Breastfeeding: Going for the Gold for how long? By Tracy Reeves
#2 in WBW series
After learning about the benefits of extended breastfeeding in our NFP
class, I planned to nurse my son for at least 2 years. The more we read
about nursing, and the more that we experienced all of the benefits for
ourselves, the more my husband and I felt convicted to allow him to nurse
as long as he chose. He was still nursing at 3 years, 4 years, 5
years… Many people see a child nursing that long and think that
something is wrong, and that they will never stop without “help”. When
my son was about 5 1/2 years old, we had a conversation in which the
subject of him eventually not nursing came up. He was devastated at the
thought, and despite my assurances that someday he would not need or want
to nurse and that until then he was free to do so, he cried and cried.
He simply could not imagine life without that comfort.
About 3 months later, he was completely weaned!
His nursings just got farther and farther apart, and he eventually
stopped. He got sick shortly afterward, and I offered to nurse him then
for the antibodies, and he politely refused! About a month after his
last nursing, I talked to him about it. I asked if he missed it, if he
was sad? No, he told me, he simply didn’t need to nurse anymore, and
that was that.
I have a couple of friends with older nurslings, and they joke that when
they send their children off to college, the kids will have to form a
support group since they won’t be able to nurse anymore. I offer my
story in the hopes that other mothers in a similar situation, as well as
those who don’t understand the place nursing can have for an older child,
will see that these children really are fulfilling a need by continued
breastfeeding, and they really will stop when they no longer have that
need.
Tomorrow: Prevention is the Best Medicine
Sheila Kippley
Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood
Natural Family Planning (an online manual)
www.nfpandmore.org