My Funny and Courageous Journey to Completely Wean my Child

After three failed attempts, now I successfully wean Gaby on her 25th months.  

My journey to completely wean Gaby was hard and kinda funny. I always hear the “when are you going to stop breastfeeding, is it when your child goes to kindergarten and you two needs to get home for nursing time?” statement.  Most of the time it was pressure that attempted me to wean Gaby. Most mother thinks that when your child reaches 1 year, your nursing obligation stops there. For me this does not applies to every nursing mother. In fact it needs two people to get ready for another stage because it’s a mother and baby relationship that you cannot easily break.

 My first attempt was when I put lipstick on my nipple. Some mommies advised me to do that because it works on them, that was my first try.

They say babies don’t like seeing their “didi” with different color.  Second try was the bitter herb called “green leaves” I don’t know what they call it in other places. This herb is part of our traditional weaning process. It always plays a role in abruptly weaning our babies. Babies will refuse to be nursed because of its bitter taste (kinda harsh).  But it did not work on us, which I know from the start since Gaby eats ampalaya (bitter gourd).

The third one is the process of gradually weaning my child but I find it hard. I lost track especially to a child who weans herself.  When you targeted to lessen the duration of weaning, but you can’t because she doesn't want to and you feel guilty when you see that lovely face wrinkles and ready to cry if you don’t put back your nipple in her mouth or if you don’t allow her to. It seems like the tug-of-war game. You hold both of your breasts while she’s trying to grab your hand and get a free access of your nipple. You will laugh at this scenario, but it’s true.

But what is funnier is what makes her completely stop. I put scotch tapes on my nipples (thank God, someone invented this thing) LOL! I never thought scotch tapes are as helpful as this particularly weaning. When her nursing time comes, I told her that her “didi” have no more milk and it needs rest. She intently listened to me, but I can clearly see the sadness in her face.  Then I showed her my breast with abrasives covering on them. I told her to just kiss it instead to make me feel better. And she does, until now. .. even without scotch tapes.

The reason I took the courage of weaning my child is not her age. It’s because it’s really painful on my part after minutes of sucking my nipples and I feel like its vacuuming, aside from the fact that I need to regain my weight.

Whatever reasons we have for weaning our child, Its best that we got caring help from our family members, it helps a lot to both mother and child.