Bekah Martinez on 'Bittersweet' Choice to Stop Breastfeeding Daughter, 2: 'It Was Definitely Time'
Bekah Martinez/Instagram
Bekah Martinez is moving on from tandem nursing.
The Bachelor alum, 26, said on Instagram Tuesday that she is officially done breastfeeding her firstborn, 2-year-old daughter Ruth Ray De La Luz. Martinez had said late last month that she was ready to wean her toddler off while continuing to nurse son Franklin James, 11 months, whom she also shares with boyfriend Grayston Leonard.
She said the milestone is "bittersweet" for her as a mom.
"It's hard to believe I'm writing this, but my tandem nursing and breastfeeding journey with Ruth is officially over. 💔 It's bittersweet," she wrote in the caption. "We spent 26 wonderful months of doing 'boobie' together, but it was definitely time. I had gotten to the point where my toes were curling every time she'd latch; I felt extremely annoyed at her whenever she asked to nurse and it just wasn't fair to either of us anymore."
"I'm SO grateful for the DMs that gave me the courage to assert my boundaries and wean with confidence!" she added. "Now, after a week of weaning, we're way past the toughest moments and it's been AMAZING to just cuddle with her without the need to latch!!"
Alongside throwback photos in the gallery of some of the "sweet moments" she spent with Ruth while nursing, the mom of two wrote, "I don't regret sharing these moments in the slightest— I'm proud of our journey and I'll always look back happily on the times my body fed and comforted my baby girl. ♥️"
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Bekah Martinez/Instagram
Bekah Martinez/Instagram
Martinez added that she would have continued breastfeeding her daughter under different circumstances: "P.S. I would've gone twice as long if both of us were still happy with it! F— people who think nursing a 4 year-old is weird or gross 🙃 It's been normal around the world since the beginning of time. 👋🏼"
Back in September, Martinez defended her decision to continue breastfeeding her toddler at the time.
"I've said it before and I'll say it again: there is NOTHING weird about feeding and soothing my toddler via breast. There is NOTHING wrong with sharing it via social media," she wrote at the time. "So many moms stop breastfeeding earlier than they want because of stupid pricks like the people online who comment 'isn't she a little too old?', 'we get it, you breastfeed' or even 'that's disgusting 🤢.' "
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Months prior, in July, Martinez shared a snapshot on Instagram that showed her breastfeeding both of her children simultaneously. She took the opportunity at the time to fire back at commenters who called her parenting practices "disgusting."
"If a child is voluntarily nursing ... there is NOTHING psychologically damaging about nursing through and even past the toddler years," Martinez wrote at the time. "We've got it soooo backwards now as a society. Children don't have any concept of breastfeeding being sexual."
