I had a brainstorm idea yesterday on how to make some progress weaning Kate. While there's a part of me that has no issue with continuing, the sad fact is that if we want to get scheduled for our next IVF cycle, I need to wean. In most ways I feel the time has come. It's only going to get harder as she gets older, and I have no intention of nursing a 3 yr old. But I will miss the sweet moments. The eye-gazing, the special smiles. The way her dimples show when something makes her laugh. How she likes me to hold her foot. When she stops for a second to say, "I love Mama!"
If I refuse her when she asks to nurse, it's as though I've abandoned her. Sobbing, curling up in a little ball and crying. It's heartbreaking.
Then yesterday it occurred to me: chocolate milk. If I could offer her something similar that she loves, perhaps that could distract her from nursing. Little did I know that this exact approach was used in Desperate Housewives, which I've never seen!
I tried it today and so far it is working. Not a cold-turkey weaning or anything, but for now to keep her down to 3x/day and then work down from there in the next couple months.
I don't know what else to do. There is virtually no guidance for weaning a child this age. It seems most resources assume that if you nurse past age 1, you are planning to nurse until high school. We really want to have another child, and with me turning 35 this year my ticking clock just got undeniably louder.
However, successful ABC comedies aside, I feel like a questionable mother for doing this. I've struggled with my weight since college. Kids today consume waaaay too much sugar. Childhood obesity is an epidemic. Am I risking her health to assuage my own guilt?
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