As I look down at my content and relaxed breastfeeding baby, I think, “I can’t wait to cut this off early!” My baby is currently nine months old and my plan is to stop breastfeeding by the time he turns a year old.
Breastfeeding is a magical experience. For those of us who are able to nurse our babies from birth, it is a fulfilling part of motherhood. Not to mention an answer to many problems.
The baby fell and bumped his head? Breastfeed. Baby teething? Breastfeed. Is the baby sick? Just throw a boob in his mouth. Not only will it sooth him but the mother’s milk is so magical, it will fight the infections in his body.
While scientists say that the most benefits a baby receives from its mothers’ milk is within the first six months, doctors encourage you to go as far as you can. Most stretch it to the first year of life, and others find that the first 24 months are beneficial for the mother-infant bond. The rare cases breastfeed their kids for longer than that.
While the mother’s milk is filled with nutrients and is magical enough to ‘warm up’ or ‘cool’ the baby, depending on the external temperatures, it is also lighter than cow’s milk or formula. The milk itself is quickly digestible, hence an exclusively breastfed baby is likely to be hungrier than a baby who takes formula, for instance.
When the paediatrician recommended introducing solids at four months, I was stoked! I could fill my baby’s tummy with food and use breastfeeding for sleeping and settling the baby.
Boy was I wrong. If anything, my baby is more attached to breastfeeding now than ever before. He will feed more frequently and for longer. The nights are the worst. I sleep at odd angles while dream-feeding, often waking up with neck pains and soreness. As he is bigger now, knowing and understanding some things. He knows that the breast is right underneath my shirt. As such, he is at that mischievous age of reaching into my shirt whenever he feels like a feed.
Because of
his high demand, my chest is now two times the size it was when I gave birth as
my mammary glands are struggling to keep up with the high demand. Breastfeeding
is amazing. Breastfeeding is magical. But breastfeeding is also exhausting. The
baby might be suckling on yummy, nutritious milk, but sometimes for struggling
mums, it can feel like life is being sucked out of you.
Between daytime tantrums and increased night feedings, I am exhausted and unashamedly waiting for the day I cease to breastfeed my child.
