I am finally adding to my predicted "series" on extended breastfeeding.
Burkley is now 15 months old and we are still going.
Typically (barring any teething or illness) he only nurses twice a day: before his nap and before bed.
Occasionally he'll ask for it sometime after dinner, which is fine with me.
During the night, he nurses two to three times (again, barring any teething, illness, or growth spurt).
He is such a busy, active toddler that he simply doesn't seem to think about nursing. If we are out and about and I sense he's going to either miss his nap or take it in the car, I'll try to nurse him so that he still gets a nursing session in, but he generally wants nothing to do with it. I am certainly not going to wrestle my child to get him to nurse.
When we do nurse, it is as if I am a jungle gym. I've heard of and read about this stage in nursing and I do find it pretty hilarious. He is often kicking my ear, slapping my chest (not in aggression, just liking the sound of a good "slap"), twisting his body around so his stomach and hips are facing out, yet his head is still facing in, and more. I don't have any pictures to share with you, but that's alright, I assume you can imagine it if you're not experiencing it yourself.
I do love that when Burkley has an injury, he will latch on and stop crying almost immediately. He normally won't stay latched on long enough to actually nurse, but it calms him nonetheless. It's such an easy soothing mechanism. I don't always offer it with every bump and bruise that toddlerhood offers, but I do offer it for the big ones (like crawling off his changing table and proceeding to somersault on the way down).
I also love the sweetness of toddler nursing. While nursing, he'll often unlatch and lean his body up in a baby-sit-up to give me a kiss. We also often use nursing as a time for learning: identifying facial features on both my face and his. It's one of the only times he sits still (though it's not always very still) enough to do this. He doesn't really sign for "milkies" anymore like he used to, in fact, now that he has so many words, he hardly signs for anything anymore. He does, however, pull at my shirt, or if it's a low-cut one, he'll just shove his hands down it (!) and say "please" or ask for a "snack." Mostly always the answer is yes, but there are times when the answer is no. That's the beauty of toddlerhood and though I do believe in nursing on demand, there are simply times when I just plain-old don't want to or am in the middle of something, or know he's only asking out of boredom and can be easily redirected and engaged in another activity.
It is also interesting to me how breastfeeding gives me a way to know my child in another way, on another level. Of course, any parent can see when their child is sick, teething, or whatever, but nursing helps me cue into those instances in another way, and seems to be more intuitive to me. I often won't notice that he is teething until I notice that he's nursing differently. Then, the other cues (that may be more obvious to other parents) will seem apparent. It's almost like, Oh! That's why you haven't been eating much lately and have had runny diapers and pink cheeks! Duh!
What do you most appreciate about extending nursing?
Burkley is now 15 months old and we are still going.
Typically (barring any teething or illness) he only nurses twice a day: before his nap and before bed.
Occasionally he'll ask for it sometime after dinner, which is fine with me.
During the night, he nurses two to three times (again, barring any teething, illness, or growth spurt).
He is such a busy, active toddler that he simply doesn't seem to think about nursing. If we are out and about and I sense he's going to either miss his nap or take it in the car, I'll try to nurse him so that he still gets a nursing session in, but he generally wants nothing to do with it. I am certainly not going to wrestle my child to get him to nurse.
When we do nurse, it is as if I am a jungle gym. I've heard of and read about this stage in nursing and I do find it pretty hilarious. He is often kicking my ear, slapping my chest (not in aggression, just liking the sound of a good "slap"), twisting his body around so his stomach and hips are facing out, yet his head is still facing in, and more. I don't have any pictures to share with you, but that's alright, I assume you can imagine it if you're not experiencing it yourself.
I do love that when Burkley has an injury, he will latch on and stop crying almost immediately. He normally won't stay latched on long enough to actually nurse, but it calms him nonetheless. It's such an easy soothing mechanism. I don't always offer it with every bump and bruise that toddlerhood offers, but I do offer it for the big ones (like crawling off his changing table and proceeding to somersault on the way down).
I also love the sweetness of toddler nursing. While nursing, he'll often unlatch and lean his body up in a baby-sit-up to give me a kiss. We also often use nursing as a time for learning: identifying facial features on both my face and his. It's one of the only times he sits still (though it's not always very still) enough to do this. He doesn't really sign for "milkies" anymore like he used to, in fact, now that he has so many words, he hardly signs for anything anymore. He does, however, pull at my shirt, or if it's a low-cut one, he'll just shove his hands down it (!) and say "please" or ask for a "snack." Mostly always the answer is yes, but there are times when the answer is no. That's the beauty of toddlerhood and though I do believe in nursing on demand, there are simply times when I just plain-old don't want to or am in the middle of something, or know he's only asking out of boredom and can be easily redirected and engaged in another activity.
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| Pink-teething-cheeks! |
It is also interesting to me how breastfeeding gives me a way to know my child in another way, on another level. Of course, any parent can see when their child is sick, teething, or whatever, but nursing helps me cue into those instances in another way, and seems to be more intuitive to me. I often won't notice that he is teething until I notice that he's nursing differently. Then, the other cues (that may be more obvious to other parents) will seem apparent. It's almost like, Oh! That's why you haven't been eating much lately and have had runny diapers and pink cheeks! Duh!
What do you most appreciate about extending nursing?
I agree, nursing does give us an extra clue to what is going on with our littles, including increasing (or decreasing frequency).
ReplyDeleteI had a couple of useful things I wanted to link you to. I can't find one of them, but this article on diet during breastfeeding is quite useful:
ReplyDeleteBreastfeeding diet