April 24, 2021

Whilst pregnant I read The Continuum Concept and started learning about child led parenting and child led weaning. It seemed natural to me that it would be best for my baby to decide when it needed milk and when it didn't need it anymore. But I didn't actually think I'd still be breastfeeding Pearl at 3 years 8 months! She still feeds to sleep at night and in the morning (occasionally in the daytime too if she's tired) but she only stopped waking in the night for feeds a few months ago. This was the hardest part as I have been so sleep deprived that I think it affected our day to day lives and I did become resentful, especially as I was getting pressure from others that I should have weaned her. Easier said than done though as I am single so I can't just hand her over to someone else at bedtime, which is how most of my friends ended up weaning. Hearing about Anns project has given me back the confidence that I'm doing the best thing for Pearl though and if I'm honest I don't think I would be 100% ready to stop: it's such a lovely bonding experience!