2 years in {boobs and pumping}

Work has been busy as my coworkers last day is tomorrow... :-(  But I'm working on getting out a few posts that have been sitting in my drafts folder. 

Tomorrow will be 2 weeks since I last pumped. As far as a regularly scheduled thing... I'm done with that. For the first time in two years, I get to wear a normal bra to work.... and that is pretty amazing!! I'll still pump if I have to stay late for work and miss a nursing session, I have about 6 bags of milk in the freezer too, but I don't pump during the day anymore. Its crazy to say that after 21 months of pumping!

So 2 years in, and here's where we standing. TL:DR version - Still nursing, and still fine with that!

But, ready to start working towards a VERY gentle encouragement of weaning. I mentioned I'm going to Vegas in October with some of my girlfriends to celebrate one of their 30th birthdays, and I really don't want to pack a pump for that. Its 8 months away and that feels like a lifetime from now, but amazingly soon all at the same time. Looking back at the times that it was so hard (HERE, HERE, and HERE), I never would have pictured us where we are now. Over two years in, and so easy. We'll see what ends up happening, because I really do want this to be a very gentle process, and I really do want it to be a joint decision and not something that I take away from her. She still loves it so so much!

My first step was dropping that pump. So no more sippy cup of milk at daycare. My supply should naturally drop a smidgen from that, and we'll just see where we go from here. I have a kids book about weaning saved in my favorites, and in a few months we'll start talking about it more.

We ended up being pretty lucky with the night weaning. There were a few times that I said I was going to do it, but something always came up. It ended up working out well though, since she naturally outgrew the night time feedings, and slept longer and longer between wakes. Once she was mostly just sleeping through it was easy enough to talk to her about the fact that milkie was tired, that we would say night-night to milkie at bedtime, and that she could have more milkie in the morning. One night of tears, two or three more nights of asking about it but no crying, and we were done. Even when sick now, she doesn't ask for it at night.

I'm hoping that with some patience and little changes day weaning can be the same natural, easy process. Anyone else gently wean an extended nurser?