No Pressure

Welcome to the Breastfeeding Support Blog Party! Bloggers around the world have gathered together to share posts which provide current or soon-to-be breastfeeding mothers with a wealth of well-researched information, personal stories, and statistics designed to help you have the most successful breastfeeding experience possible. Be sure to scroll to the bottom of this post to learn more about this movement as well as to link to and read more informative breastfeeding support posts.

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I really like the ideas behind child led introduction to solids. I give Spencer some of whatever we're eating. He may or may not manage to chew and swallow much, that depends on what we have and how much he likes it. This gives me another reason to appreciate child led weaning. Some days, especially if Spencer naps through a mealtime, he doesn't get offered much food. Since Spencer is still getting most of his nutrition from breastmilk, I'm not pressured to worry over what, how much, and in what balance of food he actually ingests. I know Spencer is getting what he needs, regardless of what and how much he eats.

Sasha loves cantaloupe! (at 7mo and still at 3½yo)
Spencer just tried cantaloupe last night, wish I'd taken pics!

When Spencer has been sick, breastmilk is the easiest thing to keep down. It is nutrition and hydration, all in one. It can't be beat! I once asked a doctor if I needed to give my sick baby a pediatric electrolyte drink. He said that it couldn't beat breastmilk and to just keep doing what I was doing!

Spencer, waiting to see the Endocrinologist

The comfort of child led weaning is also important to me. Spencer has several extra medical appointments for health problems. Sometimes the procedures are unpleasant or Spencer just doesn't like people messing with him. I always have the most comfort-providing activity / comfort food available to him. Sometimes I even nurse him while a doctor checks him. It keeps him still and content. Nothing else would be as soothing, not even being held by me.

I am so thankful that I've been able to nurse all of my children. I am thankful for their health. And I am thankful for the bond provided by nursing my babies.

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This gathering of breastfeeding support comes in response to the Weston A. Price Foundation’s (WAPF) continued stance on breastfeeding, with which we all have great concern. While the WAPF does support breastfeeding as the best option for feeding babies, it does so with a caveat. Breastfeeding mothers must follow the strict tenants of the WAPF diet and mothers who are not following their nutrient dense diet recommendations would be better off feeding their babies homemade formula (based on the WAPF recipe). In addition, they are outspoken against using donor milk.

The bloggers sharing posts today are concerned with the confusion this may cause breastfeeding mothers. Not only does research support the myriad of health benefits of breast milk for babies regardless of the mother’s diet, it also outlines additional benefits of breastfeeding such as better bonding, deeper trust, and a long list of other emotional benefits. Let’s not forget the health benefits for moms!

We will have a complete list of all the blog posts published today (as part of this Blog Party) in a separate post on Sunday, March 31st. We welcome you to join this blog party by linking up your own new and previously published posts which focus on any positive aspect of breastfeeding and breast milk. Please enter using the Linky Tool which can be found at Hybrid Rasta Mama, Cooking Traditional Foods, Whole New Mom, Alternative Parenting, or African Babies Don’t Cry. (All links will be subject to moderation. Any link not following the spirit of the Blog Party will be removed.)

Breastfeeding has been Downhill

Welcome to the August edition of Authentic Parenting Blog Carnival: Breastfeeding.

This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Authentic Parenting Blog Carnival hosted by The Positive Parenting Connection and Authentic Parenting. As August is Breastfeeding awareness month, our participants are writing about this exact subject! Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.


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I hadn't announced until the day my first was born that I planned to breastfeed her. My stepmother was a little annoyed that she hadn't been informed. The funny thing was that she and my dad each picked out a t-shirt for me that afternoon... not thinking about the breastfeeding factor. (You just wore button up shirts to breastfeed back then.)

Boundaries & Nursing

Nursing Limits was my last update on my nursing relationship with Sasha. At that time, I was allowing Sasha to nurse for 15 minutes at bedtime and 10 minutes for naps. She has since dropped naps almost entirely. She only takes a nap when she needs one. Usually that means she falls asleep on her own.

At bedtime... I found myself fighting not to short change her time. If 15 minutes was really 13-14, I went ahead and dropped it to 10. Then that got dropped incrementally until it was 5. We also started using a set bedtime every night. I hate schedules, so I have been really amazed at how well that has worked! We started with 9 o'clock, but I soon discovered she was ready to sleep at 8 o'clock! On days when she naps, I let her stay up a little later.

It was difficult to find a balance of meeting her needs as well as my own boundaries. We stuck with 5 minutes for a while. A few times her latch hurt so I'd have her stop to re-latch. She would usually let go, then just hold my nipple in her mouth.

Now, we're not even counting minutes. She got to where she'd only nurse for about 20 seconds, then she'd switch to just pressing her open mouth against my breast. I don't even think you could call it holding the nipple. She doesn't even touch it.

