Why I Breastfed Until 22 Months- A World Breastfeeding Week Testamonial

Did you know that the first week of August is internationally known as World Breastfeeding Week? It's a time of awareness and education about what is believed to be the most important thing you can do for your baby. In light of this week, I've decided to share my journey of nursing my oldest one and why I did so for 22 months.

I didn't really know how long I planned to breastfeed Zachary, maybe six months, or a year if I was lucky. If you would've told be that I'd be nursing my toddler until just before his second birthday, (and while pregnant with his younger brother) I probably would've looked at you like you had two heads. Because aren't they too grown by then? And if you breastfeed that long, they'll never learn to eat real food, right? And they can become really clingy and anti-social and get cavities, right? (Spoiler: None of that is true.) I learned pretty quickly that not only is breastfeeding until 2 NOT as weird as I thought it was, but it's actually biologically normal and even recommended because of the incredible health benefits of breast milk. 

I can vividly remember beginning the plans for Zac's first birthday party. Along with deciding what flavor cake to buy and what cute phrase to print on the invitations, I remember thinking to myself, "Is it maybe time to start weaning slowly?" I looked at my baby crawling around on the floor. He could pull himself up on things and babble a bit, but my goodness he was still such a baby. There was no way he was too old to nurse. I didn't think he was ready for it, and I knew I wasn't, but I decided that starting in January, I'd slowly stop pumping at work and only nurse when we were together. That left breastfeeding for before and after work and on the weekends. So that's what we did for the rest of that school year. 

I fully intended on weaning over the summer. My husband and I had started talking about another baby and I thought it would be nice to have my body back for at least a little while before it became busy growing another little human. Well, we got pregnant pretty much instantly. It really didn't bother me too much to be pregnant and still nursing my 18 month old. At that point, he only really nursed before nap time and before bed. It had become such a regular and easy part of our lives that I never really gave it much thought. And to be honest, not 2 or 3 weeks after we got the positive pink line, the awful morning (all the time) sickness took over. So I told myself we'd continue until I started to feel better. The bedtime routine was a thousand times easier when Zachary could just nurse to sleep and I felt terrible for the majority of the day.  Surely, I'd have the energy to devote to all the tantrums and fits that weaning would bring on during my second trimester, when the nausea was gone. So we nursed into the start of the next school year.

Right around September, the morning sickness died down and I finally started to feel like myself again. Zachary was so close to 2 years old that I thought to myself, "Maybe we actually CAN make it to the WHO's recommended age of 2 years old. We're so close. I might as well keep going." It was a great milestone to look forward to, but it wasn't something I was wholeheartedly set on, which was fine because right around 15 or 16 weeks into my pregnancy with Ryan, a new symptom appeared: nursing aversion. I just didn't want to breastfeed anymore. Besides the fact that I had basically no supply at that point, I'd grown touched out. I reflected again about weaning and realized that it was time. I'll be honest, I was a little uneasy about taking something away from my child that was not only healthy, but comforting and routine. I thought bedtime would be a harder battle because I'd never had to actually get Zachary to sleep before. Up until then, he'd always just fall asleep nursing.

Once I had 100% made up my mind, I got Zachary ready for bed and laid next to him. When he rolled over to nurse, I said, "No baby. No more. You're gonna be a big boy now and go to sleep by yourself." I was kind of nervous about it all, but guys, I have the best little boy on the planet. He pouted a little, like when you tell a kid that he can't go out to play because it's raining outside. Then he just rolled over and fell asleep. And he did the same the next night, and the night after that. Right before my eyes, my sweet baby had grown into this incredible little toddler.

Looking back, I'm so grateful that I was able to provide Zachary with the perfect form of nourishment for so long. As a society, we seem to think it's unnatural or gross to breastfeed a baby that can talk or eat table food. I'll be honest, I thought it was a little weird too and definitely didn't have any plans of that ever being me. It's funny how motherhood changes you, though, because now I don't see myself doing anything differently.

Hugs,
Destiny