Extended Breastfeeding

I love nursing my newborns.  There is just something about it that is so special.  Their sweet smell, little hands, and tiny heads all bundled up into one precious package swaddled in a warm blanket. 

Ahh...I look back on those days and smile.  Two of my girls have never drank a bottle, only nursed.  I'm proud that I stuck with it, and didn't give up especially during the first 2 weeks.  But when is it time to stop?  I stopped nursing Celeste when she was 17 months because I found out baby #3 was on the way. 

I have heard that you can nurse while pregnant, but I have a really good friend, who is an L&D nurse, tell me it was a risk.  One that I wasn't willing to take.  So weaned at 17 months was my sweet Celeste.  She was not happy for the first 2 days, but after that she was just fine with her sippy cup, which by the way is filled everynight with warm milk.  When Trinity came she was in the NICU for a few days so nursing was a challenge with a tube down her throat, and a nasal cannula.  I was determined to nurse her, and after a while she did great.   Now she is almost 19 months, and still nurses.

I was at the doctor yesterday, and he was writing out my prescription for an antibiotic, and he said, "Your not breastfeeding right now are you?"  I said, "Uh....yes".  He said, "Well do you want to stop because the antibiotic I'm about to perscribe you will start making you feel better faster but you can't breastfeed."  I thought well, yeah I want to stop,  who wants a big girl always pulling on your shirt in public, or calling out to the entire church that she wants to nurse, or a big girl who wakes me up all night because she is thirsty.  But then I thought, what about all those nights she isn't feeling well, and nursing soothes her, or when she is completely exhausted and just wants to be close to mom, or on a cold night when we snuggle and she breastfeeds?  It's not that I don't want to stop because I know I can't nurse forever (like the eskimos who nurse till their children are 15, or that lady in Europe who nurses her 9 year old).  "We are just not ready"  I told the doctor.  He said, "No YOU are not ready".  So true.  I want to keep my baby girl a baby.  I want to hold her at night and watch her fall asleep while nursing.  I want to still wrap her up in that warm blanket that she had as a newborn (feet sticking out and all).  I want to remember the "last time".  May sound crazy to some, but you will never know hard it really is to stop until you have nursed your baby.  One day she will be 16 and driving me crazy, and I know I will look at my husband, and say, "I wish she was still a baby".  So when we are ready, and yes I said WE, WE will stop, and hopefully later on down the road the Lord will bless us with another one that I can share that special bond with.