It certainly does. I made my mind up even before getting pregnant that I wanted to breastfeed my baby for at least 1 year. I knew the benefits far out-weighed anything that formula would ever provide. It is the most natural and healthy thing a baby can consume, after all, breast milk has never been recalled. Most families begin introducing solids to babies at around 3 months. I didn't think that was necessary. Vivian was thriving and my goal was to exclusively breastfeed until she was 6 months. Well we did. And at 6 months she was ready for solid food. She was eyeballing our food, reaching for it, grunting for it. She new there were many flavors she had yet to discover and she was ready. Although we began solids, I continued to make breast milk her main meal, the solids merely supplement the milk. Well, of course she began to grow and her body craved more and she got more comfortable and confident with eating different foods and textures. I continued to breastfeed her. And I reached my goal. I made just over a year. I was very proud of myself. Of course there were obstacles along the way like mid-night comfort feedings and not being able to go out alone or on a date because she required me and only me to fill her tummy. Although it also made things easier. No warming bottles or carrying them around. If she was hungry or thirsty there I was, piece of cake. And of course the bonding and intimate moments of her holding my hand while she nursed, or humming, or falling asleep together. I'm 100% glad I did it and I will do it again. I will miss it but I am happy to move onto the next stage in raising a healthy baby.
I was a bit fearful of the weaning process, especially at night. Vivian has always woken up in the middle of the night for a comfort feeding. This is what I was most concerned with. We had to build up to that. For 2 days I didn't offer a feeding. If she asked for milk, I tried to give her a snack or water. If she refused then I let her nurse. I continued the mid-night feeding as normal. This went really well. Friday night came and we figured that was the perfect time to try no mid-night nursing since Derrick could go in and comfort her so she wasn't tugging at me. We weren't sure how long it would take and we didn't want Derrick to be up all night if he had to go to work the next day. Vivian went down at 7:00 pm as normal. Derrick put her to bed. Like clock work she was up at 3:00 am. Derrick went in and I waited nervously. Nervously because Derrick has a shorter threshold than I do when it comes to letting Vivian cry. 3:15am and it was quiet. Derrick came back to bed and that was it. What?! Are you kidding me?! Yep! That was it. She has been sleeping through the night since. And when I say through the night, I mean 11 hours without a peep. If I had known it was gong to be that easy I would have stopped doing mid-night feedings a long time ago. Oh, well. Nevertheless we did it. Vivian has been Momma's Milk free for nearly 2 weeks now. She did great and we did great. Way to go Team!
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