To wean or not to wean? That is the question....

One thing I am extremely proud of is that Amar'e has been breastfed since the day she arrived. I did not plan on this during my pregnancy, so I guess she made the decision for me. Breastfeeding was something I only considered, but never really was dead set on. About 30 minutes after Amar'e arrived, I gave breastfeeding a shot. My first initial thought was "this seems so easy", but about halfway through that day, as she is trying to get my milk to come in, she did some damage to my nipples. This was a huge problem because she wanted to feed every two hour and I would dread it every time I heard that "hunger" cry. This was not a great start to my breastfeeding experience. The lactation consultant at the hospital was not overly helpful with the problem we were having. The day we were being discharged was the day I finally asked to use a breast pump. What a relief that pump was. I was able to pump enough to get us home, and through the first hour or two once we got there. I bought a small pump that I used to get through the weekend and then on Monday Amare's godmother came by with a much more effective pump. I ended up using the pump exclusively for the next 10 days or so. At this point, I was not going to give up! I guess to me, giving up at that point would have made me a failure. After about 10 days of exclusively pumping, and upon advice from Amare's godmother, I put Amar'e back to the breast. Super tender at first, but standable. Seventeen months later, she hasn't had one drop of formula. I am soooo very proud of this. I even went back to work when she was about 3 months old, and Andrew would bring her in to nurse about mid morning everyday for 6 months.

Now she's nursing more times daily then she did when she was first born, and many more times daily when she is teething. She would nurse all day, constantly, if I would let her. This leaves me tied up with her wanting to nurse, and the problem is I am kind of getting to the point where I think I should start to wean her, but I am torn about it. I am not bothered by anything else about nursing a toddler, other than the fact she wants to nurse constantly. This is incredibly taxing most days. One of the people I follow, via blog, still nurses her three-year-old while 20 some odd weeks pregnant with her second child. I think of her every time I want to start to wean, and I am instantly motivated to keep on with nursing. To be honest, some days I am ready to throw in the towel and some days I want to nurse her for another year or so, and let her wean herself. Only time will tell........