I'm giving Joey my milk. I'm breastfeeding a toddler. I'm an extended breastfeeder. I'm letting him self-wean...whatever you want to call it. I'm in love with our little relationship. How he stops and looks up at me, how the magic milk instantly stops crying and fixes boo-boos, and how I'm able to give him the exact nutrition his little body needs.
I'm also in love with breastfeeding because I got back in my jeans by week 3, I have gotten to eat, and didn't have to deal with having a period for an extra 13months. Breastfeeding makes amenorrhea normal; no period for 23 months!!! When I say eat, I mean EAT; I wanted to have a whole cheesecake after eating a whole cow. There were several weeks in a row (around the winter holidays too) where I would eat an entire stick of cream cheese everyday and still be hungry.
I wish more mommas worked through their "issues" with breastfeeding and did this. I also wish society around us was more accepting. Why people feel the need to cover up and hide in a room in order to feed their child...maybe they're the same people that like to eat a whole box of chocolate by themselves too. I wish I could take more artsy photos of our feeding sessions and capture the looks of lovin' I get. I wish to always cherish the middle of the night loving/eating sessions. and attempt to count the times where Joey has attempted to nurse my belly button. or the night where he just nursed right through my shirt. or early on when my boobs were so messy and anytime he was nursing the other boob would get jealous and leak all over the place. or the time I came home from work and was so happy to see the dog that my milk let down just looking at the dog!!!
Pumping at work was a different thing. I daily had to find a place to hide and feel safe pumping. I daily had people tell me how weird it was that I was providing free nutrients to my baby by pumping. I had a manager that was not supportive and didn't understand (yet another reason I quit my job). Pumping took commitment. But I had amazing support from hubby. Once we got the pumping pattern down; there was no reason to stop. No reason to wean my chubby baby.
It was not easy at first. Open sores, doing positive self-talk to motivate me to give my baby one more feeding. Feeding him on one side, so the other side could have a break and hopefully heal. Wading through the crazy emotions postpartum hormones were causing. So many tears at first.
So worth it. I still don't feel like I know everything about breastfeeding and I still long to learn more and more. I find myself on Kellymom.com ALL the TIME!
Got Milk?
LOVE it! Through-the-shirt nursing is hilarious! I'm so glad you and I both have sweet memories like these to cherish.
ReplyDeleteAnd *GASP* I haven't been following your blog!!! Ah! Sorry! This must be remedied! :)
So beautiful! I so wish I had been able to feed my two. I have gained so much knowledge, though, that I think I have a good plan of attack worked out for the next one (whenever that might be). Pumping takes devotion! But it's so worth it! It worked wonderfully with Carter (he has hypotonia which affected his sucking instinct and made it hard for him to nurse...that and two weeks in NICU)...until I was 3 months preggo with Henry and my production dropped dramatically. Henry and I had different issues...mostly me. Lactation nurses believe I have Reynaud's Phenomenon that affects the parts of my body necessary for nursing :)
ReplyDeleteI have learned so much each time! Next time I'll be sure to have plenty of help with our other littles for me to focus my effort on feedings...pumping with littles is near impossible!
Congrats on your nursing with Joey! Such a wonderful experience and bond you are building. Not that it can't be built with bottle feeding, but it is more difficult (as I speak from experience...lol).