Everything started off just as I planned with a baby girl that loved to breastfeed, and it was effortless. You can already imagine what I am going to say next, other than that...nothing was perfect. That sweet baby didn’t like to sleep as much as I wanted, our daytime schedule was a mess, and my body decided to not recover as well from having a baby.

Because everything wasn’t going perfect, I found comfort in breastfeeding. I loved that I could do something for my baby that I felt good at. It was like a big BandAid for my mama heart. If that baby girl woke up 8 times in one night, I nursed her that many times. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea, but it is what got me through.

I had decided that I wanted to start weaning her around 11 months, because I was no way, no how going to nurse her past her 1st birthday. I had given her a year, and I wasn’t going to do it for one second longer than that. Selfish? Maybe it sounds a little bit that way.

She didn’t pick up on the sippy cup like I thought she would, and I got frustrated. A month past her first birthday, and I was still nursing. This was not how I pictured things going. Two months past her first birthday, and I was somehow still nursing. By the third month, I relaxed. I thought, she can’t possibly want to nurse until she is twelve, right?!  As soon as I decided to let her decide when she was done, she quit overnight.

I wasted so much time trying all the tips and tricks to make her stop, and all it really took was letting her decide. I know the answer is not always to just relax, but I wish I would have tried that first...instead of last.

You can read more about my adventures at www.sellpartyof.com.