nursing/weaning; wooden crib (Re: Re:Flame Retardants)

[Guest guest]

I grew up and came from a long line of bottle feeders. It was my

husband who was very much for bfding (12.5 yrs ago) that convinced me

it was much better for baby. I was kind of wanting to as articles

were in the baby magazines that were promoting it as best for baby,

but bottle is still perfectly fine. I was pretty much embarassed to

do so as it was so foreign to me and and as most of us all know our

society see's breasts as toys and not for the nourishment they were

intended for. So there was this feeling of perversion (sorry strong

word, but can't find one any weaker that fit's my feelings like i was

bad for bfding) assosciated with bfding for me. But DH championed a

very good cause and has never frowned on me for how long. While

other DH's are pushing for mom to wean at 6 mos or a yr, he was like

if they still need to they still need to. If they were say preschool

age or something, i would have a problem with that. So support helps

as pressure from the SO who feels 1 is pushing does affect how long

mom will nurse and 2-3 yrs really is best for them if mom's diet is

healthy.

I made mine wean because i did not know then what i know now. I did

not know how important or how much healthier he would be to keep

nurisng til 2 or longer. From the above intro to my experience of

nursing i felt like i was pushing the comfort level and being weird

past 1. I mean there were stories i nthe paper of moms being accused

of molestation for nursing their babies past 14 months etc... So for

me i was scared off and felt like i was bad to nurse any longer.

Society said all nutrition was provided with solids, i am not

needed. There is something very wrong with nursing any longer, so i

made him quit.

My 2nd at age 2 because again i was constantly criticized for nursing

that long and she gets what she needs from solids i am just spoiling

her. Also 2 for me was becoming an issue of am i comfortable doing

it any longer, mostly because of the external comments and pressure i

was feeling. I was doubting my instincts that this is perfectly

natural. This was very heart breaking as this child needed that

assurance still, the bond, maybe even the nutrion as we all know

Gerber don't provide it. It was really hard and bad and if i could

take it back i would. But i bought into the spoiling and i am

causing her harm nursing past 1, 2 was for sure detrimental and

sexually perverse. It was not until after she was weaned a few

months that late weaning was becoming a bit more accepted in our

area. I felt really bad for not trusting my instincts. I had a hard

toddler hood with this child too. She was angry a lot.

3rd, 6 yrs after the 2nd and after knowing most of what i know now

i wanted to nurse until she weaned as long as i was comfortable with

the age (still not liking the whole nurse til 4 and 5 proponents).

Health reasons - as in what is best for her i was going past 2

regardless of the external critics. Best start for her outweighed

the stupid nosey comments from them. You know the pro bottle - anti

bfders, or pro bfding as long as it is not past 6 months kind of

people. Suprisingly to me these people still exist!! I still got

all kinds of ridicule, from strangers even when nursing in public,

that she was too old at 6 months (she was born 2005, man i can't

believe people still think this way). Anyhow this time i planned to

for sure nurse past 2 this time. Still did not like until 3 but

figured hey i may change my mind by then I used to think 2 was

weird but that changed.

We wanted our/a 4th child, and like them spaced 2-3 yrs apart. I had

to force a wean right around 26 mos. cause it hurt me a lot. Towards

my last month or 2 i was so sensitive to her nursing it felt like all

teeth all the time, i was in tears a lot. I planned to let her nurse

after baby was born if she wanted to. Well she did but totally

forgot how! LOL! So she was a forced weaned also, which made me so

sad!

Point of my story here is i had to force them off! All 3. You may

wind up with one that wants to for a long time. I did notice my

friends with self weaning babes did this once mom started giving

lot's of solids and sippy cups at the 6 mo. mark. Mine all got

tastes but never meals. I thoroughly nursed them, then let them try

foods abot 8 mos old. Nursing was always first. Maybe the sooner

solids are given and feeding solids before nursing contributes to

early weaning??

Make sure to pass on good nursing info to your SO and hopefully that

will ease the idea of nursing past 1 as i definitely think they need

it longer.

>

> Allyn,

>

> Gee, that'd sure be disappointing... Thanks for the warning!

>

> -Lana