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My kids would never take a bottle from me. They learned to take it from my husband or my mother but never from me. Both of them reverse cycle nursed where they did the bulk of their nursing during the night hours when I was home.</p>
<p>I read an article today in US News talking about the economic harm of extended breastfeeding caused by the impossibility of working and extended breastfeeding. Ludicrous. I knew many women who did it. I was one, so I know.</p>
<p>It is really hard to express milk. The electric breast pump made it much easier, but it was practically like getting blood from a stone keeping my milk going until D was big enough to drink from the tap.
She was mostly fed by gavage in the hospital, but I would express milk in the hopes that the nurses would use it to feed her. I will never forget the look on her face one day when I was in " the milking room" at the hospital & H brought D in to see me. One breast was bigger than her head & her expression was like Woody Allen’s in Everything you always wanted to know about Sex…:eek:</p>
<p>DS was a screamer for the first 6 months, and he always had to be moving. Dr. Sears’ The Fussy Baby Book probably saved his life, lol. At 6 months he stopped yelling, but still always had to be moving. Breastfeeding was about the only time he could be still, and I cherished those times. We practiced most aspects of attachment parenting, and he didn’t stop breastfeeding until past four years old. The last year was sporadic and mainly for comfort, but it never seemed strange, except to others, who were sometimes horrified. I had just spent quite a few years in the Third World, so the breastfeeding and cosleeping seemed the normal thing to do. I would never think of pushing my view on others, however; what worked for us is not for everybody, but I am so glad I found Dr. Sears when I was pregnant.</p>
<p>I also worked FT and breast fed. Expressed at work in the stall in the ladies’ room, which was miserable, but ya’ do what ya’ gotta do.</p>
<p>I was a practitioner of inadvertent co-sleeping.</p>
<p>This is the situation in which your child, who has recently outgrown breastfeeding, wants you to lie down in his/her bed while she falls asleep at night, and you agree to it because, after all, it takes less time than breastfeeding used to and it doesn’t seem to be that unreasonable a request.</p>
<p>And then, all too often, you fall asleep in your child’s bed and wake up at 4 a.m., and nothing you planned to do that evening got accomplished. Oops.</p>
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Me too. But, you know, it became very social. Co-workers would come in and hang out with me. I began to call myself The Wizard of Oz.</p>
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What could be more important than snuggling a little one. I would bet you a cupcake that none of the things that didn’t get done mattered nearly as much as what did. In fact, I’d bet you don’t even remember the things that didn’t get done.</p>
<p>I say each mom should decide for herself what is best for her and her baby as far as nursing. I have three children and chose to nurse each of them because I do believe there are many benefits to both mother and child. Each of my children stopped nursing gradually on their own somewhere between six and 13 months. For me personally, I wouldn’t nurse my child past two, but that is my own personal choice based on what I think is best for my children and me.</p>
<p>In regards to the original post, I find this picture disturbing. While the mom certainly has a right to decide to continue nursing a child who is nearly four years old and pose for pictures, I think it was in poor taste. I find nursing an infant to be a natural and beautiful thing, but I also appreciate mothers who do so with modesty and not put themselves on display. Others are free to disagree, but I really think if a mom chooses to nurse a child of this age it should be done in private.</p>
<p>All these personal breastfeeding stories are so moving, especially as we approach Mother’s Day. My mother strongly recommended nursing, and backed me all the way. And it was very difficult for me with my firstborn D, as we were separated for a while after birth, and she was given formula. And I had the same issues as many of you, with mastitis, blocked ducts and crazy engorgement. I was SO determined, partly because of what I’d read, but mostly because my own mother was so enthusiastic (not pushy, just encouraging). My MIL and SIL never nursed, and thought it was gross,and even though my MIL tried to support me, she didn’t understand. A lovely lactation consultant helped me with my issues, and it was a joyful success!</p>
<p>The funny thing is, my mother later admitted that she only nursed me for a couple of days! I was born in the late 50’s, when formula was the “modern” thing, so I guess she succumbed to the pressures of the day. But she passed down to me an amazingly enlightened baby manual issued by the US government, which touted nursing as the way to go. And she really enjoyed being in the room with me when I nursed D, and later S
(who was ravenous, btw, and latched on right out of the womb). I realized that she felt that she gave up something, and was enjoying the experience through me. I’m glad that I could share that with her. I wouldn’t think to pass judgement on those that continued the experience longer than I did.</p>
<p>That being said, I have neighbors down the street who wouldn’t even consider nursing, whose 6 kids never had a home cooked meal, and who ran around with cheap popsicles and junk food all summer long. And they’re all giant athletic kids who got into great schools and seem to be doing great. And they are also kind, polite and friendly. And I’m so glad that I was a part of their childhood.</p>
<p>As Mimk6 said, it’s sad that mothers judge each other so harshly. I’ve often said that “Motherhood” is revered, but real life mothers are vilified.</p>
