Almost Weaned

As I write this, Ethan has not nursed since yesterday afternoon. I know, I know-- a 17 month old should not be nursing, right? Well, it all depends. On the culture you live in, on the amount of time you have with your child, on what you are comfortable with.

When I first started nursing, I set a goal of 6 months. I thought, I can do 6 months of anything. That came and went. Then I said 1 year. That came and went. Then it started to be an issue of -- will he ever wean? Will Ethan pull on my shirt in public and demand to be nursed? How does this work?

Well, it has all happened very naturally. At one year, I stopped nursing Ethan in the morning when he woke up. I only offered to nurse in the rocking chair in his room before he napped or went to bed. We were down to 2x a day. This kept it very private. No pulling on my shirt in public, but still sweet sleeping time.

Last night, Ethan decided he didn't want to nurse to sleep. He refused. But, he wanted to be rocked like normal. So I did, and he fell asleep. I know he can fall asleep on his own, but he rarely wants to give up nursing when given the option. So, today at nap time I didn't offer to nurse and he just laid down in my arms and I rocked him to sleep. No nursing.

As of last night, Jason was a little skeptical... but after this afternoon there may be a pattern.

I have really enjoyed nursing Ethan. It was super hard at first and now is so sweet. I'm glad that he still wants to fall asleep in my arms. The good part is, in the future, maybe Jason can put Ethan to sleep. It's such a sweet thing to see a little boy who runs around all day calm down and snore in your arms. That's how I found  the 2 freckles on his face that he has.

Good bye nursing. It was fun.

1 month

6 months

12 months

17 months