Aiden has almost entirely given up breastfeeding, and I’m kind of sad about it. Since he started sleeping well, he became more of a ‘scheduled’ breastfeeder, only wanting to breastfeed at home, in his room, in his rocking chair in the morning, before his nap and before bed. Nowhere else. From time to time, he’d drop a feed or go on a nursing strike, but we’ve made it to nearly 2 years in our breastfeeding relationship.
On his own, Aiden decided he no longer wanted his pre-bed nursing session. That was probably about a year ago. He was far more interested in books! During crazy sleep times, he would still ask to nurse at night, but now he’s content just to cuddle if he’s having a really bad night and won’t settle.
A few months ago, I purposefully stopped offering to nurse Aiden before his nap. He wasn’t really drinking, just sucking, and so I couldn’t be bothered. He didn’t care. From then on, it was just a morning feed, and it’s been growing shorter for a long time now.
In the morning, it has been our routine for 2-3 months to bring Aiden to our room for a snuggle. He’ll nurse then look at some YouTube clips. Sure, it’s not as good as the morning book routine, but we read books all day, so we’re ok with it. Knowing the fun that’s coming, Aiden doesn’t nurse for long. These days, he’s effectively not nursing – just a few swallows of probably very little milk before he’s ‘all done’, but he still wants to be offered the chance to nurse.
I know he’s not really nursing anymore, but in a way he still is. And when he stops asking or I stop offering and he doesn’t notice… well, that part of our life is over. It’s kind of sad.