Boobs and babies

Today is a big day. One to be marked on the calendar.

A monumental something occurred in this home. The milk factory has shut down! Not following? Baby boy stopped breastfeeding today, two weeks shy of his 18th month birthday. He is now a big boy who goes to sleep without needing some assistance. Wow. He's all grown up. Husband is waiting for me to break down crying about how much I'll miss breastfeeding. I also expected to feel a little emotional. Nope, that's a lie, I expected to be incredibly emotional. But I'm ok actually. It was time.

Although the breastfeeding journey started easily with no issues at all, I did experience a few hiccups along the way. I've never had a milk supply challenge, so for that I'm grateful. I did however soldier on the last 8 months using one boob. Yep, I was that girl with lopsided breasts for 8 whole months! The things we do for our kids. Sometime during month 9 and ten, baby boy started biting me real hard till the one breast became so haggard I refused to let him nurse on it. The pain was unbearable, and I have a very very low tolerance to pain. For a few days I tried to wean him off but that didn't work because a) making a bottle is just too much work and b) I'm sensitive to smell and the smell of  formula reminds me of a milkshake that was often given to us at Moreivin Primarie Skool - that's a Primary school in Hout Bay where I attended the first 2yrs of my schooling and the spelling is probably wrong - I didn't study there long enough to properly learn the spelling of the school name. And I should also add c) we were about to travel 24+ hours on a flight and breastfeeding was my go to response whenever baby felt uncomfortable on a flight. 

And so we fast forward to today. The first day since his birth that I have not breastfed baby boy. He's handling it better than expected. I was afraid he might throw on some shoes and take to the streets protesting against mothers who wean their babies before the age of two. But he didn't. Instead, he cried for 15mins before going to sleep during nap time. I gave him a sippy cup with water for comfort and it worked. Then he cried for about three minutes at bedtime, the sippy cup trick worked again. He is now asleep and will hopefully not wake up during the night howling at the ceiling mourning the shutdown of the milk factory. We had a good run now it's time for mama to throw away the padded bras and return to her even-barely-there boobies.

A lot of boob talk in the post huh. 

Oh well. 

Cheerio.