If you don’t want to read about nursing, today’s a good day to take a break from the beautiful letdown.

First, nursing bras. Who makes these things? Why do they all sag? I have yet to find a nursing bra with good support. Even when I take the little adjuster things (the plastic clasps on the bra that make the straps longer or shorter) and push them over the back of my shoulders, I am still not getting decent support. I have been wearing nursing bras since November of 2005, and I’m still unimpressed. Any suggestions?

Secondly, nursing in winter. I need some new winter clothes or something. Nursing in clothes that keep me warm is a tough job! Sweatshirts are too bulky. Some of my undershirts are a little too tight. Some shirts don’t work out that well with a nursing tanktop. Sigh… Apparently, I’ve been having apparel issues lately.

Next, falling asleep while nursing. Neither of my boys have ever been the nurse to sleep type. A did for a while, but he stopped that quite a while ago. K never really nursed to sleep even as an infant. I’m not sure if it was the turkey or what, but in the past few days, both K and A have fallen asleep in my arms while nursing. It’s such a sweet feeling. They’re just so sweet and pure and loving.

Then, there’s three years of nursing and almost eighteen months of tandem nursing. After three years of nursing K and about 18 months of nursing K and A, I’m starting to feel ready for K to get ready to wean. At this point, I don’t think that I will do anything about my feelings. If K isn’t ready to wean, I won’t push him. I’ve considered limiting the number of times he nurses in a day, but I don’t think that’s fair to him. If he did it out of boredom or habit, I might consider it. I don’t think he does though. I think he really needs to nurse in order to reestablish a connection with me. This morning, my parents were up with the boys while Jason and I got a bit more sleep (thanks a lot, Mom and Dad, we appreciate it). I heard Kael outside the door at one point asking for “mommy milk.” I heard him asking for me a while later just as I was about to get up. When I came out to the living room, he said, “Kael needed you. My wanted mommy milk to feel better.” Now, really, how can I argue with that? I don’t, because I know he’s telling me the truth.

Finally, support. I have the best family. They are all great about the nursing and tandem nursing. My mom nursed me for at least a year and a half. She nursed my brother until he was almost three. She’s always been very supportive of the boys nursing. She encouraged me to check out the local breastfeeding support group which I have really enjoyed, and she was a huge help when both of the boys were newborns. She sat up with me and helped me with diaper changes and burping. WONDERFUL! I know that some people are fortunate enough to have support when their babies are young, but as the baby grows, their support fades away and they hear “when are you going to start that baby on formula/solds/cows milk?” or “when are you going to stop nursing?” I have yet to hear either of those questions. Of course, my boys both eat solids, but I *never* get asked when I’m going to wean! That means a lot to me. Also, over the weekend, my parents stayed here as did my brother and sister-in-law. They don’t have kids yet, so I’m not really sure what their thoughts on nursing are, but I would never have had any reason to suspect they are anything but positive and accepting. K nursed several times over the weekend, and A nursed MANY times. In fact, he nursed a couple times at the dinner table on Thursday during our Thanksgiving dinner, and no one batted an eye.

I found out today that I have been listed on a list of the top 100 pediatric health blogs. Wow! That’s very exciting! Thanks, Kelly! I’m #78.

Since I have been having a harder time thinking of topics related to breastfeeding, I was wondering if you have any specific topics you want me to write about. My posts tend to be broad and shallow, so I can go into more depth in an area if there are any requests. Let me know.

Since he was born, A has been sleeping in our room. He slept in a pack n play for a while. Then, for a while, he slept with us. Then, back into the pack n play. Last week, we decided to move him into a crib in the same room as K. I thought that it would be a rough transition for A. He’s always been a baby who needed to be close to Jason and to myself. I figured it would take two good weeks before we could tell how things were going. Well, he surprised us. After a couple initial struggles, he has done just wonderfully. He nurses. Then, Jason takes him to bed where he lays down and falls asleep. K has been struggling with the transition more though. Unfortunately, I think this came at a bad time for him. He’s also at a stage where he’s kind of ready to start potty learning. He’s not able to get through the day without a nap, but if he does take a nap, then he struggles to fall asleep. I think that having both of those things to deal with and this transition of A moving into his room has been tough on him. Poor guy. I’ve been trying to give him some extra love and mommy time. He has ramped his nursing up, too. Now, I just have to laugh at my worries a few months ago that he wouldn’t still be nursing at 3. I think he nursed 5 or 6 times yesterday, and 3 or 4 today. Sometimes, I wonder if A will wean before K.

