Ella and I are having a battle. I tell her to "wait and we'll have more-more in a little while", sometimes she looses interest and sometimes she insists "Ella needs more-more. Peease mommy?" I always give in when she insists, it's just too heartfelt to ignore. Ella still has a little round baby face and dimples where her wrists should be, but when she lays in my lap her legs dangle far further than is comfortable for either of us and I'm afraid as her face thins so does my patience for breast feeding. Ella proclaims herself a "little girl" and "not a baby anymore", but has no idea what these phrases have in store for her. That's ok she'll have a lifetime to figure it out, for now we are happy nestled into the 'boo chair' keeping each other warm, but spring is comming.
Enjoy this comic strip at Raising WEG
Selkie says it all with Old Enough to Ask and Smoking, No. Nursing, Yes.
11 comments:
Hi,
Not to worry. Alex has taken to calling them "green and orange boobies." He wants a turn on both sides. One is never enough. An equal opportunity man if ever there was one.
He is always looking for "one more drop." We are flying over to see Teresa in late May. Hoping to have him weaned by then. Can't you imagine other passengers faces if he starts demanding some breast milk?!!! A two year old. Doesn't bear thinking about. Be good, Olivia
I really enjoyed the links to Selkie’s site. She is obviously well-educated and passionate about the subject of breastfeeding without being one of the outlandish women who declare that the lack of modern day breastfeeding will eliminate the human race in its entirety or compare formula to Coca-Cola (seriously, I read this in an article). Selkie declared herself as someone who asks society to respect her choice as she respects theirs, “You're welcome to your opinion, and I would never presume to tell you what to do in your own family.”
Then, towards the end of one of the postings on her site I read this, “Babies who don't get their mothers' milk are more likely to get sick and die than babies who do.” There is a link that takes you to a National Health and Human services article citing medical research supporting such a statement.
By no means do I question the validity of her statement. Some may say, she is just stating the facts. I just question what I, as a mother who chose to not breastfeed, am supposed to conclude from that statement. This is what I interpreted was being said to me, “I say I respect your choice but believe you to be knowingly putting your child in harms way, not caring if they get sick and die”. I felt waves of guilt, which some may see as appropriate; “Good, you should feel bad, you are a horrible mother”. Somehow this total stranger betrayed me. She said she would never tell me what to do, but then declared what I do is putting my children at risk to be sick and die.
Then I gathered my senses and reminded myself that it is a choice. My choice. Just as breastfeeding Ella is Jenny’s choice, for as long as she chooses. Would it not be condescending of me to declare, “I respect your choice, but here are all of the reasons why I believe it’s wrong”?
Am I respecting her choice if I do that?
I'm sure passengers would rather you fed him and kept him calm. Especially with all the ruckus a two year old is capable of in a tiny cabin at 40,000 feet.
Oh I hope you'll have time to visit with us when your here.
Tater Tot raises a couple of good questions and then as always brings in into focus.
1. I always try to respect other people’s decisions about raising children. When it comes to circumcision or breast feeding – that’s all you, I have an opinion but it only applies to my kids.
2. Our babies are more at risk from riding in the car with us than anything else. In Gambia the number one killer is Pneumococcal Disease (Strep throat) and I’m not even going to bring up statistics on children killed in war.
3. Unfortunately, I can find a study to back any fact. See “TESTS SHOW BABIES GET DOSES OF TOXINS IN MOMS' BREAST MILK” By Kay Lazar, Boston Herald, May 20, 2003. Making media unreliable and sometimes unbelievable.
4. Tater Tot’s kids are wonderful and KJT’s kids who have been raised quite differently are equally wonderful and I have the priviledge of knowing and experiencing both their child rearing skills and I get to take the bits that fit my life and apply them to my parenting. So I guess, key here is – no wrong way, as long as one is imformed and caring.
Jamie sent the following e-mail. Thank you for the response and clarification Jamie.
Jenny, I was trying to leave you a comment and I'm
having browser trouble. I decided to stop trying
because I didn't want Blogger to wake up suddenly and
post it five times. Here's what it said:
Hi, Jenny, and thanks for the link. Wanted to respond
to Tatertot's comment: I'm sorry that sentence caused
such a strong reaction for you.
One of the hard things about breastfeeding advocacy is
balancing the science about populations (unequivocally
in favor of breastfeeding) and the reality facing
individual women (there are lots of reasons why
mothers make different choices). I think it is
outrageous for newspapers to print stories suggesting
that infant feeding choices don't really matter when
the evidence is clear to the contrary. That's a whole
different ballgame from bashing another woman's
individual decisions.
When I see a mother bottle-feeding her baby, all I
know for sure is that I am not in her shoes. There
are a whole lot of reasons why she could be giving
that baby a bottle, and it is not my business which
ones come into play for her. Making a statement about
morbidity/mortality stats isn't the same as bashing
individuals who formula-feed.
Parenting is full of risk. The goal is not to
minimize all risk, all the time; the goal is to do
what's best for your family in the big picture. I
understand sometimes that means bottle-feeding.
Yours cordially,
Jamie
P.S. I wrote another post on the same topic back when
I first started writing about bfing:
http://selkie.typepad.com/selkie/2004/07/accentuate_the__1.html
Thank you for the link to your other post. I enjoyed it very much.
I laughed out loud at the phrase 'nipple nazi'
You could get pasties with swastika's on them.
Did you know swastika's are banned entirely in Europe?
I only know this from a ‘painting of toy soldiers’ point of view.
Glad to hear you ladies have such open minds. I breastfeed my first duaghter until she asked to stop at the age of 15 months. I breastfeed my second daughter for six months until it was discovered she had an allergy to my protein. The only time I had any trouble with either was on a visit to Los Angeles when in the space of 30 minutes while I was breastfeeding in a shopping centre no less than five people came up to tell me not to do that in public. I told each one of them to fuck off, and to their credit, they all did :D
Thank you for mentioning *my* parenting skills. I had a mom - friend over who has 3 children aged 13-2, and she was somewhat shocked that I was still nursing son #2, (who is 2) and that son #1 went until almost 3 1/2 until he stopped. I feel so strongly about this issue, and I know it polarizes people, so unless my opinion is asked for, I don't really give it. However, if I am, I am the font of information. Breastfeeding my children has bonded us in such a way that I can't imagine any other relationship (especially as babies). My oldest son's immune system is incredible and I credit that to nursing. It is a choice, just like letting your child watch Sponge Bob or CSI...you just go with your gut. the Mothering Instinct outs when it comes to parenting. Ultimately you know best what works for you and your family. :)
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