Mama in the City

I did it! I went away with girlfriends for 4 days and left the kids behind and we all survived. This is the first time I've been away from Josie overnight besides going to a night shift. Naturally I was curious how my absence would effect our current breastfeeding relationship. At 19 months old Josie nurses about once a day, always in the morning just as we wake up. Sometimes there is an extra feed in there if she is truly thirsty or in need of some extra comfort. I love how nursing in the morning buys me an extra 10 minutes of lounging in bed and I love our quiet cuddles together. With my shift work schedule she has gone 2 days without nursing but never more than that. So, I was curious how things would work with me nursing her on Thursday and not again until late Monday when I got back.

Reports from my husband was that she was just fine and seemed happy and content while we were apart. Of course, as soon as I walked through the door and said hello she was already to get back to our routine and honestly so was I. It was like we had never skipped a beat and our nursing relationship picked right back up. I am so happy that we have made it this far with breastfeeding and I am thinking we will actually make it to full term breastfeeding, which is 24 months old.

There were a few things that helped me out with putting our nursing team on hold while I had an extra long weekend out of town. I had been nursing Josie before bed and the week before my lovely husband took over her night time routine. Little Jo did great with cuddles from daddy instead of nursing with me. While I was away I also did a bit of hand expression to keep me comfortable and also to keep the message going to my brain that this mama is not weaning. I did get an extra full decolletage by the last day away and my underwire bra stopped being comfortable.

Now we are right back to our lovely nursing relationship and it feels great that I was able to go off and have it pick back up so easily. It also reinforces that this toddler is not ready to wean just yet. If she was heading towards wanting to stop breastfeeding, the time apart would have solidified that.

More to come on my adventures away in Portland! I can't wait to share some highlights with all of you!