I would have to say that my favorite period of nursing over the last 10 months was when Charlotte was around 7-8 months old.
At month 6 we introduced solids. We aimed for 2-3 jars of baby food a day, and depending on her appetite, we'd do about 32 ounces of milk. Over Thanksgiving, she started waking up in the middle of the night to eat. We decided it was time to start sleep training as we knew she couldn't be hungry based on her food intake during the day.
Sleep side note: Sleep training Charlotte was a breeze. We never did a full Cry It Out method, and instead transitioned her from nursing back to sleep to being rocked back to sleep. Once we conquered her waking up in the middle of the night (from a trend perspective, not a one-off), we waited a bit longer to tackle her bed time routine.
Once we had her middle of the night feeding eliminated, I would still nurse her (on weekends and Monday's) about 4-5 times a day. Her typical day would look like this:
7:00 Nurse
8:00 Puree of Fruit with Oatmeal
10:00 Nurse
11:00-noon Puree of Fruit or Vegetable
1:00 Nurse
4:00 Nurse and Puree of some protein/veggie medley
7:00 Nurse before bed
Sleep side note: Since she's never been a big napper, bedtime always consisted of her passing out after nursing/having a bottle. We decided to start trying to get her to sleep in her crib, as opposed to in the rocking chair. Once she started to get groggy, we'd pull out her bottle (or boob), pop in her bink, and lay her in her crib. Again, we never went straight to letting her cry, but instead would pat her back/bum until she was asleep. Eventually we started having nights where she'd just keep sitting/standing up while we were in there, so we started leaving the room. Some nights (even to this day) she'll stand up and cry for a minute, but will eventually lay down. Sometimes she'll lay there and talk to herself. The key for us is that she's able to lay down in her crib, awake, and put herself to sleep.
Eventually Charlotte stopped showing interest in puree's because she wanted to feed herself. This is when I started introducing baby pouches. They are more expensive but they were more up her alley. She wasn't quite ready for solid foods, so they were the middle of the road option.
Come January and two top teeth later, I felt Charlotte was ready for some more finger foods. She cut down to 24 ounces of milk (4 bottles) a day, and this is when we stopped nursing.
Charlotte became a biter once her top teeth came in. I was unable to continue to nurse her as she wouldn't stop. I assumed she was disinterested in nursing and decided exclusively pumping/bottle feeding was our best option.
In early February, right before she turned 9 months, I called our Pediatrician and asked how much milk she should be getting a day. They said around 10 months they can cut down to 18 ounces a day, but before that, they should still be getting 24. We fought a hard battle getting her to get in 24 ounces, so when she turned 10 months, I decided to start weaning her to 3 bottles a day. Well, don't you know that Miss C decided she was completely and totally disinterested in bottles, period? We offer her at least 18 ounces of formula a day at this point, but we don't think she gets that much as she often leaves an ounce or two left in a bottle at a time.
Earlier this month my supply continued to dwindle, and I was expressing 10 ounces per day. In the grand scheme of things I was proud of how long I lasted, but the time and effort I had to put in to get those few ounces was exhausting. I decided to retire the pump and we have since gone straight to formula.
I'm looking forward to the next month or so and transitioning Charlotte to cow's milk. I think she'll like that better than the formula and I hope that she gets used to the sippy cup. For now, she's not really interested in drinking formula from a sippy, but I'm not concerned.
All in all I absolutely loved nursing and breastfeeding. My hope is that with our next I can continue to nurse longer than I could have with Charlotte, give or take biting and supply/demand.
