We have now been breastfeeding for nine months.
In the nine months I have had mastitis three times! The last time was right before Easter. That is no fun. In addition, Charlotte has recently popped a tooth through the gums. With Owen we did not make it to the point he cut a tooth, which happened at 11 months. Charlotte tends to bite and I am desperately trying to stop that habit.
Charlotte still does not drink out of a bottle, and at this point there is no point in trying. I have tried pumping and I now only get half an ounce to an ounce of milk from each side. Charlotte still nurses about every four hours during the day and about 5 at night. However, she does comfort nurse before naps, bed, and during the night. One night she slept for 7 hours straight and I had to wake her up and feed her because my shirt was soaked. It is sort of bitter sweet. I am glad she is growing and amazed we have made it nine months already. I am glad that I am past the point where I leak through pad after pad, but it is sad because I do not want our breastfeeding journey to end. (although I would like to have my body back and not have bite marks and mastitis.)
I am happy we made it this long without any major problems and look forward to continuing this adventure.
How long do you plan to keep going? Our goal was 6 months, then we had issues with her taking the bottle so we aimed for 12 months . By then we had our routine so established (morning comfort nursing basically) that we just kept going until I couldn't nurse her in the mornings because of morning sickness!! I think I would have gone until she stopped. I think 9 months was the toughest part because she started eating more and nursing less and everyone started encouraging us to quit.
ReplyDeleteMy goal was 12 months. She also does not take a bottle. I am not going to say "Oh, it is your birthday, no milk for you." I will let her nurse until she is done.
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