Breastfeeding Past Two…Too Much? Pt. 2

BY CLEO


In the beginning, pumping was all I seemed to be doing with little results, so I had to finger feed formula to my baby. It was upsetting but I did what I had to do until my milk came in. Once it did come and we got the whole latch thing sorted out (took about a month) I discovered something wonderful.

I could feed her anytime, anywhere under any circumstances. I never had to worry about sanitizing bottles, warming up to the right temperature, or having to run to the store late at night cause I was running out of formula. It also seemed to work magic whenever she was upset. She never suffered from colic and hardly ever had any spit ups. She was a happy, healthy and very content baby. The other benefit is that it burns so many calories that even though I was eating a lot I kept losing weight to the point where I now weigh less than I did before I got pregnant. Woohoo!

From the beginning I planned to breastfeed until she was 12 to 18 months old. Well, something crazy happenned along the way, as it seemed she had a different plan in mind. Unfortunaltely she learned to fall asleep breastfeeding. So herein lies the problem, she is now almost 2 and a half years old and when she’s ready for naptime or bedtime she now asks for it by name and won’t fall asleep until I give in and breastfeed her.

The truth is that I do believe it is time for me to stop, but doing that is going to take a couple of months of deep commitment and many sleepless nights to establish new routines. I do want to stress that it should be an individuals decision, and should not be influenced by society. I was recently made to feel like a terrible mother by an intern at my last physical. The real sad part was that she was a woman telling me that I shouldn’t still be breastfeeding and to stop right away. What are they teaching them at med school?

Even the World Health Organization (WHO) is recomending breastfeeding past the age of two.

It all comes down to you, and your child. I have chosen to work very hard to make sure I give my baby a great start in life. She is well adjusted, happy, healthy and quite cheeky! Therefore, I’m not going to simply quit breastfeeding her abruptly to appease society. I plan to do it gently and lovingly.

I worked really hard to establish breastfeeding and now I will have to work just as hard to discontinue breastfeeding. Overall, its been a wonderful experience full of ups and downs, but hey, that’s just life.

I urge everyone out there who is thinking of having a baby to take the time to research the benefits of breastfeeding. It’s all about making informed decisions. So is breastfeeding past two, too much? Not for a growing number of us. It’s a personal decision that each new mother will have to make.

Happy feeding everyone!


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