World Breastfeeding Week

It is World Breastfeeding Week. I've been meaning to post this story about L, so it seems the right time to do it!

Whenever I have a book in my hand to read -- whether to myself or out loud to the boys, she assumes it's also time to nurse. I guess the habit has been ingrained since birth!

I still use the boppy. It's just easier. I know she's 15 months old, and the boppy is meant for newborns and infants . . . but you've got to see her dragging the boppy behind her whenever she wants to be nursed. It's just too precious!

Some think it's time to wean her (or past time) but we are just fine with our nursing relationship. She likes to nurse first thing in the morning, before naps and before bed. She'll nurse one or maybe two other times during the day, but for the most part she's much too busy to take the time.

I had bad advice with C and we stopped before he was a year old. I wish I knew more of what I know now, because I'm sure we would have nursed longer. N nursed until he was about 18 months old. He really only nursed at night by 15 months, and once he started sleeping through the night he stopped nursing.

Like most things related to my family, I did what I felt was best for MY family. My choices don't have to be the same ones that others make. There are so many ways to parent, and so many of those ways are wonderful. They are just different!

I do think that breastfeeding is a good thing and beneficial to both children and moms. I hope that I have offered the right amount of support to friends and family when they have been trying to make decisions in those early, crazy days of infancy and new parenthood.

But, most of all, I'm glad that I gave my children sustenance. It's my own little superpower in a way -- making milk!