One of my biggest parenting challenges has been easing the wee ones off the nipples; whether it was my own, the bottle’s or the binky’s. When the big girl was 13.5 months old, I successfully got her off my boobs. Since she wasn’t bottle fed, the next step was to rid her of the pacifier. That sucked, but we got it done. Now that the little one has been on the bottle since she was 6 months old, we are way overdue to wean her.
I think it’s a general rule of thumb to get your baby off of a bottle when they can start to have milk at one year old, but I had tons of excuses lined up to avoid it. I had the double mastectomy a month after her first birthday. Then it was the holiday season and the craziness that comes with it, then family vacation, my next surgery, her surgery, and lastly, our “grown up” vacation.
I’m always shocked at how adaptable kids are. I stress over every change I make to their routines and I’m always pleasantly surprised at how they handle it and how quickly they get used to something new. I shock myself sometimes, too, in the same regard. You’d think that my own lack of nipples would have had more of an effect on me after having them for the 30 years prior. Yet, I find myself debating whether or not I should get new nipples at all. I’m already so accustomed to not having them. I never have to worry about them inappropriately making an appearance, but then again, I don’t fill out the tips of my bras.
