let's wean!

i knew my latest mommy challenge (weaning) would be a pain...literally. everyone knows that i've been a milk-producing maniac since gabe's birth. earlier this year i donated 1,000 ounces of milk to the milk bank. shortly after our las vegas trip in the spring, i managed to eliminate the middle-of-the-night pumping. it took a lot of patience...1st night = pump till empty; 2nd night = pump 1/2 ounce less; 3rd night = another 1/2 ounce less, etc. etc. until i managed to not pump at all. i think it took approx. 2 weeks for me to work through this process. note: even though i was sleeping through the night, i would wake up in the a.m. fully engorged and leaking all over the bed. it was not pretty :(


before the alaska trip, gabe was feeding 4x a day (breakfast, lunch, dinner, bedtime) and during the trip i cut him down to 3x a day (breakfast, mid-afternoon, bedtime). this past week i've eliminated the mid-afternoon feeding and around dinnertime i would pump-to-comfort, which turned out to be 2 ounces, then 1.5, and then 1. yesterday was my first day without pumping, and i was a mess. after a 10 hour stretch my right boob was super-engorged, and i was leaking through the bamboo nursing pads and onto my clothes. (in my earlier months, even the disposable pads couldn't withstand my milk supply!)

i really don't want to pump at work (or have leakage) so i have to muddle through this uncomfortable phase. my goal for the next week is to build to a 12 hour stretch so i can nurse before i go to work, pump (only if i'm bursting) when i get home from work, and nurse again at bedtime. but before i start work, i'm going to start gabe on cows milk...hopefully he'll take to it quickly, so i can do a complete wean in the next month or so.

wish us luck!