How I successfully weaned my toddler during COVID
Tags: Weaning, Motherhood, Toddlers, Breastfeeding, Baby

Me with Pari, 2 weeks after weaning

They say that mother’s milk has benefits until the child turns two. Being founder of a chain of early learning and childcare centres, I have come across enough research to believe in the above statement. Hence I made the conscious choice of pure breastfeeding for Pari without even pumping despite all hassles and elders’ advice to introduce the bottle.

However, at the same time, I am an entrepreneur managing a full time business with all other hassles of managing the household. So I cut some slack (typical -na tera na mera) and decided to pull it off till 18 months instead of 2 years. And BAM came the COVID lockdown!

As most mothers would know, babies feed the most on holidays, with the cow available full time for a sip now and a sip then. So instead of weaning, I ended up feeding her more than ever before!

I was losing weight and sleep over past 2 years (my lowest was two months back at 46kg). Also 2 years of breastfeeding without regular exercise and proper sleep was impacting my wellbeing in general. To be frank, I was getting frustrated beyond measure.

I tried sleeping separately for few days, and my husband spent nights carrying a howling Pari who would search the entire house looking for me at night. I (and he) couldn’t take it anymore after a point. I also tried applying bitter gourd juice on my nipples at some point which my toddler happily wiped off, only to continue suckling normally.

So finally, a week after she turned 2, I ended up trying a very jugaad technique of using bandaids! Two friends of mine had pulled it off and although I was pretty disapproving of the idea, but I had reached at a point where anything seemed fine if the child was not tortured. I guess all others who succumb to random ideas sometimes also face such situations, I will remember to be less judgemental next time.

I told my daughter that from tomorrow, mumma’s milkees are going to hurt :D. This was needed to prime her a bit, priming works wonders with kids. Next day morning, before she woke up I applied 3 bandaids on each boob completely covering the nipples from view. When Pari came to feed, I flashed the boobs and told her — “They hurrrt!” (I made an aching sound…ooiieee..). She watched curiously and got angry soon but after some cribbing, moved on to something else. Wow! That wasn’t half as bad! She came to me for milk many times during the day and would point at them and say.. “ooiieee ooiieee”. Then came night and she started waking up every few hours asking for milk. I repeated the same sequence. Poor thing would come to me and turn away her face, knowing that mummy was hurt. But she was crankier at night so me and hubby had to carry her around few times, offered water and regular cow milk which she rejected at first. But it was not as bad as the time when I wasn’t sleeping beside her. I realized that my presence soothed he even if there was no milk. She would sleep off after 10 to 15 minutes of soothing.

The child essentially seeks security and that comes with mother’s presence. I started spending more time with her than earlier, reading stories, playing with her and becoming a toddler with her. I also bought her a new steel sipper bottle and a coloured glass which were more exciting to drink from. Her diet gradually improved and she even started having more regular milk. Little did I know that my little one would be so considerate of her mother being hurt and would find alternatives!

The extra time with Pari also helped me cope with my own sadness at losing the breastfeeding experience which I cherished so much. Those were times of bonding and caressing with my baby which would never come again. Honestly, there were times when I was on the verge of giving her the breast during this period but with determination (and with husband’s determination), I did not succumb. What needs to be done, needs to be done — every mother understands that — be it pregnancy, delivery, weaning or marrying off the daughter!

Once Pari crossed 96 hours without breastfeed, we breathed success. And thereby, I can boast of 100% pure breastfeeding for dot two years after which I was rescued by ..err..bandaids.