like at work that day I try to pulp when she would be eating (10 am and 1:30pm) but on days I have all my SST meetings I end up pumping at 7:45, 11:15, and a shorter time at 2. I then nurse her at 4:30 and at bedtime (around 7:15). Between the extra ounces I get in the morning and the extra ounces I get on the weekends I always have enough to make her three 7oz bottles each day.  I always pump for about five minutes after I feed her on weekend mornings because I know she hasn't emptied me out. 

The next phase is going to be interesting once she starts solids. I've been told to keep pumping that feeding she no longer will have once starting solids so that I can have extra milk to mix with food and just to have for emergencies but my only question is what to do on the weekends when I typically wouldn't be pumping. Do you still pump just one extra time as to not throw your body off? Any tips or ideas on how you did it would be appreciated! 

That's it for now on this journey. We are starting with rice cereal in two weeks or so once she turns five months. I know it'll be a transition for both of us but I think she will be ready by then for it. 

And because no one likes a blog post without any pictures!