Weaning During Pregnancy
Stephanie Chacon
Rochester NY USA
From NEW BEGINNINGS, Vol. 17 No. 4, July-August 2000, pg. 125
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I had my first child at age
35 despite the fact that I had decided years earlier in genetics class
to have all my children before 30. But my husband and I didn't have
our first date until my 30th birthday. What could I do?
My menstrual cycle resumed
when my daughter was around 20 months old, and I was anxious to complete
my desired two-child family. The problem was that my daughter was still
nursing frequently and seemed to need it very much.
I had friends in La Leche
League who had or were nursing while pregnant and there were even tales
of tandem nursing. It seemed as if I could do it and besides, does a
20-month-old really need to nurse? I became pregnant quickly and to
my surprise found that I couldn't tolerate nursing any more. It hurt,
but it wasn't only that. It had become annoying, like fingernails on
a chalk board. My daughter was not ready to wean and we went through
a very difficult time. Even though I know I was at the end of my tolerance
at the time, I still regret her early weaning and wonder if some of
her difficult behaviors might not have been so persistent if she had
been able to nurse longer.
I think that if I had to
do it over I would tell myself that the child that I already had was
more important than ideas about desired child spacing or age limitations.
I couldn't know ahead of time how I would respond to nursing while pregnant
or how my child would respond to weaning. I will always wonder whether
things would have worked out more smoothly if we had waited a few more
months to attempt a pregnancy. The years of nursing pass by very quickly.
My second child weaned himself at around two-and-a-half years. It was
a joy to watch him do it himself.
Last updated 11/16/06 by jlm.
Page last edited Sun Oct 14 09:29:52 UTC 2007.
