Let the Transition Begin...

Yesterday I started giving Matthew cow milk, starting the transition to NO MORE BREASTFEEDING!!  If you didn't catch the excitement in that, let me say I'm ready!!  I'm giving him cow milk at lunch so he's just getting breastmilk when he wakes up and at bedtime. Next week we'll replace one of those and then by his birthday we'll hopefully be completely supporting the dairy farmers with all cow milk.

I knew I might have some guilt over this but I wasn't sure it would have started yesterday at the beginning. I found myself saying "If I replace a breastmilk feeding do I need to give it to him at another time?"  Then I respond with...Self, don't be ridiculous. This is how it is supposed to be."  I think it boils down to wanting to make sure he gets all the nutrients and necessary nutrition. But babies weren't intended to be breastfed forever so we've got a new perspective today and we're going head on to fully transitioning soon.

This has truly been something that I NEVER thought I would do for a whole year. I feel accomplished that I stuck with something for that long, I guess I had the right motivation. In the beginning I never thought I'd get past 2 weeks, but as David, Matthew and I worked to figure out the best way to do it we found a system that worked and just stuck with it. I think that was the trick was finding what worked for us and not caring what La Leche or others had to say about it. I found so much freedom once we figured that out.

I thought this time would never come but here it is...and my little man is getting so big. Matthew, it's been a joy to provide this for you. It's been tough sometimes but you have grown into the little "almost one year old" you should be. Thank you for being patient with your mommy and for being the motivation that gets me through so many days and moments that I wanted to give up on breastfeeding. You are worth it.