Self-weaned, finally?

Adj. 1. weaned – freed of dependence on something especially (for mammals) mother’s milk. Source: weaned

I’ve always wanted Ayex to have a self-directed weaning from breastfeeding. Yes, I’ve been feeding her with my own milk for 3 years now. And although my parents and in-laws are already telling me to train her to wean ( because she’s becoming hard-headed and impatient as they say), I did not because secretly, I don’t want our special bonding to be over.

But like other breastfeeding-working moms out there, I too get tired. Specially now that I am 4 months pregnant with our second child, my body goes through a lot of changes again, and sometimes, breastfeeding can be really tiresome.

One time, as I was getting diaper supplies, my friend/supplier told me a story how her eldest child just gave up feeding from the bottle. Her child is 4-5yo. She told the teacher to tell her kid that she should no longer drink her milk from the bottle because she’ll get tooth decay. Instead, she should start drinking her milk from the glass. From this, I got an idea of telling Ayex’s teacher about her still breastfeeding. Ayex stopped feeding from the bottle after she turned two and drinks her occasional milk from the glass when I’m at work. At night she feeds from me.

Hubby told me over chat yesterday that he was able to ask Teacher Jade to tell Ayex that she should stop getting milk from me. Instead, she can drink milk from the glass. After dinner, hubby asked Ayex what did Teacher Jade told her about drinking her milk. My little girl narrated to me what her teacher told her. We told her that if she asks for mommy’s milk, we’ll tell her teacher the next day that she still breastfeed to which responded with constant No.

I had my usual short tv-time and I waited for her to ask for milk. She did not. At bedtime, she said Mommy, dede. I reminded her what we’ll say to her teacher the next day and offered that I’ll just pat her back to put her to sleep. She agreed. After a few minutes, she’s already fast asleep. She woke up twice in the middle of the night to pee. After peeing, she goes to back to sleep without asking for milk.

Yes, I did not breastfeed her the whole day and the whole night yesterday until this morning. And although I don’t want to jinx this, I hope that she is really ready to finally wean. Not because I want our special bonding to be over but I really need a rest. I know I will be breastfeeding again once our little one comes out in June 2010. What a bitter-sweet reality of motherhood!