Yesterday, Lydia refused her bedtime feed. Very determinedly – she bit both nipples when offered them, and was very upset until it was apparent that I wasn’t going to going to ask her to feed anymore.
This morning, a repeat of the performance occurred; purposely biting and then horribly upset until my Mum took her away. As soon as she saw she wasn’t going to be asked to breastfeed, she was her happy little self. She was then sat on their bed with them eating Mum’s croissant, and I could hear her happily squealing away. Such a huge contrast to her five minutes earlier, when she was inconsolable, scratching me and throwing herself around so much I thought she would hurt herself.
Lydia will drink cows milk with no problem, and has long been a master of sippy cups.
A few weeks ago I thought that she was beginning to self wean; her requests for feeds were becoming less frequent and she was dropping feeds often. Then she got ill, and she wanted to feed again. Maybe now she is finally almost entirely better she has decided that’s enough?
The comfort aspect of it is unnecessary to her again, and she just wants food. Real food. She has always loved food, and never really loved breastfeeding, so I wasn’t at all surprised when she was showing very strong signs of self-weaning a few weeks ago.
I have always said that I will feed my girls until they want to stop. With Georgie that was 15 months. Lydia has always been a month or two ahead than Georgie was at the same age (Lydia is the baby that looked 6 weeks old after a few days), and so it wouldn’t surprise me if this was her saying she was done.
The question is, do I continue to offer her the breast and just upset her a lot, on the off chance that this is just a strike and it will end… or do I say “ok, we’re done” and move her entirely onto a diet of solids & cows milk?
One of the deciding factors may be the current whereabouts of my breast pump – in the storage container! If she continues to refuse to feed then I’ve no way to keep my supply level up until the point where she might possibly be interested in feeding again.
I guess we’ll just have to see what happens over the next few days!
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