Welcome, Carnival of Breastfeeding readers! The topic for this carnival is “Beginnings and endings”. My post is about the process of weaning a toddler.
I found myself wondering, after reading Tara’s post, Weaning a toddler while pregnant, how many women need advice like this? What percentage of women are still breastfeeding a toddler and what percentage of those toddler nursing moms are willing to endure the pain of nursing, due to sore nipples from pregnancy, in order to continue breastfeeding? I would guess very few.
When my son was nearing a year, friends and family started asking me how long I planned to nurse. They also tried to convince me that my son didn’t need the breastmilk anymore. A very good friend of mine even told me that I had to “cut the cord” and that breastfeeding “had no nutritional value” after a year. The funny thing is that at one point of my life (prior to having a child) I believed that.
It is true that breastmilk comprises less of a baby’s overall diet as it grows and begins to eat a variety of foods, but it is certainly not true that breastmilk loses its nutritional value.
“Breast milk continues to provide substantial amounts of key nutrients well beyond the first year of life, especially protein, fat, and most vitamins.” (Dewey 2001)
Welcome Carnival-of-Breastfeeding readers! This is my first post for the carnival and I do hope you enjoy it and the rest of the site. Check out the other carnival entries at the end of the post!
Here are my thoughts on breastfeeding and sleep…
When our son was an infant he slept in a bassinet next to my husband’s side of the bed. I couldn’t have him too near to me because his every move and squeak would rouse me from my sleep, heart racing. That is, if I was lucky enough to be asleep. For much of the night, I would lay awake, waiting for the next breastfeeding session.
When he grew older, we assembled his crib and placed it at the foot of our bed. He spent a few nights in it, until I read Dr. Sears’s The Baby Sleep Book (see side bar). The book convinced me the best place for my son to sleep was between his parents. Sears makes many convincing arguments as to why your kid should sleep next to you: breastfeeding is more comfortable and easier to do, baby will sleep better, SIDS risk is lower, etc. So I lifted my beautifully sleeping child out of his crib, which we started using to store clothes and blankets.
If I wore earplugs, I could block out his sweet little noises and actually get some sleep. Breastfeeding was easy. He would just fuss a little, find my breast and then we could both go back to sleep. However, it wasn’t until he was 3 months old that I could actually lay down and nurse him. Before that time, we didn’t line up very well, which made it painful to nurse. For the most part, this sleeping arrangement worked out well for us. My husband and I enjoy cuddling up next to him at night, quietly taking turns mimicking the funny things he said during the day. There have been times, however, when the “co-sleeping†arrangement breaks down and none of us get enough rest at night.
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