Moo

Oliver has never had a problem nursing. From the moment he was born he knew what to do and was happy as a clam to snuggle with his mommy and have, what he calls, a snack. My goal was to nurse Oliver until he turned one and could begin to have milk. I remember making a big deal about his first cup of milk and anticipating that it would be love at first sip. I am not really sure what I was thinking. Oliver is strong-willed and independent. He knows what he wants and knows how to make himself the sweetest most loving child (even if just moments before he was the most devilish, hair-pulling, "I want to put a for sale sign on you" child) and get what he wants. Because of this I should not have been surprised that after he took his first sip of milk he threw the cup in the trash and asked for a snack.

Since Oliver's first birthday we've been focusing on sleep (trying to get Oliver to sleep longer than 2 hours at a time), Davis' swim training, work, life...all of this to say that weaning got pushed to the back burner. I kept thinking that he would wake up one day and decide he no longer wanted to nurse (he did this with his Ergo, the only place he would nap for close to a year). After awhile it became clear that Oliver was committed to snacking. Whereas once I loved the coziness of cuddling with my baby, I no longer felt this way. I now felt like a human pacifier. When Oliver turned 21 months old I decided it was time for snacks to go. Distraction didn't seem to work for Oliver so I had to bring out the big guns - lollipops and chocolate chips. I had to use these special treats for a couple weeks, but was soon able to put them back in the back of the pantry. Over the the course of close to a couple months we went from five snacks a day to just one (yea!). Nighttime was another story (perhaps it was because chocolate chips and lollipops were not involved). We decided to, after a year of sitting in the attic, bring out the bottle. The good news is that with the introduction of the bottle Oliver no longer nurses at night. The bad news is that he now consumes more than 27 ounces of milk a night (I have to give it to Pampers, their diapers hold a ridiculous amount of liquid). So now we have solved one problem, but have another.

Today was a milestone - today marked the first time Oliver went more than 24 hours with nursing. Hopefully tomorrow will mark 48 hours...

This, like so much of motherhood, has taught me the need to put away my preconceived notions, and recognize that I need to, like every parent, do what works best for me and my family.