Self-Indulgent Weaning Post + Pictures
Lately I've been thinking about how in the heck to wean the kid. I have been planning to wean at about 12 months (and now have a more solid full weaning deadline of early August b/c of a conference trip). Breastfeeding just isn't that awesome to me. I'd really like to be done with it. Eli seems to have this weird relationship with it. When he's actually eating, he spends the entire time flailing around hitting me, and if there's the slightest distraction (e.g., Joshie walks by the open door of the room where I'm nursing), Eli whips his head around to see what's going on (this has been the case since he was about 4-5 months). If the boob were that great, would every tiny little thing be that distracting? But then whenever I or anyone else has tried, he won't take a cup of booby milk (and hasn't ever really enjoyed a bottle). And sometimes he seems like he wants to be on the boob forever b/c he LURVES it.
As for cups, we've tried four different kinds. I can't say he seems to prefer one over another really. He just doesn't drink a lot of anything. The other day he drank about 4 ounces of water (in the entire day) and that was a fricking miracle. So then I feel like if I tried to substitute a cup at a feeding, that would be even less fluid entering his body (b/c he wouldn't take the cup) and if I kept doing that over time, he'd die of dehydration. What do you think?
And for those of you who don't care...
Eli is now CRAWLING and pulling himself up on everything. I think it makes him a happier baby to be able to get around on his own better (see above for a good happy baby moment). This new-found independence is scary, exhausting, and yet fun. He is so into pulling himself up that the second he gets in his crib for a nap, he's standing up. Then I put him down, and he stands right back up. And repeat. And repeat. And eventually let him cry. I still feel mostly bad about that, but, then again, if I had a kid who never napped, I think that we would have serious problems.
Here is evidence of him pulling himself up on stuff...
And again...
Here he is reading one of my rejection letters...
Look! He has actually been out of our house:
And here he is...CRAWLING while carrying toys with him!
And, already climbing stairs...he has made it up those 2 steps totally on his own...yikes!
And for those of you wondering about his relationship with Mary Hatch...still the same (and, no, that isn't a spatial perception trick like what the used in LOTR to make the hobbits look smaller. They are sitting right across from each other. He is just that big.) He'll learn eventually...
posted by Careyoke @ 3:25 PM
3 Comments:
Yay for Eli on the move! Ari, too, won't let go of toys while crawling, or while pulling up to standing for that matter. It seems a bit treacherous to me, but he figures it out somehow.
I have no advice for weaning other than maybe to try other kinds of milk (or even diluted juice) in the bottle/cup. I've heard that some kids won't take breastmilk any other way, but will happily drink other stuff from cups and bottles.
Does this mean you'll be solo at ASA?
Aldo is exactly the same way with the breastfeeding. It is extremely annoying. Also, now he bites. Hard. I am soooo ready for weaning. I don't think it will be too hard for us because he loves to drink water from a sippy cup (if someone holds it for him - he hasn't mastered doing it himself yet). We are going to start introducing whole cows milk this month. The big challenge for us will be the bedtime and morning nurse. I suspect I'll continue breastfeeding him at those times for a very long time.
How did you get Eli to start crawling and pulling himself up? Aldo is still unable to do those things and I am getting really anxious about it. Did he just start doing it one day? At his one year appointment we are going to see about getting an assessment for him and maybe starting physical therapy if he is still not developing his gross motor skills. His day care teachers say he's really advanced in other areas, but he can't even pull himself to sitting. He gets incredibly frustrated when he can't move himself to the things he wants. Any suggestions on what worked for Eli?
Yep, I plan to be solo at ASA. Are you going?
As for how we got Eli moving...no idea. Sorry that is completely not helpful to you. He got on this incredible kick about pulling himself up on me/Josh. And then he started kind of slithering around on his belly occasionally - when there was something he REALLY wanted, but mostly he was just too lazy/not bothered enough to move. And then all of a sudden he was crawling. One thing though...he didn't start going from lying to sitting until AFTER he started crawling. It seems those skills kind of go together.
Sorry about Aldo. We were almost gonna take Eli to a PT. Actually, I had put a phone call in to the DE state office about it and only finally got a call back from them about a couple days after he started slithering/pulling himself up to stand. Our ped said, there probably isn't anything wrong, but it's better to catch something early on. It'll be easier for him to deal with. So go with your gut.
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