It's time.
She's groping and grabbing at my shirt at all the most inappropriate moments. And she's started checking out other shirts more and more frequently to see what offerings they might have.
Esmé is 17 months now, and I'd like to have her weaned from breastfeeding around 18 months. As naturally as possible. With as little pain as possible. How do I do it?
A couple of factors to consider:
- She generally nurses about once a day, just before her nap. Sometimes more, but we can keep it down to one fairly easily.
- Night is a different story. Since we came back from the US in June and she was all messed up with jet lag, she has been waking up 3-4 times per night, sometimes more, and demanding to be fed each time.
- We've finally transitioned her to her own bed this last month, at least to start with. She naps there and spends the first leg or two of the night there. But after several nursing sessions, I give up and put her in our bed for the rest of the night. For my own convenience.
- We've tried all sorts of tactics on the sleeping thing. She's not the type to stop crying after 15 minutes. More like at least 4 hours. And my nights are only so long.
- We're not cows' milk people. I've tried giving her soy milk, but she doesn't like it. So I don't have a good substitute for breastmilk.
- She's never been a bottle drinker. We started her on sippy cups with juice/water and never did the bottle thing. I hate the idea of regressing and having to wean her from a bottle later. But she's lately had an intense interest in bottles, so I've started giving her water in a bottle in the last few days and she loves it.
Any advice, people? I'm desperate enough to invite all your criticism about how I should have done this sooner or how I should wait until she does it herself, or how she should have been sleeping through the night for eons now. So bring it on . . .
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