Yes, I know that sounds silly. I’m sure a lot of people I know read my blog. When I started this blog, though, most of the people who read it were online friends or people who just happened to stumble upon it somehow or were married to me. Tonight, I was talking to my friend, Erin, and she said that she met someone at a craft show or fair that had heard of her products from my blog! She tried to describe her to me, and I’m wondering if it was Crystal, but I don’t know for sure. Was it you, Crystal?

Most of you who know me know that I’m always up for a good parenting, breastfeeding, or most any other topic discussion. In fact, last night, a friend told me that she thought I would do a good job working for QVC as a host of one of their shows! She said I could just sit and talk about anything!!! I had a good laugh over that one. So, my point is that when I started this blog, it was an outlet for some of those thoughts that other people get sick of hearing. Not everyone in my life wants to talk about breastfeeding and blood donation or why I choose to nurse a 3 year old and a 1 year old or the latest breastfeeding book or blog that I came across. There are lots of thoughts in my head, and sometimes the audience for these thoughts just isn’t there, so it’s times like those when I let it out on my blog.

Lately I’ve been thinking that I need to spend more time writing about nursing, tandem nursing, extended nursing, and other thoughts on those topics. This is a breastfeeding blog, right? I just seem to have a writer’s block in that area though. I told Jason tonight, the reason that it is harder for me to write about nursing now is that it just is. What do I mean by that? Both K and A are nursing regularly. They’re both nursing well. They are both able to get what they need, and I am able to feel like my boundaries and needs are respected. I don’t feel like I have any angst to share with you about this!

I suppose that could be a topic in itself, right? Tandem nursing for almost 16 months, and nursing for 36 months straight, and happy with my choice and how things are going. (Terrible grammar and sentence structure there) So, it’s likely that I will be spending less time writing about nursing and other nursing issues for the time being. Maybe if Baby #3 rolls around at some point (in the distant future), I will have more to say about it again.
Until then, how about a picture of K tandem nursing Baby Ellie and Mr. Monkey

Nursing Baby Ellie and Mr. Monkey

to tide you over?

Wow! I never thought that K would actually be a 3 year old. I also never thought that he would be a breastfeeding 3 year old. When he was born, my initial goal was 6 weeks. Then, I thought 3 months would be doable. After that, I decided to follow his cues.

K has always been a child who needed a lot of physical contact. He likes to be held. He likes to hold hands. He likes to climb into my lap and play. For him, I think that nursing has been more about physical contact and reconnecting than the milk. Of course, he likes the milk. When I recently went on a weekend trip, I left frozen milk primarily for A, but I think that K drank as much as A did. Some people crave Coca-Cola. Some people like milk or water or beer. K LOVES a glass of “mommy milk.” In fact, the first time I gave him a cup of pumped milk, he stood in the kitchen and chugged it. When he was done, there was milk running down his face. Jason and I were laughing so hard. Now, if I’m going to be gone at bedtime, he’s on the lookout for a glass of milk.

I have gotten some looks and some unsupportive comments about my choice to 1) nurse K for almost 3 years and 2) do that while tandem nursing A (15 months). If I’m honest, I think that it makes me sad more than anything else that people think that there’s something weird, wrong, or odd about our choices. I don’t think that everyone should or can nurse for 3+ years or tandem nurse. I just wish that people would realize that it’s an option and it’s not as crazy as it sounds.

Welcome to the September Breastfeeding Carnival! Thanks for visiting, and be sure to read all the way to the end of my post so you can visit others who have shared their thoughts on Learning to Breastfeed.

When I was pregnant with my first child, I knew I wanted to breastfeed. I did some reading. I searched the internet for what I felt were informative articles. By the time my breastfeeding class at the hospital rolled around I felt pretty confident. My confidence increased when I went to the class. She didn’t tell me one thing in an almost two hour class that I didn’t already know! I knew I was going to be able to do it. As a sort of insurance, I found a breastfeeding forum/message board and asked if there was anything else I should do to be prepared or informed. The answers were pretty run-of-the-mill. “Just keep on going!” “Don’t let anyone talk you into quitting.” “You can do it!” I knew that I was set.

When K was born, I had a bit of a surprise. Maybe shock is a better word. He was born nearly 4 weeks early and he wouldn’t latch. He looked at my breast. He half-heartedly opened his mouth. Then, he fell asleep. What?!? This wasn’t the plan. He was supposed to know what to do, because I had done my part to get informed about breastfeeding. Well, after three days in the hospital, we were discharged. I had a nipple shield and a baby who ate for 45-60 minutes every 3 hours. Not exactly fitting my plan.

