She's all done nursing.
I went of out town for a few days to belly dance and tried to pump. After 20 minutes for 2 nights and only getting a few frustrating drops, I decided that I was done.
When I went to put her to bed my first night home, using a cup of milk instead of nursing, she was not pleased. She hit and kicked and screamed and scratched. I apologized and told her that my milk was all gone...and cried. She drank her milk and went to bed. I cried some more. I felt so badly. How could I take that away from her? How could I take that time away from both of us? How could I do that to my baby?????
Good thing is, it's getting better. She fights it a little now and then, but nothing like those first few nights. We still get some good snuggling in at bed time, but it's just not the same. And I feel so guilty.
Funny thing is, I was getting a hard time for still nursing...and now I'm getting a hard time for stopping. Amazing how everyone has an opinion, that they just have to share. Wouldn't it be easier if we just let people raise their babies they way that they want to? Since when did any of this beome anyone else's business?
I've been watching the reactions to the cover of TIME magazine on facebook for the past week. Some are disgusted and totally bash that poor mom for her choice to nurse her toddler. Others are the extreme opposite, supporting her by rocking their own photos of their breastfeeding toddler. I've even seen some covers created to mock the nursing mom, including one with chicken nuggets on it. Again, I would ask people...can't we just leave others alone? Why is it any of our business what someone else feels comfortable doing?
And then people go off on tangents...vaccinations, circumcision, co-sleeping, crying it out, etc. The list goes on and on...and on. And then there's more bashing and berating. Of people. Making their own decisions. Aren't we all adults?
Since becoming pregnant, I've heard plenty of opinions about what I am doing or not doing. It makes me crazy, but I've learned to smile and nod...and then do whatever the hell I want! As a whole, we need to just agree to disagree about parenting. Everyone thinks they have it figured out, or that their way is the right way... Seems to me, this world is a pretty good example of the fact that no one has come up with the perfect parenting style.
I think we're all just doing the best we can. Let's learn to respect each other for that.
I went of out town for a few days to belly dance and tried to pump. After 20 minutes for 2 nights and only getting a few frustrating drops, I decided that I was done.
When I went to put her to bed my first night home, using a cup of milk instead of nursing, she was not pleased. She hit and kicked and screamed and scratched. I apologized and told her that my milk was all gone...and cried. She drank her milk and went to bed. I cried some more. I felt so badly. How could I take that away from her? How could I take that time away from both of us? How could I do that to my baby?????
Good thing is, it's getting better. She fights it a little now and then, but nothing like those first few nights. We still get some good snuggling in at bed time, but it's just not the same. And I feel so guilty.
Funny thing is, I was getting a hard time for still nursing...and now I'm getting a hard time for stopping. Amazing how everyone has an opinion, that they just have to share. Wouldn't it be easier if we just let people raise their babies they way that they want to? Since when did any of this beome anyone else's business?
I've been watching the reactions to the cover of TIME magazine on facebook for the past week. Some are disgusted and totally bash that poor mom for her choice to nurse her toddler. Others are the extreme opposite, supporting her by rocking their own photos of their breastfeeding toddler. I've even seen some covers created to mock the nursing mom, including one with chicken nuggets on it. Again, I would ask people...can't we just leave others alone? Why is it any of our business what someone else feels comfortable doing?
And then people go off on tangents...vaccinations, circumcision, co-sleeping, crying it out, etc. The list goes on and on...and on. And then there's more bashing and berating. Of people. Making their own decisions. Aren't we all adults?
Since becoming pregnant, I've heard plenty of opinions about what I am doing or not doing. It makes me crazy, but I've learned to smile and nod...and then do whatever the hell I want! As a whole, we need to just agree to disagree about parenting. Everyone thinks they have it figured out, or that their way is the right way... Seems to me, this world is a pretty good example of the fact that no one has come up with the perfect parenting style.
I think we're all just doing the best we can. Let's learn to respect each other for that.
Amen, sister!
ReplyDeleteLove you! Kelly G
I know that we would be a healthier culture if breastfeeding was more supported and promoted long term. In the literature it clearly decreases incidence of allergies and infections, but that never seems to come up in regular conversation. It seems like people are much more comfortable with the often inappropriate amount of cleavage in our day to day life as opposed to the functional and important act of a child being breast fed. You gave Neva an amazing gift by nursing past 12 months and all the folks out there who make uneducated and insulting comments are clearly not considering the facts. It is unfortunate, but you have complete support, respect and love coming from me and many others who have chosen to be educated on the topic.
ReplyDeleteI found some great information from the la leche league website that pertains to this issue:
"The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends one year, while WHO and UNICEF recommend at least two years. From anthropological research, we know that in many non-Western cultures children are routinely nursed for three to four years. The idea that mammals wean their offspring when they have tripled their birth weight is widely reported in the breastfeeding literature (Lawrence 1989). Recent research has looked at age at weaning and at growth among large mammals, including primates. The research shows that weaning occurs some months after quadrupling of the birth weight, rather than tripling (Lee, Majluf and Gordon 1991). When do U.S. infants typically quadruple their birth weight? For males, the average age is around 27 months, and for females, around 30 months."
http://www.llli.org/ba/aug94.html