These Boobs Were Made for Nursing

So it's official... I'm an extended nurser! My little Mia is 14 months and is still nursing strong. If you would have asked me a year ago how long I would nurse, my answer would have been one year. Now I'll tell you 18 months, but honestly, I don't know. I can't imagine taking away from my little peanut something she loves so much. Sometimes she'll stop nursing and flash me this huge smile like "this is the greatest thing ever!" Really, how can I take that away from her?

I already get comments from friends and family and inquisitions about when I'm going to stop. I don't know why they're so concerned. We're down to about four nursing sessions a day, one when she wakes up and before each time she sleeps, and I rarely ever nurse in public any more because she doesn't request to. I know people think it's weird; trust me, I used to think so too. People ask me, don't you want your body back? But isn't that part of being a mom? Giving yourself wholeheartedly over to your children? I watched a fellow mom at MOPS the other day with her 3 year old in her lap. The mom had come to the meeting with her her up in a clip, but her little girl wanted it down to play with, comforting her as she "rested". How is that really any different than the way I comfort my daughter? The mom still needs to be around, still has to adjust something (her hair rather than her clothes), and her daughter feels loved and comforted by something soothing.

More than anything, the benefits surely outweigh any inconvenience. It's miraculous to think how our bodies are equipped to sustain our babies for so long with little to no outside help. For the first 9 months of life, babies thrive on just what our bodies provide them. After they are born, all they really need is momma's breast milk (with the possible exception of Vitamin D, depending on who you ask). While most babies start on solids before a year, the saying "under one is just for fun" isn't just a cute rhyme. Eating solids before the age of one is more for the sake of practice rather than to consume nutrients.

And isn't it comforting to mom to know that if your child is sick and refusing to eat, they will still get the nutrients they need from nursing? It's very rare that a sick child will refuse the breast, even when everything else is turned down.

For us, breast continues to be best.

A little MOTN fun

I know it's been awhile since my last post. Things have been pretty busy around here and won't be slowing down anytime soon. I'll post more about that later. For now:

My LO no longer sleeps through the night. She only wakes up once between 12 and 5, and it doesn't bother me. I don't mind giving her a few extra calories if she needs them and sometimes it means she will sleep longer. Last night she woke up around 3:15. I got up and went to the bathroom, and by the time I was done, she had fallen back to sleep. Yippee! I went back to bed and wouldn't you know, as soon as I fell back to sleep, she wakes up again. So I get up at 3:30 with her. We settled in our glider and she nursed on both sides. She started slowing down on the second side and I was about to get up to put her back to sleep when she spit up pretty much every ounce of milk she had just ingested, all down my side. It was super lovely.

I called for back up and turned on the light to clean us up. DH took care of the spillage on the glider and the floor, got me a wet washcloth and a clean shirt, all to the delight of Miss Mia. She thought it was a MOTN party! Thankfully, after her jammas were changed and the light was turned back off, she went back down with only a few minutes of comfort nursing.

I guess I learned two things last night: she might not really be all that hungry after all and just because she's over a year doesn't mean the spit-up episodes are over. Joy.