What I have put off for the last month came back to haunt me yesterday. I have been giving Nathaniel a bottle of breast milk every week since he was a couple of weeks old and he has always taken it with relatively little problem. Sunday evening I decided I needed to start this weaning thing in earnest since I am back to work in a month and as much as I enjoy the pins and needles feeling of my milk making my boobs rock hard, that is an experience I am willing to forgo in front of grade 8 kids. With a small sense of urgency in the back of my mind, I settled down for a pumping session, got a bottle ready and gave it to Nate. The baby beast turned on me with a vengeance-no way was he taking this fake titty. You would think I was trying to pour ear wax down his throat-he actually made gagging noises. I decided not to panic and went at it again yesterday.
Nathaniel and I locked horns all day. The only success I saw was when I waited until he was screaming crying (and I mean screaming-the kind of crying that consists of a moment of silence with the mouth open, no breathing then a big inhale followed by an ungodly scream), then he decided the bottle was better than starving to death. One good thing, he did sleep well after exhausting himself in his crying rages. I thought I was going to lose my mind. I love how there is no backing out of this motherhood thing.
Then my Aunt Debby called.
She said that when she was weaning my cousin Lee, she couldn't even be in the same room or he wouldn't eat. So I gave a bottle to Iain, left the room and he gulped it down. Yay!!! Thanks, Debby-you saved my sanity! Plus I found NOT feeding the wee one was very enjoyable-I actually smiled while I was unloading the dishwasher. I can see myself grinning as I lay in bed and Iain gets up to feed the baby a bottle on Saturday morning also. A big thanks to my aunt again because she bought me one of those Avent microwave sanitizers and I must have used it at least 8 times yesterday-I would have gone crazy if I had to boil those bottles and the breast pump every time on the stove.
Good news today-he took a bottle from me without any complaints and is now off in dreamland for a couple of hours (I hope).
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