I've been obsessively wanting to make it to her 3rd birthday, but wasn't sure I could stand it. Our current system looks more like this: I hold her while she has my breast available to hold in her mouth (which she does) while I sing 2 lullabies. They're short, though I don't get the same aversion feelings anymore. Then I tuck her into bed and sing 1 more lullaby while stroking her hair. She has definitely mastered going to sleep on her own, though she usually wants a drink of water at some point.

Her birthday is next month! We'll make it and then I plan to ease her off the breast entirely. I feel a bit more confidence that we'll manage it with minimal trauma. We'll discuss it and probably switch to holding and singing or maybe to reading a book. While I love the idea of bedtime reading, I feel like holding and singing is more... bonding.

There are so many different tactics and approaches to weaning (or not). Take what works for you. Try different things. My biggest advice is not to discount your own boundaries. If you hate every second of nursing, that isn't a healthy situation for you or your nursling. I have definitely survived some very unhealthy nursing sessions! Meanwhile, Spencer is still EBF at 7 months old now.

I no longer offer the breast for booboos. Come to think of it, it doesn't even occur to me anymore. She doesn't ask for Mommy Milk all day anymore and I no longer feel guilty for nursing Spencer in front of her. These are all wonderful outcomes from setting my boundaries. We must value our own comfort level. Meeting our babies' needs doesn't have to have to come at such a great cost.

Please, for World Breastfeeding Week, share with me tales of your own gentle (or not so gentle) weaning experiences.

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I’m celebrating World Breastfeeding Week with Natural Parents Network!

You can, too — link up your breastfeeding posts from August 1-7 in the linky below, and enjoy reading, commenting on, and sharing the posts collected here and on Natural Parents Network.

(Visit NPN for the code to place on your blog.)

Nursing Limits

Welcome to the Carnival of Weaning: Weaning - Your Stories

This post was written for inclusion in the Carnival of Weaning hosted by Code Name: Mama and Aha! Parenting. Our participants have shared stories, tips, and struggles about the end of the breastfeeding relationship.

When Spencer was born, I continued to let Sasha nurse all she wanted, but had to set limits as far as timing. I'd been warned several times to make sure to feed the newborn first. That task was nigh impossible! Sometimes they'd nurse 1 hour apart, so then who really nursed first?

Who nurses first if you're
literally tandem nursing?

Night Weaning - Week 3 of 3

Click here to read Week 1 of 3 and Week 2 of 3, if you haven't already.

Night 15

Despite sleeping in and having a decent nap, Sasha started crying for milk at 8:30. I was in the middle of getting Spencer to sleep, though. Then Sasha helped me make a batch of dough for Mama Jeeper's Oatmeal Lactation Breakfast Bars and we didn't finish until 10:30. She nursed, but not to sleep. We tried again an hour later, though she set her bear on Spencer, getting him started waking up.

She almost got to sleep on that second try. I find myself getting irritated when it doesn't work quickly, but I did let her nurse for only 5-10 minutes. I was hungry, too, and don't like to step out of our room for food when she is still awake.

The third try was a charm, but she didn't get to sleep until after midnight. I went to bed at about 1 and Sasha woke up shortly after 2. She settled really easily after going potty! Then she slept for... SEVEN hours!! Without help!

Night Weaning - Week 2 of 3

Click here to read Week 1 of 3 if you haven't already.

Night 8

Sasha was asleep by about 9:15. She woke shortly before midnight. It didn't take long to settle her back down to sleep. She woke up again at 2. Then she slept through to 7:30. She asked nicely for milk... and the sun was up... I caved. I hoped she might go back to sleep, so I felt like I shouldn't cave. I felt pretty awful because I said no the day before at the exact same time. But then she didn't go back to sleep... so it really was good morning milk, even though we didn't call it that.

Night 9

Sasha had a nap! At about 3:30 in the afternoon. She asked for night night milk by 11, but was wide-eyed through nursing for about 10 minutes. She wound up sitting at the head of her bed and falling asleep, holding her bear. She was asleep by 11:30.

Night Weaning - Week 1 of 3

I am absolutely stubborn-headed against weaning my toddler. I am all for children leading the way on weaning, weaning themselves. However, sleep has become a major issue! Since moving (we think that is the starting point), Sasha has been waking every hour or two (or three, if I'm lucky!). She wants to nurse back to sleep every time. I don't have a problem nursing her back to sleep, its the waking so often that is killing me. She wakes up more often than Spencer!

So, we took her to the new pediatrician. I talked to my Natural Parenting mom friends. I talked to my older mom friends. I talked to Sasha's first pediatrician (our OB/Family doc). They all had pretty much the same advice: stop letting her have milk in the middle of the night. When the first doctor suggested it, my knee-jerk reaction was an emphatic no. However, as more and more people supported this idea... I had to consider it. One dear friend suggested I commit to trying for two weeks and then reevaluate.

Finally, I jumped into it one night, which is how I tend to do things. It was a Monday night (leading into what is my husband's Monday). That may not have been my best choice. She soon rolled over and called out "No" in her sleep.