Half Way There

I know this is coming a day early, but I am half way to my goal. What goal is that you are asking yourself. Well the goal is 18 months. I have the goal of breastfeeding until Braylon is 18 months. Why, would I want that. Well, as most of you know Braylon was a late-term preemie and as that he has some special issues that he could face that full term babies will not. The biggest one is a not as developed immune system. To date Braylon has had very few colds and only one twenty-four bug of some sort. I attribute that to the immune properties he receives through my breast milk. Oh and the fact that I have a very good immune system myself (It has been three years since I have been sick. I have not even had a cold in that time!). I said when Braylon was first born that I want him to make it through the next flu season still on breast milk. So my goal is 18 months. Most people start the weaning process at 10/11 months to eliminate feedings. We will not start this until at least 12 months but I have a feeling that it will be more like 14 months. At this point I will start to get rid of daytime feedings that do not result in a nap (no clue how to do this, as we still feed on demand). I would like to get it to only night and morning nursing. By 16/17 months I would like to only be nursing at home in the morning and at night. Now 18 is not some magic number. I have come to learn since having Braylon that he has his own plan. If he wants to stop nursing before 18 months, then so be it. But if he wants to nurse closer to two years then I will let him. However, by two he will be completely off of the boob (well, at least I hope so!). I do not want to have my kid nursing until he is 18 years old, that might cause some issues. I remember in the beginning I thought 3 months of nursing was so far away and never going to get there, let alone making it a year. Now I am shocked that we are on the final leg to a year and half way to my ultimate goal of 18 months.