We try to do a post around once a month to update you on our personal breastfeeding journeys. We want to share our struggles, we want to share our successes and every part of our amazing journeys. This month’s update is kind of bittersweet for me.
Baby Addy and I have made it 11 months and two weeks exclusively breastfeeding. This is the farthest I’ve ever made it exclusively. At about 11 months, one week we had to start transitioning LA to regular milk because I was pregnant with Addy and my milk supply kept dropping and dropping. He self-weaned completely on this first birthday. I am thrilled to have made it this far and the fact that we are STILL going gives me so much joy.
The bitter part? I can tell Addy is slowing down. I think this scares me because it makes me think the end is near although I asked recently on Facebook and it seems a lot of mamas’s babies slowed down around this time. Maybe I am just being a worry wart. That’s common. lol Addy is only drinking about 2 or 3 – 4 ounce bottles during days that I work. I’ve cut my pumping from three times to two at work because of this. Our freezer supply also seems to be going faster these days. It doesn’t help that I got 12 ounces out of the freezer Sunday night to prepare for Monday and ended up not working Monday and had to throw TWELVE ounces of liquid gold away. I could have cried. On top of that, when I was pumping today at work, I spilled a bottle and lost another two ounces. Serious tears. I am considering picking up that third pumping session again temporarily just to make up for some of the milk lost recently. I *think* we still have around 60 ounces in the freezer though so I am confident we’ll make it to twelve months…my goal though is 14 months and hoping for beyond 14 months.
The other day Addy some how latched wrong and the few times we unlatched and latched again I kept feeling her teeth and it was VERY painful. It, of course, was during bed time and she wasn’t trying to do anything but go to sleep so I didn’t want to disturb her too much but now I am left with a sore side. 
Thank God she’s not latched like that again since.
Addy has been nursing more at night than anything else. Maybe she’s afraid she’ll miss something during the day? The past few nights she’s been waking every 2-3 hours to nurse. It’s been exhausting but I am trying to enjoy the time with her. Maybe it’s a growth spurt? She’s not slept through the night consistently yet. Maybe only 2-3 times since she’s been born! Although this is the longest I’ve exclusively nursed one of my babies, this is also the longest we’ve gone without sleeping through the night.
The next thing going on in our nursing journey actually involves LA believe it or not. For some reason he’s been wanting to pretend like he’s nursing too. When he sees Addy nursing he asks what she’s doing. I explain she’s drinking mama’s milk and he then tells me he wants to drink. He likes to lay in my arms and pretend he’s drinking milk next to my chest. I’m not sure why in the past few weeks he’s started this since I’ve been nursing Addy in front of him since she was born.
Be sure to check out Courtney’s updates at Joy of Momma Joyner! If you are a blogger, please link up below and share your journey. If you’d like, you can get the InLinkz code. If you aren’t a blogger please feel free to comment and tell us about your concerns and joys!
Love reading these updates- congrats on making it this far, that’s awesome! I unfortunately had to pump exclusively, so I understand all too well how much it sucks to spill (or accidentally waste) your milk! I feel for you. Keep up the great work- you’re an inspiration.
Wow you have made it so far with breastfeeding! That’s wonderful!