The whole weaning process- which I did not do well - really messed me up! I was just reading that if you stop abruptly - which I kind of did, your hormones go nuts and you experience depression. No wonder I have been a basket case lately! I think I stopped way too abruptly, and it made me a mad woman. I'm pretty sad still about the whole thing. I NEVER thought I'd get attached to the nursing but man, it is such a nice thing, and the way I stopped just didn't allow me to slowly get used to it. I guess I kept trying to feed Nick in the mornings, until he wouldn't do it anymore (right around his 11 months birthday). I was pumping but getting about 1 oz if that. So I just stopped pumping, and then the next day I was sore - I pumped out 4 ounces that afternoon and tried to pump again the next day and got nothing. So I just stopped pumping. Fast forward until today and I don't want to get an infection so I pumped and got less than 1 oz.
How did you wean?
PANCAKE SUNDAYToday I made pancakes using an edited recipe stemming from
here.PANCAKES FOR ME: I used:
- 1/2 cup spelt flour (use any flour)
- 1/2 t cinnamon
- 1 scoop aria protein powder
- 1 scoop amazing grass chocolate powder
- 1 t baking powder
- 1/2 c milk
Unfortunately for the first 2 batches, I used baking SODA instead of powder and they tasted like baking soda - inedible. For the third batch, I omited the soda/powder and went with a flax egg.
Batches 1 and 2- horrible
PANCAKES FOR NICKI made these for Nick:
1 cube zucchini (pureed)
I cube squash
1 cube apples
1 TBSP flax + 1/4 cup water - mix and sit 5 minutes and add
1/2 c spelt flour
1/4 to 1/2 cup milk (added last)
And the protein thing - totally onto something. Since I've been monitoring my protein intake, I have not wanting to bake and eat sweets 24/7.
Nick's were good, I broke them up into pieces and he liked them.
I love pancakes! :) mmm!! i hope you get your weaning thing figured out- sorry i'm no help!!
ReplyDeletei think its awesome that you dont wanna find out what your having until it! i love being surprised!
I've messed up baking soda and baking powder before. It is so annoying:) I am sure Nick loved the pancakes, how could you not. Morgan eats them up like there is no tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteYour pancakes are WAY more involved than mine. I use Bisquick :)
ReplyDeleteAbout the quitting nursing, are you engorged or sore still? If you are, cabbage leaves in your bra will help. Put one in and after a few hours it will be limp, replace it with another. It will really help. I'd stop pumping, but a little bit of expression by hand will help relieve any engorgement without keeping your milk production up.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the emotional part, don't beat yourself up. You're pregnant again and while it is possible to continue nursing while pregnant, it is physically challenging. Your body has been through a lot over the last two years - pregnancy, birth, nursing, marathon, pregnant again - cut yourself some slack. I weaned extremely slowly over the course of a few years and I still had huge emotional swings at the end. It's normal and will settle down in a few days, although the pregnancy hormones will also throw you for a loop.
Hang in there. You still did more than many women and you should be proud of yourself for what you did do.
MCM Mama
First, congratulations on #2! That's great!
ReplyDeleteSecond, I think all kinds of weaning causes hormonal craziness, abruptly or not. I weaned my son at 14 months old very gradually (cut down over 1-2 months to once per day and then once every other day. Even with that slow, gradual process, I was completely emotional and insane. I think weaning in general does wacky things to your body! My friends have had similar experiences.
Nick's pancakes sound delicious!! It's really interesting that the protein is staving off your sugar cravings!
ReplyDeletei quit cold turkey too, i had been down to just am and pm, no pumping. i didn't have any problems though and everything dried up and shrunk back to normal in a day or 2. way too easy!
ReplyDeleteI found out I was preggo with #2 the day after #1's 1st bday. I was only nursing 2-3 times a day. At my 1st ob apt (one week later, so 5wks) I was told I had one week to wean. She was not keen on pregnany and nursing. So I took her request seriously and pretty much quit cold turkey in 3 days. It was terribly painful, especially in the evening. I did frozen peas and tried to work out the engorged lumps. I too was hormonal but I thought that was more from a surprise pregnancy.
ReplyDeleteWhen I weaned #2 it wasn't painful at all. I last nursed him on his 1st bday. I had planned it and began dwindling it down. But in hindsight I think the combo of weaning and pregancy is what made it sooo uncomfortable with #1.
Good luck!
Maggie
I know in a year I am going to be coming back to reread these posts of yours when I am going through the same thing. I'm sorry it's been so rough on you. I hope it eases up soon.
ReplyDeleteI love your header pic byw.
I was just looking at some clean eating pancakes. Might try them next weekend. Love pancakes but never let myself eat them!
ReplyDeleteSadly, I have no advice on the weaning. It happened pretty easily for me and I didn't have any pain or engorgement. Hope you figure it out. And how are you still breastfeeding and pregnant. Goodness you've got a lot going on in your body. No wonder your hormones are going crazy.
ReplyDeleteI think I did it gradually over a couple weeks but I still had alot of engorgement and I thought I was going to die my boobs hurt so bad! The main thing to keep an eye is any red & hot spots on your breasts. If you get any of those it means you are getting mastitis and that is not good! I just got huge knots all over and a couple of nights they presure from laying on my side made a little milk express.
ReplyDeleteUse cold cloths. Many people use cabbage leaves to help dry up milk. You keep putting cabbage leaves on until they wilt and then put new cold ones on, etc. It did NOT work AT ALL for me....but I don't think I've been typical with BF anyway. I've heard many women say it made them dry up fast.
I experienced the mad/depression state too. I thought I was going crazy. I think that is why I hit my running burnout last fall that I just could not explain.
Hang in there!
I know what you mean about getting attached to nursing. I had a tough time with it in the beginning some days (I'm sure we all do). But in the end I think I was the one who didn't want it to end. But I didn't want it to continue forever so I just slowly weaned him down to the number of nursings per day. The only one he really wanted was the night one and sometimes the morning one. Once I said no more though, he didn't have any issues with it :-)
ReplyDeleteI think I need to try your pancakes on Jackson because he has started to act like a toddler when it comes to eating his veggies. Gotta get more in him. He was SUCH a good eater, too.
Wow! I haven't read your blog in a while. Congrats on pregnancy #2! How exciting! As far as the weaning goes, I had to do it rather quickly too, for health reasons and I was SO sore. I tried cabbage leaves and don't think they helped at all. Cold compresses helped, manually expressing a few times (be careful not to do too much because it will continue the milk production), and I was told by my doc to "bind" them with a tight sports bra. I thought it sounded quite archaic (like something my mom would have done ;-) but it seemed to help. Like someone else said, look for red or hot spots and let your doc know right away! It only lasted for a few days so hang in there! I can't wait to vicariously follow your pregnancy #2 :-)
ReplyDeleteAlso, do you still have your old blog about Nick? I used to read it and went to look at it the other day and couldn't find it? I haven't had much time to read blogs these days :-)
I was stupid and I just stopped one day! However, I was running out of milk anyway. The day that I stopped breasfeeding, was the last day for anything. It was painful at first, but it last for about 2 days. I would not recommend it :-)
ReplyDelete