Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Confession Time

At almost 8 months, Ethan is still breast-fed. I planned to nurse him until he was 6 months old. He takes a bottle of breast milk from me very well. He'll drink a 2 oz. bottle of ready-made formula on his own b/c he can hold the bottle by himself. A couple of times a week, I'll make a small bottle of formula in his little bottle that has handles so he can hold it by himself, so he can get used to the taste of formula, but he doesn't finish it. But worse, I don't stick with it. I don't want Ethan to cry, I know he's comforted by having me to cuddle with. I know it's because I lost Sara I'm spoiling my son. I always give in to him.

Don't get me wrong, I know all the benefits of breast-feeding, but I'd like to return to work in a few months, I can't still be nursing then. I want to be able to leave him with family, friends, a sitter and know that he will eat well. A couple of weeks ago, he spent the night with my parents. He ate the baby food and drank breast milk that I sent along, but not the formula. Part of me is frustrated - why didn't I introduce formula at an earlier age? The other part of me says it'll be OK, enjoy this time with him.

Care to share any stories of weaning your babies?

2 comments:

Monica H said...

"it'll be OK, enjoy this time with him."

He's not starving and you're still able to breast feed, so why not. I don't see any harm done. If anything, he's better off. If you really need to wean him off, start by lessing the breast feeding sessions. You still have a few months to figure it out.

Sorry to breast feeding/weaning stories to share.

Hennifer said...

Obviously this post is a few months old but you could try mixing the breast milk and formula together if you are worried about your inability to produce enough milk.

The main thing is that he is amendable to the bottle so it will work out.

You can't possibly spoil him at this age IMO

I hope you've had fun with it all so far.