Oh, my TEETH!

My sister's Pediatrician has this posted in their office: At Treehouse Pediatrics, breastfeeding is always preferred. However, alternative feeding methods need to be employed in certain cases. We believe that the most important choice you can make is to "feed your baby".

She's been having some real hard problems nursing her newborn. They are solving those problems, but some of it includes formula. I like her Pediatrician's attitude. Of course it's better to FEED the baby, rather than make him/her starve all in the name of breast milk.

Now, I'm not going to delve into the over-analyzed and often heated discussions about breast feeding. To be frank (which is sometimes my weakness), I'm sick and tired of hearing how the breast feeding mom is a saint and the bottle feeding mom is not. It's stupid. Ignorant, stupid and just plain mean. Of course, I really like articles like THIS --places where moms feel safe. But anyway, I digress (as usual). I'm here to announce that #4 is on his way to weaning.

He got a tooth.

He's been biting me --no, no...wait. He's been gumming me for a good 3 weeks now. I noticed on Thursday/Friday that it was getting sharper. It didn't occur to me to check for a tooth until Saturday. Lo and behold! That shiny little thing (bottom left) is razor sharp. And he WON'T STOP BITING ME.

Now, he is my fourth child. I have breastfed ALL of them. #1 was weaned at 8 months because I wanted to go on vacation with my husband. Selfish? Yes. Was it worth it? Yes. #2 was weaned at 8 months because she got her first tooth at 4 months. And just like her baby brother, she bit me ALL the time. Was it selfish? Yes. Was it worth it? Yes. #3 was weaned at 10 months because he also thought biting me was funny. Was it selfish? This time, no. He was only down to one nursing a day anyway. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

So, of course, with #4, I figured I'd nurse until a year or beyond. But it ain't happenin' people, so just put that LLL on hold. I AM DONE. Brandon agrees with me that it must be time. Of course, he could just be saying that because I'm in tears every time I nurse the kid. I've tried methods I used with other biting children (i.e. Take him off, yelp in pain to scare the kid, etc.) and he just doesn't care. He looks up at me with those beautiful eyes and just grins at me, like I was a huge teething ring. ~sigh~ [Luckily, the biting only happens during the day. The early 4 or 5AM feeding is still blissful, so we'll keep that one as long as possible. But in order to save my breasts, we're gonna have to cut it off during the day.]

Am I sad? Yes. Is it selfish? Yes. Will it be worth it? My breasts tell me yes. And you don't say no to the breasts!