I've decided I want to do this.
It's just something that... grew within me. And with me reading my twitter-stream(2) and interacting with the amazing parents I follow, from all over the western world my knowledge and appreciation of this way of breastfeeding grew.
My first goal is getting to 12 months, and since I've already reached 7 months and two weeks with BB I've only got 2,5 weeks and 4 months after that. At one year BB will one of the 17,4% (15% in my part of the country. 16,3% in my city) of Swedish babies who are breastfed at one year. Beyond that there is no official statistics.(3)
My second personal goal is 2 years. This is about the time when I will hit the age of full term breastfeeding. Since there are no statistics, we don't know how many Swedish 2 year olds are breastfed. We don't know how many mothers do full term breastfeeding.
So, I'm looking for support. Both in the main-stream parenting-forum I sometimes visit, and in a more alternative, Baby wearing, forum. I might already have some leads.
A lot of things can happen. I know that. But if I don't even decide if I want to do this I can't even begin to make strategies of how I can support my and BB:s breastfeeding relationship. I've started telling people. That I plan on doing this, that it's intentional, that I both know, and know of mothers who have done this. I can always ask my Persian co-workers. A lot of them have experience.
Do you have stories or advice for me?
11 kommentarer:
I am nursing my son and he is 23 months old. When I started, my goal was to beat my mom's record: she breastfed me for 18 months, which in the late 70s was NOT the norm. I will admit there are times when I am ready to be done and wish he would self-wean, but there are so many times when breastfeeding comes in handy that I'm glad we're still going strong.
I nursed my oldest to almost 3 years, my 2nd to about 3 1/2 years. I'd had enough by then, especially being 4 months pregnant, so I weaned him as gently as I could. 3 years is about my limit, I think. @devaskyla
Blacktating, I can relate to wanting to beat my mom. To do that I have to get to 17 months, that's her total, counting all children she had if I understand her correctly.
So then it would be these goals next: 1. 12 months, 2. 17 months, 3. 24 months.
devaskyla: Wow, 3 years. How cool! What was the most difficult thing to handle? What was the biggest advantage?
Congratulations on making this very important decision for you and your baby. It provides such important benefits for you both, health, emotionally, everything. Studies show that the longer a woman breastfeeds, the more she lowers her risk for many cancers and other diseases (compared to not breastfeeding) and of course it lowers the risks for illness for your child. Beyond that, it just makes your child feel safe and comfortable and what parent doesn't want that?
I nursed my daughter to 23 months and plan to go even longer with her brother if he so desires. Everyone says that nursing a toddler is not the same as nursing an infant. I found that partly true but unfortunately my daughter is a milk junkie: she wanted to nurse ALL the time, popping on for a few minutes here. However, I would say that she was a pretty rare case as most moms of nursing toddlers I know told me their kid could go days at a time without asking to nurse. One tip I do have is that as your child gets older, they have a tendency to get a little lazy with the latch so encourage your daughter to open her mouth wide and latch on like when she was a baby.
Having a support network of other moms who are nursing past a year is really important because there are only so many times you can hear "you're STILL nursing?" Look for this support online AND offline. Good idea to look to Persian moms. Muslim moms are a good resource too. I believe the Koran says women should breastfeed for two years. You may also find that a lot of women are closet full term nursers. Also when kids get past a certain age, they seem to prefer to nurse at home to public so keep an open mind as to who's weaned and who's just like you!
Expect other women to look to you as a role model too since there are so few moms who nurse past a year.
I love the term "full-term nursing" bravo! You will look back and feel so proud of your accomplishment and feel that no matter what colds or flues etc. hit that you gave your baby the best start. You have a lot of us moms cheering you on!
Good for you! I wished I'd been able to go full term with my son. YOU CAN DO IT! :-D
That Danielle: Thank you, thank you! They say that comments are love, so I feel loved. I don't have a higher cancer risk than any other women, but I do believe in the immense benefits my child can take emotionally from full term nursing. Also, when she goes to day care, maybe my nursing her can prevent some of the infections she's likely to be exposed to?
I found out that another woman from "my" group of moms is also interest in going for full term! So I at least know someone in real life interested in doing the same journey.
My Persian colleagues aren't very muslim, but yes, the quote is "The mothers shall give suck to their offspring for two whole years, if the father desires to complete the term" (SURAH ABAQARAH:233, which also says weaning is also fine) so for them it's quite normal.
I hope I can be a role model, without being over bearing.
Bettina: I feel like I'm at the start now, and starting to get curious about the continuing journey. ;-)
marfmom: Thank you! Yeah, I can do it. :-)
I breast fed my youngest son until he was two years old. It was hard to stop, because he didn´t like passifier or porridge. I had to give him water at bedtime to make him sleep. But he´s a very healthy boy today, as his soon going to be thirteen. :)
Kesomackan: Since you're also Swedish I think know what that must have been like, and am impressed.
No passifier here either, never needed one.
I will be trying the same. And people already start asking now - "are you still breastfeeding?" - while my son is just 9 months old.
I really love the term "full-term breastfeeding" as well. Extended breastfeeding always sounds like "more than necessary", but this sounds just right - full term.
Very interested in your experiences, I will read here a lot in the future as well. For me, I am a little anxious about going back to work two months from now, I don't know whether this will harm our nursing relationship, but I hope not. He is eating lots during the day and will hopefully get by with nursing during night/morning.
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