weaning blues

the hub sent me a random sms in mid august:

"shuwen is a momivore according to baby blues. because she drinks from mommy."

i've been searching for the comic strip and finally found it:-


source: http://www.babyblues.com/Testing/index.php?formname=getstrip&GoToDay=08/23/07

it got me a little emotional because wen's been weaned off quite recently, about 3 weeks back. but it wasn't quite as terrible as xian's experience.

xian was weaned off at 25 months. with my firstborn, we were literally forced apart and placed in separate bedrooms at night - i could hear her wails as i sobbed into my own pillow. it was a horrible heart-wrenching period for the both of us, and i was determined not to foolishly cave in to others' "well-meaning" advice with wen.

wen was about 24 months plus when i decided that she should slowly reduce her reliance on me to fall asleep. it was becoming very trying for me and, as usual, i was receiving plenty of opposition with regard to my decision to breastfeed wen till she self-weaned. that, plus certain circumstances regrettably forced me to arrive at the conclusion that wen had to stop breastfeeding.

it took 3 weeks, truckloads of tears and many sleepless nights for her to break the 'nan' habit. of course she still misses breastfeeding and would point at her automatic milk dispenser once in a while. i didn't stop abruptly but reduced the feeds to once every few days, then eventually she went a week without drinking from me. last saturday, she tried to latch on and cried when she realised that i'd stopped producing milk. my heart went out to the poor girl, and to be honest, i was a little torn up inside myself.

if given the choice, i'd have much preferred for wen to decide on her own when she's had enough of breastfeeding. it's just a pity that wen had to experience this trauma which i'd so badly wanted to save her from. for the uninitiated, breastfeeding is more than just providing the baby/child with milk. it's a special bond between mother and child that cannot be easily replaced.