considering stopping bf sooner than planned

[Anne Rogers]

when I had Nathanael, I was absolutely going to breastfeed for a year, as it
turned out, we didn't quite manage exclusive bfing, but he only received
supplementation for a couple of months. Towards the end of the year I
decided that weaning at a year would be unnatural and brutal and ended up
letting him self wean, though with a few interventions that made it faster
than it might otherwise have been and he ended up weaning at 17months.

So with Ada I was planning the same again, self weaning, but expecting that
those interventions wouldn't happen (nursery, pregnancy), so it would likely
be much longer before she weaned and I was happy about that.

Problem is with my hips and pelvis the way they are, I feel my body is
screaming at me to get back to normal hormones, I'm wondering if reducing
feeds to 1 or 2 per day might be enough, so I'm thinking of pumping like mad
for a while, buying a deep freeze and then teaching her to use a sippy cup
and giving her milk direct from me morning and evening (she currently sleeps
through) and milk from a cup through the day, so that I would still give her
exclusively breastmilk for a year, but make my body think she is older and
that it's not in mad milk producing mode.

I've no idea if this would work, but I'm just trying to get ideas, I am
really really struggling with the laxity of my pelvis, last week it wobbled
and chucked me down the stairs, there is so much I cannot do and most of the
time I am in a lot of pain and I am really struggling to look after
Nathanael in particular

Anne

[[email protected]]

Anne Rogers > writes:

: Problem is with my hips and pelvis the way they are, I feel my body is
: screaming at me to get back to normal hormones, I'm wondering if reducing
: feeds to 1 or 2 per day might be enough, so I'm thinking of pumping like mad
: for a while, buying a deep freeze and then teaching her to use a sippy cup
: and giving her milk direct from me morning and evening (she currently sleeps
: through) and milk from a cup through the day, so that I would still give her
: exclusively breastmilk for a year, but make my body think she is older and
: that it's not in mad milk producing mode.

OK. Don't expect it to help. It could be (very likely) that your hip
problems are totally unrelated to the breastmilk hormones, and that
weaning will not improve things.

Just a thought,
Larry

[KC]

Anne,

I am not sure that will work for you because I always suffer with the
loose ligaments during and after pg, but they always harden back up for
me within 3 or 4 months after the pg even with me bf.

KC

[Anne Rogers]

> I am not sure that will work for you because I always suffer with the
> loose ligaments during and after pg, but they always harden back up for
> me within 3 or 4 months after the pg even with me bf.

oh well, it has been mentioned to me by more than one person that it might
help, both people who seem to know about breastfeeding, I've just got my
letter through to make an appointment with a rheumatologist, so I'll wait
and see what they say, I may still start pumping, in case it would help!

Anne

[Anne Rogers]

btw, Ada is now 5 months and exclusively breastfed (not even calpol!) I
wonder if there is any chance of an improval when she starts solids

Anne

[KC]

Anne Rogers wrote:
> btw, Ada is now 5 months and exclusively breastfed (not even calpol!) I
> wonder if there is any chance of an improval when she starts solids
>
> Anne

Have you seen a chiropractor? I have heard they can really help with
the pubic pain.

KC

[Anne Rogers]

> Have you seen a chiropractor? I have heard they can really help with
> the pubic pain.

yes, I did, but as I'm not out alignment in that area, though he is helpful
in easing slight misalignments in my back he's theraputic, but not a cure,
we don't really know what is going on in that area, but it is all in line!

Anne

[Linz]

Anne Rogers wrote:
>> I am not sure that will work for you because I always suffer with the
>> loose ligaments during and after pg, but they always harden back up
>> for me within 3 or 4 months after the pg even with me bf.
>
> oh well, it has been mentioned to me by more than one person that it
> might help, both people who seem to know about breastfeeding, I've
> just got my letter through to make an appointment with a
> rheumatologist, so I'll wait and see what they say, I may still start
> pumping, in case it would help!

Surely the problems are caused by the relaxin produced when you were
pregnant? I don't think there's any more produced after the birth, but it
takes a few months for the relaxin to get the pelvis loose so it's going to
take a few months for the ligaments to strengthen again after.

[[email protected]]

Breastfeeding tends to be advantageous to a mother's body "getting back
to normal" and tends to keep hormone levels quite low, IIRC. Laxity in
the pelvis is about relaxin and the underlying condition--I would be
startled if your bf had any negative effect on it.

My milk does NOT store for long. It tastes okay for a month or two and
then goes seriously "off" even in a deep chest freezer. My whole stash
is soapy now, 4-6 months after it was pumped. I absolutely would NOT
count on being able to freeze milk long-term to last the whole rest of
the year.

So you have to know that you may be mandating formula supplementation
if you do wean, even if you pump a ton.

HOWEVER... if increasing your pumping doesn't mess with your hips...
you might well decide that stopping breastfeeding probably won't help,
either.

I know it's hard when you're in pain and you want SOMETHING to fix
it....

Jenrose

[Anne Rogers]

>
> My milk does NOT store for long. It tastes okay for a month or two and
> then goes seriously "off" even in a deep chest freezer. My whole stash
> is soapy now, 4-6 months after it was pumped. I absolutely would NOT
> count on being able to freeze milk long-term to last the whole rest of
> the year.

we gave Ada 4 month old milk last week with no problem
>
> So you have to know that you may be mandating formula supplementation
> if you do wean, even if you pump a ton.
>
> HOWEVER... if increasing your pumping doesn't mess with your hips...
> you might well decide that stopping breastfeeding probably won't help,
> either.

I'm not actually going to do this now, after having read people responses
>
> I know it's hard when you're in pain and you want SOMETHING to fix
> it....
>
fortnately I now have my rheumatology appointment in 3.5 weeks rather than
after Christmas as expected, so we might get some help then, I think I need
to try and do some research on the whole hormone thing. The weather has just
turned really cold this week and my pain has peaked, I hope it is a
temporary thing.

Anne