Fortunately, my mom had breastfed both myself (for around 18 months) and my brother (for nearly 3 years). She was an amazing support. She kept telling me, “Trust yourself. You know best. You know what is right for you and your baby.” She got up with me for the middle of the night feedings and held K afterwards until he had his burp and could fall back asleep. She visited with me when I thought I was too tired to do another feeding. She was wonderful, and that was a major component for my success. I am sure of it.

When she left and I was home alone with my baby, I began to doubt myself, so I went back to the message board where I had asked for help so many weeks prior. I began posting question after question after question. I got wonderful support, and I got great information. There was one person in particular on that message board who I still feel a debt of gratitude toward. Her name was Joan, and she was a moderator of the breastfeeding forum. Sure, other people would answer my question, but I didn’t feel like I had the real answer until I heard from Joan. Over the weeks and months, I gained confidence, and I also gained a friendship. Joan is still one of my close on-line friends. She and I have kept in touch over the past few years, and when a friend of mine had a baby who had nursing troubles (oversupply and overactive letdown, something I knew very little about) Joan was available over the phone to help her out, too. I also began reading www.kellymom.com during any spare moment I had. I loved that website. It was so easy to navigate and so easy to read and understand. It is where I got the bulk of my early breastfeeding knowledge.

Almost two years later, when I had my second son, I was pretty confident again. I had been through so much with K that I thought I should have it under control. But, as almost anyone who has breastfed knows, every baby is different. With A, I had different issues, and again I turned to www.kellymom.com and a supportive on-line community to help me get through the first weeks that were tough.

Now, I’ve been nursing K for almost 35 months, and I’ve been tandem nursing K and A for 14 months. I feel like each day I can learn something about breastfeeding whether it be from a book, a website, a friend, another nursing momma, or one of my kids. I think it’s one of those things where you can keep learning more and more, but I’m not sure that you can ever say that you have “learned to breastfeed.” To me, it’s a journey more than a destination.

Check out these blogs for more thoughts on Learning to Breastfeed (updated throughout the day):

• BreastfeedingMums.com
• Breastfeeding123.com
• Hobomama.blogspot.com
• Breastfeeding.blog.motherwear.com
• KateWicker.com
• Babyfingers.blogspot.com
• StopDropandBlog.com
• NurturingNotes.blogspot.com

I think over the course of the next several months, I will probably be changing my blog topics up a little. When I was breastfeeding K frequently or when A was born and I was feeding both boys frequently, I felt like I had a lot more to say about nursing specifically. Now that they’re getting older, it’s just something that’s an every day part of our lives. It just is. I don’t think or worry about it too much. We’ve gotten over most of the hurdles and pitfalls. A is sleeping better, and K has kept up his 2 a day nursing routine for the past few weeks.

Some of the topics that I have become more interested in lately are healthy eating, green living, cooking, exercise, and expanding my reading repertoire. Maybe I’ll finish a book (without reading the ending ahead of time) and do a review of it. Who knows?

What are you reading? I’m always looking for a good book or a good recommendation. I start lots of books, and I finish a few. I will start anything that sounds even remotely interesting. I’m not limited to a certain genre, author, or storyline. I read Christian authors and non-Christian authors. I read fiction and nonfiction. I read as much as I can. I have always loved to read. As a child, my mom says that I taught myself to read around the time I was 4. Since then, I have almost always had at least one book in the process of being read.

Right now, I don’t have a nightstand, but I do have a reading list. Some of these I just started, and some I have been working on for a while.

The Breastfeeding Answer Book - Who doesn’t love a good several hundred page, spiral bound, informational book?

Reclaiming Nick - I read this review on 5 Minutes for Books, and I thought I should start at the beginning of the series instead of at the end.

Happiness Sold Separately - I got this book off freecycle. If someone’s giving a book away, it’s worth taking a chance, right?

I’m sure there are a few others, but these are the ones that get most of my time right now. How about you?

The other day I received an e-mail telling me that my blog was listed along with 99 others as one of the top 100 women’s health blogs. I haven’t had a chance to look through the entire list yet, but I know that I’m always looking for new blogs to read. The list is divided into several sections: Nutrition and Special Diets, Exercise, Infertility, Pregnancy, Childbirth and Breastfeeding, Weightloss, Health Challenges, Fit and Healthy Over 40, Physical Wellbeing, and Mental Wellbeing. Thanks for choosing me to be on this list!