A wonderful week it is! A week celebrating and bringing awareness to the most precious act of nourishment and nurturing. I know I sound like a lactivist. But I'm kinda ok with that.
I haven't really been very informative on my own breastfeeding journey. And I think that has something do with the fact that it's become so second nature. At 17 months Millie is still nursing. That's right I'm nursing a toddler. Joining the ranks of the woman on the cover of Time magazine a few years ago, women around the world, and millions of mothers whom came generations before me.
But it wasn't always so second nature. I've encountered engorgement, oversupply, (which is a huge hurtle-it's not as wonderful as it sounds) clogged ducts, mastitis, and milk pimples. I've felt overwhelmed with breastfeeding on demand and thought I heard my breast pump say "Psycho, Psycho" at 3 am while trying to find some relief for my rock hard breasts. Psycho for wanting to nurse so badly. Psycho for reading so much about it. Psycho that knowing for me, I had no other option. What a ride this part of motherhood has been.
Now though? Now, like I said it's second nature- it's what I do. I have fallen in love with mothering through breastfeeding. I know that seems to give nursing so much power but for me it has been the cornerstone. Breastfeeding has had me feeling like I have been hit by a truck (mastitis) and like I'm on top of the world (baby rolls, calming tantrums, nursing to sleep). Nursing has taught me to sit down and chill out. Like much of this motherhood gig, it's taught me of giving more of myself to another than I knew I could give.
Quite simply I nurse Millie still because she needs it. Some may roll their eyes at this statement but it's true. Millie needs nursing, for comfort, for security, for nourishment, for health. If you think I have enabled her to be a needy, insecure, and scarred for life human because of our to-term nursing relationship then you have obviously never met my daughter. Nursing is when we slow down from climbing the hoosier, jumping from the coffee table, and terrorizing the dog.
It's just part of our daily life. It's our normal. It is normal. I have been so thankful that I chose to not listen to that breast pump or anyone else. To continue on feeding her the normal food of our kind. To nurture her in the way that came natural to me. I will keep on boobin'.
Blessings!
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