Bittersweet

I always knew I wanted to breastfeed even before I got pregnant. Working with new moms and babies really prepared me for nursing. I knew that teaching breastfeeding and helping mom's nurse was one thing but actually doing it yourself was another. Luckily Wade came out ready to eat. He was wonderful at nursing and it was the easiest part of becoming a mom for me. I always said before I got pregnant I would want to breastfeed for 6 months. After having Wade and realizing how easy it was I quickly changed my mind. After that I decided not to set an "age" when I would stop but I knew I would not go past one. I am all about breastfeeding but I am not into nursing a toddler, I think it is great when people do nurse for a year or more but once they are walking it just changes for me. So.... I worked really hard on getting my supply up and I tried to even pump once a day as well for the first few months to get a freezer full. Well it worked and we were so blessed that Wade never had a formula bottle until he was 11 months old. It used to drive my mom crazy when we lived with them because they had no room in their freezer. Around 10 months I started mixing half breast milk with half formula so he would get used to it. At 10 months I went to nursing him only twice a day and at 11 months I went to once a day. When the stomach bug hit our house Wade did not want to eat and I did not have the energy to pump in the morning so I decided it may be a good time to go ahead and stop nursing. I got a little sad just because I felt like my baby is growing up and I never had that "last time" of feeding him. I fed him Monday morning but did not know that would be our last feeding because we all started getting sick Monday after that. To be honest.... I do not really miss it. I knew the time was coming soon because I just felt ready to stop. Wade has not even acted like he has cared one bit. I really believe that it helped so much slowly dropping one feeding at a time. Now if we can just find a formula that works for him. I took him to the doctor today because he is not drinking the soy based formula at all and has lost weight so he gave us another type that is lactose free and now wants us to go ahead and try that and start introducing whole milk!!!! So this weekend we are going to give it to him for the first time and hopefully he will like it better than I do. (I hate milk) I am so thankful to have had that special bond with him for so long. It was also nice that we only had to buy two cans of formula since he was born. Breastfeeding is so good for babies but it is also a great way to save a little money!