I’ve been breastfeeding Sara for a year and a month now and it’s been a roller coaster journey. Don’t get me wrong, I love breastfeeding, it’s an amazing way to bond with my daughter. Plus, despite how it may look like, breastfeeding is actually a very convenient tool to feed and comfort baby especially while out and about. No bottles to carry or sterilize. Just pop your shirt up. LOL.

However, I can see that this journey is going to end soon. This past few days I’ve seriously considered to wean her off completely. I feel like it has become a burden for me and I feel like I need my ‘body’ back. I’ve resented breastfeeding her so many times which I feel guilty about and I know that is not healthy. On contrary, I still feed reluctant because I know for a fact that breastmilk is the best nutrition, especially her main source of digestible DHA.

Still, I can’t afford to have moments where I’m resenting breastfeeding.

Let me tell you. Sara is a reverse cycle baby. Which means, while I’m away at work, she will drink very very little milk, just enough to stop feeling hungry and then she would wait for me. It gets worse in the evening where she’ll refuse milk because she knows I’ll be home soon. At the moment, she’s already drinking formula and infant’s goats milk while I’m at work, only because she started rejecting EBM.

Now, what happens is, she will nurse nurse nurse at night (and sometimes all night long) and it seriously tires me. Since I’ve stopped pumping during the day my supply has been established for night feeding only. So, weekend becomes very challenging as my supply is not enough. Yet, Sara being persistent and even determined, she’ll still refuse bottle (or drink very little) and rather nurse for a damn long time until she’s full.

I’ve had enough and I’m determined to wean her off.

I know that with Sara, the only way is to go cold turkey. I went to the pharmacy and asked for Dostinex. It’s a lactation suppressant drug. Unfortunately it takes 2 days for the milk to dry up and I can’t breastfeed while on the medicine.

BUMMER.

How the hell am I supposed to not breastfeed her when I know she’s gonna scream her lungs out asking for it?

At that time, I didn’t care. Figure out the details later. I was so desperate to get my freedom back so I bought them. RM56 for two,(read:  TWO) tiny tablets. It better work.

So, I went home that day, I nursed her as usual, and once I know she’s full, I tried rocking her to sleep without nursing. She cried. On and off. For 30minutes. The last 10 minutes she was so tired of crying she turned to look at me. She looked at me in the eyes with an expression I had never seen before. It was an empty stare. I looked back at her and wondered, have I betrayed the trust we’ve built for her whole lifetime?

I couldn’t.

I burst into tears as I told her how much I love her, how sorry I am for being selfish.

We then sang her favourite bedtime song, and I nursed her to sleep. She dozed off in a couple of minutes.

Perhaps I can still try to wean her off some other time. I’ve heard of the lemon and neem oil trick. I still can’t find neem oil yet, so I’ll try the lemon trick this weekend. Ideally, I just want to wean off her daytime feeds until she’s two years old.

But looking at the situation, I know that with her, it’s either all or  nothing. I still haven’t decided whether to wean her off completely. I guess I’ll just casually try and see how it works out.

I’m sorry Sara, this is not the end. It is only the start of our special relationship, okay?