Weening

For the last month, I've been trying to ween Brooke in preparation for our trip to Whistler in early March (4th to be exact!). This will be the first trip that Gregor and I have taken where I haven't been pregnant! Crazy, I know!! I was even pregnant on our honeymoon. So this is a big trip for us. My mom and Mikie are going to come and watch the kids. It will be my first night away from Brooke (and only my second trip away from Larkin).... it's going to be so weird to be kid-less! Anyhow, I'm trying to ween Brooke and we have been doing really well. We went from 5-6 nursing sessions during the day to only one in about a week. Excellent. I'm trying the don't offer, don't refuse method. This was all going well, until one day Brooke woke up one day and suddenly realized that she wasn't nursing anymore and really just got pissed about it! Now, she's waking up at night and only wanting to nurse. I'm talking full on frenzy for the boob... screaming and thrashing about until I finally cave and nurse her. I've pretty much lost all my milk now though, so not only is it a little uncomfortable to nurse her, she gets frustrated that there is no milk there. She's even extended this to meal times. She won't sit in her highchair for breakfast, lunch or dinner unless she nurses a little first. I can nurse her for literally two minutes and then she will sit and eat her food. This is obviously not for the milk, I think it's just an emotional connection. I don't know. It's really a little weird. The doctor did tell me she was a stubborn one... so maybe she's just voicing her opinion in the only way she knows how. We only have 2 weeks left though, so I'm hoping we can get it together. I think she is going to be fine without me here though. She really only seems to think about it when I'm here. The other thing is that I can't get her to drink milk. I've tried whole milk, chocolate milk, vanilla milk, very vanilla soy milk... she wants nothing to do with it. Water! That's all she wants. I'm sure we will work it out eventually. Hudson never drank milk (and still doesn't) and Larkin will only do the chocolate or vanilla. My kids are such funky eaters.

Anyhow, back to the weening. So I am trying to phase out these nightly battles. I decided that the best way to do this was to have Gregor wake up and comfort her so that she wouldn't be obsessed with nursing. Great idea right. Well, last night was his first night "on duty". He grumbled a little when I told him the plan, but he went with it. As luck would have it, Brooke slept through the night... that's right, he didn't have to wake up at all! He claims that he had a little talk with her before bedtime. I guess it worked. Now why didn't I think of doing that?

Deep down, I think Brooke senses that I'm just as sad as she is to give up nursing. I love it, I really do. I love the connection. I love how healthy it is for them, and how they are instantly soothed. Weening her feels like losing my baby (my last) to toddler-hood. It's time though, I know it is.