<p>I just watched the Today show clip featuring the mother and her son…it was alarming. He moaned, whined and wiggled around for the whole segment. I wonder if he has some other developmental issues going on.</p>
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<p>That’s just not true.</p>
<p>I think Time was going for the shock value first and an article on breastfeeding second . What most people who never breast fed don’t realize is that after 18 months or so ,it is less time and more of a night relaxing thing for mom and child ,not a feeding issue . I breastfed 4 kids for about 1 year to 18 months ,and it was a special time .</p>
<p>“I was a practitioner of inadvertent co-sleeping.”</p>
<p>My favorite quote of the day, Marian - so true! And “The Gift of the Tortoise” story CD that was supposed to soothe him to sleep playing on an endless loop!</p>
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<p>I think that’s true of many parents, whether or not breastfeeding has anything to do with it – which it didn’t in my son’s case. I remember very well the sound of my son’s feet as he would race into our room and jump in between us almost every single night for a long time after he switched from a crib to a bed. And after my ex and I separated when he was 10, he simply could not fall asleep at night, for probably at least the first year or so, unless I was lying next to him in his bed, with soothing music playing on a CD or tape. About 90% of the time, like Marian, I would fall asleep myself, and wake up at 3 am feeling like someone had hit me on the head with a sledgehammer.</p>
<p>No co-sleeping for me, since D didn’t sleep! When she finally started sleeping, I could plop her into her crib and she would go to sleep without a peep. She slept on a sheepskin and she’d knead it until she fell asleep. She could entertain herself in her crib for over an hour after waking in the morning. She talked to herself and to her stuffed animal. I guess you’re not supposed to have anything in the crib, but she always slept with her bear Puffalump and had many long, very animated gibberish conversations with him. Poor Puffy got an earful every morning.</p>
<p>The Today show website has the clip on their front page, for anyone who wants to watch it.
The Daily Mail is reporting that she bragged on her blog (now taken down) about breastfeeding the boy at the Playboy Mansion.</p>
<p>The only thing offensive on that clip was the Today show host. The guests - 2 men and the mom and son were gentle and gracious. Daily Mail is aka the Enquirer.</p>
<p>Toilet training, anyone?:)</p>
<p>*The funny thing is, my mother later admitted that she only nursed me for a couple of days! I was born in the late 50’s, when formula was the “modern” thing, so I guess she succumbed to the pressures of the day. </p>
<p>*
My mom was a rare one to nurse in her day of having babies in the 50’s and early 60s. None of her friends did, nor any of her sisters. Her doctor was an early proponent of middle class moms nursing…which was against the “modern trend” of “we are middle-class and don’t need to do THAT.”</p>
<p>My MIL never nursed (or even tried to nurse) any of her kids. And, she constantly made negative comments to my SIL (the only one who did nurse on H’s side) and me. Well, our kids don’t have all the allergies and auto-immune programs her kids and those other grandkids have so…</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>That being said, I have neighbors down the street who wouldn’t even consider nursing, whose 6 kids never had a home cooked meal, and who ran around with cheap popsicles and junk food all summer long. *</p>
<p>Oh God…were you my MIL’s neighbor? lol But, she had 8 kids and NEVER gave them a home-cooked meal EVER. It was canned soup, Spam (ugh), shoestring potatoes, and other processed foods and treats…all day long.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids: Not your MIL’s neighbor, I’ll bet,but these people are my neighbors and my friends. It was always hilarious when the kids were mesmerized by my cooking the simplest thing, for instance: nachos. One evening I was making BBQ spareribs, and the oldest son practically fainted. Yet because of genetics, the whole clan (6 of them) is both bigger and stronger than my kids. But they are really sweet kids, and they loved anything I made. </p>
<p>It was tough facing criticism for doing what nature clearly intended. I had 50’s style in-laws who thought the whole idea was unnatural, but my mom, born in 1918, knew that nursing was natural, even though she didn’t follow through with it.</p>
<p>*When I had S1 there was a young woman with her first baby in the next hospital bed. She wanted to nurse but the husband (call him Goombah Joey) was so bothered by it that he harassed and bullied her until she gave up. Things like that make me crazy. *</p>
<p>That’s just sick. What a moron. What guy wouldn’t want what’s best for his child? (I know, I know…a possessive jerk who thinks his wife’s breasts are “his”. :rolleyes: ) Too bad my H hadn’t heard this idiot; H is adamantly pro-breast-feeding and would have embarrassed the crap out of this clown.</p>
<p>*“I was a practitioner of inadvertent co-sleeping.”
*</p>
<p>One of my kids didn’t like the fact that I would get out of bed after laying down with him for awhile, so he’d take his little fist and wrap it around my hair and go to sleep. His little way of thinking that would keep me there. H and I still chuckle about that. </p>
<p>We did a lot of co-sleeping with our first. He wasn’t a great sleeper (never napped for more than 20 minutes), he hated his crib, and in order to get any sleep at night, he’s slept with us as a baby. I had a great technique to nurse him while I was sleeping. </p>
<p>My second son was a breeze. He would literally cry for his crib around 5:30 pm. Put him in, he’d shut off like I’d taken the batteries out. Amazing.</p>