On Weaning and Mastitis

Weaning Jenna has been on my mind for a little while now....it was right around this age of 17 months when I weaned both my boys. I haven't been in too much of a hurry to wean Jenna. Partly because I'm aware of all the great physical and emotional benefits of breastfeeding. And partly because she may very well be my last baby.

But then I got mastitis last weekend and weaning suddenly sounded like a great idea! I had gone out for an evening with my sister and missed nursing Jenna to sleep. By the next afternoon I had the first signs of mastitis. It was also likely caused by what the internet refers to as "maternal fatigue". Due to middle of the night feeding and early wakeups for exercise, I had been averaging 4-5 hours of sleep per night. Being overly tired makes you more vulnerable to infection.This was the worst case of mastitis I've been hit with so far. I had the fever, fatigue, chills and obvious breast pain. But the rest of my body also ached really badly. It got so bad that just hearing my kids yelling would send shivers of pain through my body. At one point I broke down crying because I just felt so crummy and unfortunately when you're a Mom, you can never really be "off".

Thankfully a course of antibiotics have done wonders to make me feel like myself again. But then a few days ago Jenna got pretty sick. Congestion, cough, fever and vomiting. For a couple days all she wanted to do was be held and be nursed. And I was reminded of what a good thing breastfeeding can be. For Jenna, it was exactly what she needed to feel comfortable.

So I'm still planning on weaning sometime in the near future, but I wouldn't say I'm in a huge rush. Before I begin the process, I will likely talk to my doctor to see what I can do to prevent mastitis. I do NOT want to go through that again!