My daughter is just 16 months old. Now, this may shock some people, but I'm still breastfeeding her. She gets my milk pretty much wher...
My daughter is just 16 months old. Now, this may shock some people, but I'm still breastfeeding her. She gets my milk pretty much wherever she wants it, at any time. I didn't set out with plans to become an extended breastfeeder. In a way it just happened. And that's why I don't have an answer if people ask me if I'm going to stop.
This is my second baby and I know there is an assumption on Mapy's part that I'm thinking about breastfeeding her because I can't "let go" of the baby phase or am I willing to let my youngest daughter (and probably the last one) grows. Well, that's not really the case.
In fact, when it comes to breastfeeding, I'm a little ambivalent about the whole thing. There are a lot of things about it that I don't like: the occasional apple bite, the fact that she relies so much on it for comfort (which she scratches at 3am), the way she pulls my shirt in the middle of the fruit and the vegetable aisle at Tesco… Yet here we are. Breastfeed more than ever, with a clear view.
I can't tell you how many times in the last 16 months I have tried, successfully, to introduce some kind of feeding schedule, or to stop feedings, or to encourage my baby to take milk from a bottle. Most importantly, it's all a beeping sound to those sleeping. I (wrongly, I think) assumed that if I could get her to be a little less reliable on the breast, she would sleep a little better. Even though I had breastfed her older sister, who was a much more reliable sleeper, I doubted myself.
I listened too much to traditional advice about regulated feeding times, routines, and baby sleep. I didn't want to accept that my baby was, to put it bluntly, just a shitty sleeper. The truth is that stopping breastfeeding would be much more traumatic for both of you than for the couple. I'm willing to tune out the hard parts if it means I don't have to deal with a child screaming in my face about dying.
Breastfeeding makes her happy, which makes me happy. If she's tired, I have a perfect way to calm her down. If she's grumpy I have an immediate remedy. In fact, there are many things that rapid breastfeeding cannot solve. Why would I give away my simplest most powerful tool in my fitness arsenal just to keep Gipa Ford devotees happy?
If my daughter had been a different baby, we probably would have stopped – her sister had gotten a boob job by this point. But she's stupid, so here we are. Another thing I remember is that my mother was right right from the start: all children are different. And that's why I don't have a plate. The truth is, I'm just writing it off day by day. And this really applies to every part of motherhood.
Here's our breastfeeding experience so far...
Breastfeeding from the first days.
My baby used to breastfeed every 10 minutes and every 3 hours.
Breastfeeding has always been a source of comfort for her.
Sometimes I felt like I was chained to the couch, especially during mammoth feeding sessions!
The vital breastfeeding set-up in the early days included the TV remote so I could watch Netflix while my baby nursed.
She is always *very* attached to the breast.
Sleepy milk cuddles (iп my elegant piпk dressiпg gowп...)
As soon as she got to about five months, she would grab a piece of my top and not let go until she was done eating.
More sleepy milk cuddles. Are you already proposing a theme?
Breastfeeding on board our ferry to Fraпce last summer.
Breastfeeding is always part of the bedtime routine (unless I like going to sleep, in which case she gets milk from a bottle and gives her a cuddle).
As he gets bigger, he has more and more engaging breastfeeding sessions available to him!
Breastfeeding is a quick fix for almost all baby problems.
My little girl is so busy that it's really cute when she stops to nurse quietly.
Breastfeeding with a biscuit iп oпe haпd. True devotional biscuit.
Chat with other moms in your BabyCeпtre Birth Clυb or join our breastfeeding group.
Images by Molly Forbes.
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