One of my favorite lines from a movie is: "He can call me a flower if he wants to!" For those not familiar with the movie "Bambi", I will explain that the speaker of this line is a Skunk. The cutest little skunk ever...but truly a skunk....a stinky smelly skunk. Bambi is learning to identify things, and when the little skunk pops up amongst the flowers, Bambi calls him a flower.
I have loved this line since the first time I heard it. I love how the skunk seemed to present itself as a flower, when in fact it is so much the opposite.
At this point in time...I find myself in much the same position. To many people I am presenting myself as a FREAK, when in truth...I am much the opposite. The best part in all this is....I don't care. You can call me a FREAK if you want to!
Extended Breast Feeding.....what does that mean to you? If you are like many....you might think, "breastfeeding WAY too long!" If you are like me, you think, "A blessing to both the mother and child!"
On May 10th, Sugar Bear and I will celebrate our 28th month in our breastfeeding journey. When I first decided to breastfeed, my goal was to make it 6 months, then....9 months...then a year. I most certainly never imagined making it this far. I honestly, thought it was strange, odd, and actually quite freakish for a person to breastfeed a child past a year. I didn't get it.....and didn't know that I didn't get it.
Now I do....I look at Sugar Bear and I get it. She is my baby, and she always will be. I don't see an independent toddler. I see the child that completes me. I firmly believe in the mother/child bond, and that our nursing relationship has only strengthened it. Before I experienced Breastfeeding, I looked at it strictly as a means to feed your child. I didn't realize that it was so much more. I cherish those close, tender, quiet moments. This is the journey that only Sugar Bear and I will travel together. It was meant for us.
So you can call me a FREAK if you want to. I'll just smile, and know that if this makes me a freak, then I want to be the main attraction at the "Momma Freak Show", because I wouldn't change a thing!
9 Live It or Love It:
I dont think your a freak at all Corey. I admire your extended breastfeeding journey and only hope to one day have a child who will want to experience that journey with me. I hoped taht Jordan would have wanted to continue and I even find myself offering it to him to try and get him to latch on again. But unfortunatly he wants nothing to do with it so I instead just get to cherish the few short minutes he allows me to cuddle him. It wont be long until he is like Tyler and wants nothing to do with cuddling. You are one lucky Momma.
Oh, Corey! You are one of my favorite freaks! I was so in the same mindset when my journey started with Reagan - never dreamed I would spend 20 short months of my life in a relationship like that....
and it is so sad that other people just don't understand...
I think it is wonderful! I wish it would have worked with Anden. I am still not sure how I feel about doing it with Cole since I had such a tough time with Anden and it caused a lot of stress but I think I may try. You are an inspiration!
I love that post. You're right, some people do think it's freaky to nurse past 1 year. I think society's tolerance level of BFing dramatically drops at Age 2 though.
In other parts of the world, children BFeed for much longer and it's completely normal. I don't think you are a freak, and if you are I am too! LOL!
You know where I stand on this, and everybody above has already said what I want to say, but I will add this: Csilla and I are onto year 3 of BF and I see no end in sight. I've stopped telling everybody except a few close friends because people look at me like I have two heads. I'm not sure when Csilla will want to stop, but I'm certainly not going to be the one to pull the plug. Even if she does suck the life out of me! LOL.
Megan said...
Well, mama, you know *I* won't be calling you a freak. It has been such an encouragement to me to have you and other mama friends on the extended breastfeeding journey with me. I am sad my journey with D is over, but I celebrate you and Sugar's journey still!
It's such a cultural thing. In other parts of the world, it is SO not a big deal. *shakes head*
Autumn said...
Oh Corey, I had just the opposite experience! When I had Gavin I just knew I would be one of those mommies that breastfed for a long time. After all, I was raised that way.. having been breastfed as a baby for over two years. I just knew it would all come easy to me, like it had to my mother. Then I had a baby that couldn't latch, I had no milk to speak of. After lactation specialists, aganizing hours of trying to make it work, trying to pump, and many many tears on my part. I made the heart wrenching decision to suppliment with formula, only to have my baby completley refuse to breastfeed from then on. What do you suppose I heard from people? Did I hear, oh I'm so sorry for you, you did your best? No, I heard from friends and strangers alike... "You know breastfeeding is best, to bad you couldn't have tried harder."
So my point to this is.. People will always judge you, and your parenting no matter what you do. Do what works for YOU and Sugar and let them call you a freak, I'll just call you a wonderful mother. :)
May 3, 2007 12:52 PM
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