Another Pat on the Shoulder

So I am very proud of myself. Why, you ask. Well in a few weeks Matthew will be one and I will have successfully breastfeed him for his entire first year. Many of you who are not parents are probably not impressed and that's ok. But I am! And so is his pediatrician, because I am a righty only! ;)


When I was pregnant with Devon I read at least a half a dozen baby books (and many more afterward). I was 21, and had no clue what to expect. I remember asking my doctor for recommendations because on most topics they were all the same but with others there seemed to be a divide. None of the authors philosophies really felt right. She told me she loved Dr Sears and had actually met him. So I checked him out and he changed my life.


The man has raised 8 kids who turned out great and he's a pediatrician. And to top it all off, his wife is a midwife. That coupled right there is an impressive combo. And you know what's funny? At the time my OB was married to a pediatrician who was Devon's doctor while we lived in Nacogdoches, just like the Sear's. Crazy.


Thanks to Dr. Sears ideals I was able to comfortably breastfeed Devon, in Nacogdoches of all places. God forbid Devon ever got hungry in public. People would give me dirty looks, and I can remember at least one time someone told me what I was doing was "disgusting." It made me very timid and I just avoided going out except for short periods when I knew she wouldn't get hungry. If she did get hungry I would nurse her in bathrooms, dressing rooms or in my car.
Nursing Matthew has been a much more pleasant experience. I live in a hippie city where it is the norm to breastfeed so many places have areas for nursing. And I can't recall even a negative glance.

Now Devon weaned herself at around nine months. It was a sad time, I was a little disappointed in myself that I didn't go the whole 12 months. So I told myself if I had another kiddo then I would do my best to make it 12 months. Well, Matthew has made this too easy because except for a couple of bottles in his very early months he has refused formula. And I do mean refuse. I tried to put some formula in a sippy cup and he chunked it at me. Chunked!!

So all of that to say, his first birthday is quickly approaching and it will be time to go through the dreaded process of weaning. Well, I don't really know if it is dreaded I've just heard that it's rough. Luckily his pediatrician is a big breastfeeding advocate so she can give me the scoop on what it will do to me. Because I still love it. I love the closeness. How he still 11 months later will just stare into my eyes, with love just pouring out of them. It is the only thing that I have been able to give him that no one else can.

I am purely fascinated at how my body knows exactly what to make for him. His own personal meals created only for him, changing as his needs change. It's remarkable! So I'm ready for the weaning advice to just pour on me, cause Lord knows I need it. I've been slowly replacing nursing meals with baby food, so he only nurses 5 times a day now. I'm pretty certain that the nap and bedtime nursings will be the last to go, and probably the hardest. Uhg. I just got to get the little engine mentality, "I think I can, I think I can."