Weaning

With Cael possibly starting to drink whole cow's milk (wcm) in about a month, I've been thinking about the weaning process of breastfeeding. Of course, as I've probably stated before, I would like to breastfeed for 18 months. And I'm fully aware that after a year old, breast milk isn't a sole source of nutrition anymore, so therefore, the baby won't be nursing every 2-3 hours. I've heard that around 18 months, they may nurse maybe 2-3 times during the day, and I'm fine with that (obviously). Up until maybe a few weeks ago (and I hadn't noticed until now, really), Cael was still nursing every 2-3 hours during the day. Slowly, he's been going longer between nursing sessions, probably because he's eating more solids during the day. Currently, he's nursing maybe every 4-5 hours during the day. Therefore, he has dropped a nursing session. This may be the start of the weaning process. And surprisingly, I'm ok with that. That is, as long as he's not fully weaned before 18 months. However, I also think that the decrease in nursing may bring on my first period. I know when nursing lessens, it can make your period come.

In other breast news, thanks to Cael, I have some sort of breast pain/issue/infection going on. He bit my left nipple about a week ago. Initially, besides the pain, nothing was really wrong. He didn't break the skin or anything, and after the shock of the bite wore off, the pain went away. However, a few days after "the bite", I started getting sore. It would only hurt when he latched on, and then it started hurting during the latch, and during the nursing session. And then 2 days ago, my nipple would throb even when I wasn't nursing. I noticed there was a tiny break in the skin that was oozing some pus and bleeding. I called the doctor yesterday, and they said to call today to get an immediate appointment, but I didn't. I think it's starting to feel a little better. I'm just nursing through the pain. I'll take a wait and see approach, and hope that it doesn't develop into an abscess.