I meant to but never reported exactly when we realized the pacifier had faded away. I think it was around eight months or soon thereafter because I know he wasn’t taking it during that second round of sleep (re)training.
It just sort of happened. For a long time, we always had a pacifier for him. His natural rubber one on the wooden-beaded keeper was my favorite Ergo accessory. We were buying pacifiers, losing pacifiers, finding small herds of them huddled in corners behind the crib, under the couches, losing them again.
And then it was over.
Many people had suggested I start Jonah on formula before one year (so I could get some MUCH needed sleep) and I bought and returned several cans during that time. I never had the sense that my supply was all that great and pumping was always a problem (I drank SO FREAKING MUCH fennel/fenugreek tea!) and I feared that formula would lessen my supply.
And then he turned one.
I was surpised that although my child has been practically a nursing olympian in frequency and duration, I wasn’t necessarily ready to wean. I reset my mental expectation for two years.
But I did start giving him formula. Why? A) Just. Can’t. Pump. Anymore. B) Seemed like a natural adjunct to solid food. C) I finally decided my concerns about my milk supply were real. This kid, so hungry from the get-go, needed more milk. D) My boops are tired.
He took to formula, and later milk, very quickly. He also started sleeping better — which may be due to the iron supplementation in formula according to some.
At first, I was still nursing at least six times a day or more. Hardly a decrease.
And then some freelance jobs started rolling in. Clients needing me to work onsite. I started trying to be more conscious of his nursing times. Without my doing much, over the last two weeks he was reducing his feeding session, down to about three periods per day (waking up, around naptime, bedtime). Still, if I was around, some days he’d nurse more often than that.
He’s still nursing for a fair amount of time in the morning when he wakes up, and nursing himself to sleep at night most of the time. But otherwise, he’s saying “Boop,” or “Nurse” and then not staying on for long at all. Practically a suck or two and then he’s off again, playing, doing something else. Like he was just checking to make sure he COULD have it if he WANTED to. Plus he’s having bottles in the morning and at night just after and just before, further indicating that nursing is more for comfort than food these days.
I’d been warned that introducing formula was a slippery slope.
My hormones and milk supply are decreasing. I am sad. And relieved. And aware that it’s not over till it’s over. I think we’ll be keeping the wake-up and bedtime sessions for a while yet. He could Bring Nursing Back in response to a round of teething I’m guessing. It’s just that he seems to be wrapping things up. Ready to move on. Places to go, people to see, stuffed animals to rub noses with. You know.
I feel like I’m leaving it up to him, but it also feels like a collaboration. Dare I say we might both be ready?
Stay tuned…
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