My first daughter is almost 11 months old and has been "high-need", exclusively breastfed and co-sleeping from the beginning. My husband and I want a large family but I am 35 so obviously am somewhat limited at this point in terms of having biological children. We had seen a fertility specialist to help us get pregnant the first time and recently went and saw him again to check out our options - he said that I'm not ovulating naturally again (this was my problem the first time around) and since breastfeeding also inhibits ovulation he recommended completely weaning DD at 1 yr and starting fertility treatments at that point in order to maximize my chances of getting pregnant again. I'm pretty torn between doing the best thing for my daughter and the urgency of needing to start ASAP if I would like to get pregnant again but we have made the decision to start gentle weaning at 1 yr. My question is basically how exactly to do this! My daughter's dr does not come from an AP perspective so I hesitate to ask him for advice.
Here are more details on my situation: I am unfortunately working full-time and can be gone during the day up to 12 hrs. She tends to "expire" around 6 or 7 at night and can be inconsolable if I'm not home to nurse, even refusing pumped milk from my husband (I know, my heart breaks - my commute is over an hr each way - but that's another story!) I also "nurse-down" and up to a few times during the night, on average. And like I mentioned, we're co-sleeping and she is "high-need" (ESPECIALLY at night!) My husband is able to occasionally put her down at night without nursing (and VERY rarely can get her back to sleep if I'm at home but not in bed) and she's also able at times to fall asleep during the day without the bottle, usually in her swing. Last month I was gone overnight and my husband said she awoke 3 times during the night - the first time she needed a bottle and the next 2 times she was able to fall asleep w/ "Sssshhhhing" and back-rubbing. However, they were camped out in the living room and not in the usual nursing environment - our bed. I've found that I myself can get her to sleep with music and motion on the rare occasion that she's overtired and won't settle down to nurse.
Any guidance from experts out there would be so helpful
Thank You!!!!
Here are more details on my situation: I am unfortunately working full-time and can be gone during the day up to 12 hrs. She tends to "expire" around 6 or 7 at night and can be inconsolable if I'm not home to nurse, even refusing pumped milk from my husband (I know, my heart breaks - my commute is over an hr each way - but that's another story!) I also "nurse-down" and up to a few times during the night, on average. And like I mentioned, we're co-sleeping and she is "high-need" (ESPECIALLY at night!) My husband is able to occasionally put her down at night without nursing (and VERY rarely can get her back to sleep if I'm at home but not in bed) and she's also able at times to fall asleep during the day without the bottle, usually in her swing. Last month I was gone overnight and my husband said she awoke 3 times during the night - the first time she needed a bottle and the next 2 times she was able to fall asleep w/ "Sssshhhhing" and back-rubbing. However, they were camped out in the living room and not in the usual nursing environment - our bed. I've found that I myself can get her to sleep with music and motion on the rare occasion that she's overtired and won't settle down to nurse.
Any guidance from experts out there would be so helpful
Thank You!!!!
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