My dear amazing daughter,
We said goodbye to a certain aspect of our relationship this weekend; I’ve ended breastfeeding you. If it was up to you, you would still be nursing, and that makes me sad that I’ve done this. I think that you really find comfort in nursing and I’m sorry that you won’t find that comfort anymore.
I’ll miss that easy way of consoling you and helping you get back to sleep. I’ll miss that way of snuggling with you. I’ll miss the idea of nursing because you are the last baby that I will share in that connection.
As you have seemed to from the beginning, you knew what you wanted, and never let me sway you. You communicate with me when you are ready. And I can tell that you feel something is off.
It is the right thing to do, right now, for many reasons. I don’t hold guilt about stopping nursing because you’ve been breastfeeding for 16 months. You took to it right away, refusing formula or even breastmilk in a bottle. And luckily our life was arranged in a way that it was never forced.
But for this moment, this stage, I’ll miss my little nibbler. We’ll still cuddle and there will still be nights that you wake up and I’ll pull you into bed to snuggle you back asleep. I look forward to seeing the new things we’ll share and the new ways we’ll connect.
I love you, little angel.
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Reblogged this on Change is Never Ending.
So beautiful!
Thank you so much. It’s the first time that I’ve really just opened my heart and left my emotions out. I appreciate that you liked it.
People don’t often realize that weaning is a loss – or at least a sea change – for a mom. By the time you nursed for 16 months, that was literally thousands of times! When I weaned my last daughter, I really wanted to be ready to be done forever. Fortunately by that time I had built up a good network of friends who understood what it meant that i would Never Nurse Again. I still dream that I am nursing sometimes. I imagine I always will!
So proud of you for breastfeeding for 16 months, giving your daughter the best of the best; the gift that only you could have given her; your time, your energy, your love, your commitment, oh, and yes, the liquid gold! You will treasure the time you spent with her always.
Thank you, Patty. I do so treasure all of that time and immunities I shared with her. I always found nursing to be a calm and restful oasis (except when her top teeth came in – wooweee!).
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