Like Mother, Like Daughter

MARCH 4, 2009

I walked into the family room and saw Aliza pretending to nurse "Baby Sparkles." Sparkles goes everywhere Aliza does. She tucks her in bed every night and is such a good little mommy to her.

I'm in the process of trying to wean Ava. She'll be 18 months May 30th and I am SO ready to be done nursing her. Lately, her favorite thing to do is to nurse & eat together. For example, if I give her a string cheese, she'll take a bite and then nurse and then eat another bite and then nurse. I've never had a baby do this before. Now whenever she wants to nurse, she'll chase me around the house and calls for "na-na's". Okay, writing this is giving me a serious wake up call, that it's time to be done! My kids have never taken pacifiers or bottles. I truly have felt like a human pacifier the past 12 years! I just did the math. I have been lactating for 86 months-that's over 7 years! (ok, not straight, but combining all 5 kids), probably too much information!!!

I truly have enjoyed nursing. It's amazing to read of the benefits for both the baby & mother. I have been so lucky that it's been such an easy thing for me. In fact, one of the best skills I've mastered is being able to nurse and sleep at the same time. I've had many clients laugh at the fact that I can nurse a baby and do their taxes at the same time. Of course, I'm covered up! But there really isn't enough hours in the day to take a break. I'm usually multi-tasking when I'm nursing, whether it's returning phone calls, emailing, catching up on a reality TV show or cranking out a payroll.

I served a LDS mission to Uruguay and saw so many interesting things with the women & nursing. I remember a little 6-yr old boy who ran up to his mother and lifted up her shirt and took a drink from what looked to be a water hose, because it seriously was at this lady's waist. (She was pretty overweight) I couldn't figure out what he was doing until my companion told me the mom still nursed all of her kids. Another time, a lady was nursing a baby and I told her how cute her baby was and she told me, "This isn't my baby, it's my neighbor's," which is really common for them to nurse each other's babies. It's so interesting how different it is here in the United States.

So if you ever hear Ava yelling for "na-na's", it's not bananas she's after! WISH ME LUCK!