WEANING YOUR BABY
Making the decision to wean your baby or child is such a personal and individual choice. I always encourage Mums to go with their gut instinct and wait until they are fully ready to embark on the weaning journey.
Lets face it, breastfeeding can be the most incredible, intimate and connecting experience of all time - not to mention nurturing the bond that we have developed with our child, the nutritional benefits, the immune enhancing properties and the low price! It really is quite phenomenal how we are the sole providers of nutrients for our children until 4-6 months and the rapid growth that it provides our bubs during those early months.
It can also bring up so much of our own stuff as mothers; our fears, our insecurities and can remind us of our own bond with our mothers and how that played out in our journeys. I share these insights because I feel as conscious mothers we need to be aware of what is coming up for us during this process, becoming aware, taking responsibility for it and therefore freeing it from the experience of weaning.
All that said it does have to come to an end one day. When is completely your choice - but I felt when weaning my second child I was more open to the gifts that could be on the other side of the door for both of us, rather than tuned into the fear and trauma that it would be when weaning my first born.
I feel the journey of motherhood is a journey of opening and connection at birth with a continuous supply of letting go, letting go of who we once were, what our relationship was previous to children, what our bodies looked like, where our priorities are, and letting go of our children and letting them be who they are in the world.
Once we birth our children into the world, cocoon with them in the those early months, breathe in their beautiful smell and hold them close, it then becomes a journey of allowing them to stretch their wings and explore the world and assert their authority and give their individual gifts to the world with a strong inner feeling of safety and security. I feel my role as a mother is allowing them to BE in the world as WHOLE little people, with a strong bond to me but a freedom from me also. Providing a strong foundation on which they can return to at any minute but that they can also LEAP off at any time and feel safe.
After playing with the idea of weaning my second child, and processing the associated fears for me, I worked through my stuff and decided it was time, this took quite a few months, and I slowly reduced the feeds that were easier to drop and the feeds he was less attached to until we had only one feed left.
To my surprise it all of sudden felt right, I sat with my second born and explained that there were no more ‘milky’s’. He knew straight away what I meant and turned away from me and we both cried for a while. Whilst I acknowledged his feelings and how sad it felt for both of us, I reminded him how powerful he was as a whole being, we shed some more tears for what was and then he went to bed with no mention of it again.
It was that moment when it felt like a piece of me that Jude had been holding was returned to me, and piece I had been holding of him returned back to him. We both felt whole again.
He felt different the next day; more independent, free and very quickly we worked out other ways we could connect. I felt him thank me for giving that part of him back, so he could fly forward as he needed to, one more step closer to full independence as a being in this world. It wasn’t long before we developed other ways of tuning into that feeling of connection we felt with breastfeeding; either through, hugs, books, kisses - I received more affection than I had before. It felt like a WIN WIN.
My first born’s process wasn’t like this at all, it was more demanding and a power-play but I feel this was our dynamic and my level of consciousness. Just being open to the gifts and being inquisitive about what you may learn about yourself and about your little being in the world.
If you feel like you’re ready but could use some more guidance I would be honoured to support you in this process. There is plenty of beautiful naturopathic support for you and your bub whilst you go through this process.
Some naturopathic techniques that can support you are:
· Herbal teas or tinctures and homoeopathic medicines to regulate supply and support lymphatic drainage so help prevent against mastitis or congestion during the weaning process
· Supporting your bub to receive the optimal nutrition from food in replacement of the breastmilk
· We can support with a structure and plan for going back to work and reduction and cessation of particular feeds
· Formula advice
· Homoeopathics to support bub if they are struggling with the weaning process
I look forward to supporting you and bub through this intimate process. To book a consultation click here
Main image Image by fancycrave1 from Pixabay