April 4, 2012 5:41 pm

End of an Era

I’m going to go ahead and declare that Wesley and I are done breastfeeding. He was on the “every two weeks” plan for quite some time – two months, maybe – and it pleased me that we might be able to hit my goal of breastfeeding for two years. I don’t know if we “officially” hit that goal – he still asks to nurse but clearly has no idea what to do once he gets there so he hasn’t actually had milk in quite some time – but to me it feels like we did, so I’m going to say that we did.

I feel like I’m in a weird place right now though, being a breastfeeding advocate who is not currently breastfeeding. Intellectually, I know it is totally possible to live in this space, but it feels weird to me nonetheless. I think my next steps are going to be researching how to improve Idaho’s breastfeeding laws! That way, even though I am not currently nursing a baby, I can still help out and support other mothers who are or who plan to.

I’m sad about a few things; namely, that I have no photos of us breastfeeding. NOTE TO PARENTS: take photos of this! Your wife/girlfriend/partner may not ever want to see them, but some of us would be really happy if we had them.

Also, you know how everybody says “nobody gets a gold medal for breastfeeding?” Sometimes I think that’s sad, because gold medals are awesome. So I made myself one.

(I used this tutorial. Mostly.)

Now that we’re done nursing, I took the opportunity to invest in some state-of-the-art non-nursing bras, and I am so very, very excited for them to come in the mail.

File Under: , ,

Tagged: No tags

8 Comments

  • Brianna says:

    I am so proud of you. Really. Two years is incredible! How do you feel? Are you sad at all? I got a little sad the other day just thinking about not nursing anymore. I would be so happy to make it to the one year mark (two more months!) but maybe we’ll try for two as well!

  • Meggan says:

    Thank you!

    I was more sad before we were done, I think. It’s been SUCH a slow, gradual, natural, and child-led process that it made the actual transition pretty smooth. The imagined transition (envisioning your aging baby not needing you anymore) was worse, for sure.

    And good grief, there is no way she is that old already. Man. The first year goes so quickly. I think if you want to go for two years, you totally should! I have no idea how we’d ever take him on a plane now, or how I’ll soothe him after his vaccinations. Nursing did that for me! I’m terrified to try to navigate those situations without it.

  • BreAnna says:

    Congratulations!! That is a huge accomplishment! I’m really proud of you for making it two years and for becoming such a great breastfeeding advocate. I look forward to the day when I can come to you for advice. :) Also I love that you created a gold medal. You deserve it!

  • the grumbles says:

    Congratulations, that is amazing. I’ll admit, I was a little bit sad we didn’t make it all the way to the two-year cutoff. YOU ARE A ROCK STAR. I love hearing about the gradual end, it was the same way for us and just suddenly it wasn’t… an issue… Simple as that.

    I lost a lot of my interest in being a hardcore breastfeeding advocate after I finished, but I think that was more to do with ME than because of weaning. (Not that I’m *not* a breastfeeding advocate, I still am, but when I stopped doing it 30 times a day it kind of faded into the background. :/ )

    YOU ARE AMAZING. ^^ PARTY FOR YOU!

  • Amanda says:

    This is something to be proud of. The amount of time shouldn’t matter, as much pressure as there is to not breastfeed in our society, there is also pressure to breastfeed as long as possible. If Wesley is happy, than that should be your benchmark, not society. Enjoy your gold medal, and good luck in your advocacy :D

  • Melissa says:

    Congrats, Meggan! Two years is definitely something to be proud of!

    Here’s to your next stage in life together! …and those new bras! hehe.

  • Gretchen says:

    !!!! ^^ !!!!

  • Jem says:

    You are a freakin’ star. :)

    Isabel started asking again a few months after stopping, but just kinda kisses my boob then says ‘all done’. It tore me up for a while because I wasn’t ready for her weaning anyway, but now it’s just cute/amusing. Not sure how this’ll play out when #2 arrives…