It is the end of an era, or so it feels. From the very beginning, Elijah and I have had an incredible breast feeding relationship. He latched right on just 30 minutes or so after my unplanned c-section and nursed like a champ several times throughout that evening. He never once had trouble with his latch, even with an upper lip tie we would later (much later) discover. I fell in love with nursing right away quickly became an advocate for breast feeding. The most precious moments and memories I have with Elijah are those spent feeding him at the breast, and after weaning, bottle feeding him my lovingly pumped milk.
As anyone who follows our blog knows, Elijah was conceived through IVF. I knew the moment I saw this precious little baby boy that I was not done having babies. I wanted my children to be close in age for several reasons. One was that I wanted them to grow up together. I have two brothers that are 8 and 17 years apart from me and I spent the ages 5 until about 8 wishing I had siblings, each of us feeling like an only child at some point in our lives. I want a big family, and since we started having babies later in life, that didn't leave a lot of time for age gaps either. Knowing that breast feeding is one of the most important decisions you can make for your baby, and also knowing that I wanted Elijah to have breast milk beyond the one year, if we did IVF when I hoped to, I wanted to make sure I had a great supply so that I could pump and freeze milk for his use after he weaned. Breast milk stays good in a deep freeze for about six to eight months, so for the first six months of Elijah's life, I happily and lovingly pumped and donated our "extra" milk to babies in need. It was an amazing and empowering experience and I am SO for milk sharing!
Once we made it to October, I started stockpiling our deep freeze with our milk. I eventually had about 2000+ ounces in there. In early 2013, Chip and I began to discuss to reality of more children and beginning the IVF process all over again. By the end of April, (also Elijah's birthday) our plans were in full swing. Elijah was weaned, which was actually a very easy process for us, and he was enjoying the wares of my labors (pumped milk) every day! Would I have weaned him when I did if we weren't pursuing other children? Nope. In fact, I would likely still be nursing him for a while longer. Do I think he was ready? Absolutely. Even though I would like to still be nursing him, Elijah has hit his milestones so early and is very interested in all things "big boy" including the way he eats, walks up the stairs etc. And I feel good about the nourishment he received and the length of time he received it.
So since April, Elijah has had pumped milk every day. (with the exception our recent week in California which also happened to be the first plane trip where Elijah was not nursed in flight. I really missed nursing then!) Last night, I fed Elijah the last of the breast milk. It is so ironic that I am out of breast milk and as we speak, my body is busy preparing to make enough for at least two babies (hoping for an awesome supply again!). I keep thinking, if my milk would come in early, I could give him more! Heeehee. But I accept that this particular journey with Elijah has come to a close and I have a healthy, happy and beautiful almost 16 month old boy to thank for it!
Here are some of my favorite photos from our breastfeeding/Mama's milk journey!
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| Elijah's first latch. He was born by unplanned c-section at 7:22pm, never left our side and was having his first meal before 8:00pm. |
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| I fell in love with nursing right away. |
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| Later in our hospital room, the journey quickly continued. |
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| There was nothing more incredible than nourishing that little body |
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| At two months old, Elijah took his first plane ride to San Francisco to watch Mama make a commercial. He ate happily on the set between shots. |
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| Excuse the ample bosom here but I love this shot. He would often fold his hands when nursing and it was the most precious thing I had ever seen. One of my favorite memories. |
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| I loved when Elijah would fall asleep at the breast. |
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| Participating in the The Latch On in August of 2012! Can't wait to do this next year with two babies! |
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| Our first breast feeding photo shoot taken by my BFF, Heather. I just love these pictures. |
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| Was he ever this little??? |
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| We went on vacation to Ocean City, New Jersey and Elijah enjoyed many lunches by the sea |
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| Successfully nursing while in the Ergo on our daily walk! We did this a lot once we figured out how! |
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| A couple months before we weaned, I wanted to get one more photo shoot. Love these shots by Rebecca Ware! |
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| Oh how I miss this. |
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| The last of Mama's milk |
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| The last time Elijah gets Mama's milk. |
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| The finish of a beautiful journey......... |
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