AND SO IT ENDS

Cora is weaned.

It was her idea, and the timing was good.

That doesn't make me any less sad about it though.

It started the weekend before last, on Friday night. She nursed for maybe 2 minutes, then pushed away and cried, until I figured out that she wanted a sippy cup of coconut milk. Then she was happy. And I cried as though my heart was breaking (silently, since I was holding her with her sippy cup, and I didn't want to upset her). I didn't want it to be over, just like that. I wasn't ready. But the next morning, she nursed well. I was relieved. That night, she nursed a little, after I offered. Then, Sunday morning she didn't nurse at all. So again, I thought it was over. Then she nursed that night. And as the week went on, she played the game of off-and-on nursing, both morning and night. Half the time she nursed, I'd had to offer her "milkies" in order to get her started. Which made me feel like I was doing it more for me at that point than for her...

This past weekend, I had (mostly) come to terms with the fact that our nursing relationship was ending, so I decided to implement the "gentle weaning" strategy to help us along. What that means is, instead of offering her "milkies" (first thing in the morning and at bedtime), I waited for her to ask for it (her way of asking was to grab my shirt and lean in, sometimes saying "mine", and sometimes just smiling or squealing with anticipation). This is termed the "don't ask, don't refuse" method. Well, she didn't ask. Not even once. So, Friday night, October 7th, marks our last nursing session, and as of today, I consider Cora to be completely weaned (since we survived the long weekend as well as the return to our weekday schedules).

She is a big girl now, in so many ways. She may be small, and look younger than she is, but she is growing so fast. She is learning new words and skills daily, making new connections and understandings, and becoming an even more opinionated and busy little girl. Honestly, other than her bedtime paci use, the only thing left that is truly "babyish" about her now is her diapers. It's not easy to watch your baby grow up, but I sure am proud of her.

And I'm not shy to say it, I'm proud of myself too. I nursed my Baby Doll for almost 16 months. She breastfed exclusively until she was 6-months-old (with plenty of cluster feedings and sleepless nights throughout), ate through the night until she was 11-months-old, maintained a full-time schedule until she was 13.5-months-old, then kept on nursing three times per day (morning, naptime, and bedtime) until she was almost 15-months-old, and finally dropped to twice per day for the past month. I have loved nursing her, and I will miss doing so immensely. Thank you, my sweet girl, for giving me these amazing memories!

(I have many, many more photos of Cora nursing. Mostly from her younger days. But since I didn't worry about covering up while at home, they aren't really appropriate for the mixed audience of this blog. I don't have any from the past couple of months, unfortunately, since her nursing sessions were confined to times of darkness, when I didn't have a camera nearby. Ladies, if you are a breastfeeding mama, I highly recommend taking photos of your baby nursing. You will treasure them above and beyond many of the other photos that make their way into the baby album, I promise you.)