THEY ARE JUST BOOBS: Why I'm Still Breastfeeding

So this weekend after lots of screaming and crying, mostly on my end, I decided that now is not the time to wean my 18 month old.  I know pick your jaws up off the floor, but we're just not ready.  Despite everyone's advice that 'he's too old' or 'you're gonna be on the cover of a magazine some day' and if they're referring to the above image from Time magazine, well, that's not just some trash rag, Time magazine is pret-ty impressive, although I never thought I'd be on their cover for something as mundane as nursing but hey maybe while I'm there I can plug my book, lol.

Family Portrait & There's A Boob Out, Nobody Cares.

Anyway I digress the point is, Friday my toddler didn't nurse at all during the day, so I thought, maybe he's ready to give this up.  Then came Friday night and bedtime was a disaster and my husband was like, 'you're just gonna cut him off coldturkey?' So then I thought, okay I'll only nurse him at night.  So Saturday he went home with his grandparents sand I thought hey when he comes back Sunday this should all be a cakewalk.  Well that was extremely naive of me because the moment he came home and saw me, all he saw were mammary glands.  I kept him at bay by taking him outside, feeding him his favorite snacks but he was exhausted and he needed a nap and the only way he was gonna get that was falling asleep with a mouthful of breast.

 There's nothing like listening to your child scream and cry out of frustration, anger, or hurt, all because society has decided that they have put up with your "hippie feeding" for long enough.  Well as a mom too many times you have to hear your child cry when there's nothing you can do about it, so when it was hour 3 of crying I just thought, what the hell am I doing?  He just needs to nurse.  It's not like when he starts school he'll be excused from class so I can nurse him for his morning snack, or when he's married his wife will have to move over in bed so I can breastfeed him back to sleep.

Breastfeeding  is so beautiful and I'll never be this close to my baby again so why not cherish if for as long as he likes, or at least until he's not getting six teeth at a time?  Oh yeah did I forget to mention, little man #2 is teething and we're not talking, oh look he got one incisor, no no no, he get's two canines his back molars and a couple more random teeth in a week.  Since this post is brutally honest I might also mention that he had horrendous allergies, (wheezing, coughing, can't sleep due to his runny nose allergies) and a cold last week.  So yeah, also cutting him from the one thing that was providing him comfort, there's no way that that was gonna happen successfully.  I know that he's not nursing for nutrition, he eats like a horse, I mean he clears his plate and then moves onto everyone else's, so obviously the nursing is just emotional support and comfort which why would I deprive him of that, no matter how many dirty looks I get??

The worst thing is, it's not just men that hate on breastfeeding, it's woman.  My fellow sex has the most haters that I've encountered.  I've had everything from awkward stares and glares to laughter to just plan old shakes of the head, like, 'are you seriously going to pull your breast out to sooth that child?' And they mostly come from women which is sad because we should be building each other up.  So I say to all the moms out there, support each other but mostly You Go Girl, for taking on the hardest job in the world, and questioning every decision you make when it comes to your kids, and for just being awesome.  You're doing a great job.  That is the type of conversations we fellow moms should be having with one another, not the "Oh you're still nursing," or "You're kid still sleeps in bed with you,"  "They're still wearing diapers," that kinda trash doesn't belong in our vocabularies, because we all know we're killing ourselves for our kids so when you see a fellow  mom out there with stains all over her clothes and gum in her hair trying to wrangle three kids, a stroller and a carseat, just smile and say, "hang in there sister, they'll be outta the house some day."  Don't judge because we're all just doing the best we can.

On FREAKIN Sesame Street!!

I don't know when nursing became so taboo but it seems to me to be ridiculous.  I just really wanted to publish this post because other women out there should know that it's nothing to be ashamed of, if you're nursing a toddler you're not alone and you're not weird or stunting your child's development.  You're loving your baby and last I checked we all could use some more love in the world.