Breastfeeding Room Story

"Welcome to the Milk Mama Diaries Carnival (November). For this month, participants share their experiences on extended breastfeeding. This includes tips to moms with young babies, as well as barriers and myths which discourage extended nursing. Please scroll down to the end of this post and check out the other carnival participants."

It’s a happy, happy day! We’re strolling without errands or a definite agenda for the afternoon. I might be able to buy a stuff or two for myself. Thinking about all the possibilities make me giddy. But within 10 minutes after this thought bubble in my head, my baby is suddenly hungry. Thank goodness this mall has a breastfeeding facility. We walk faster. Oh, there it is! He is getting fussy and wants to be fed.

We open the door and greet the lady at the desk. “We’re here to use the breastfeeding room”. The lady smiles. She smiles and asks “where is your baby, ma’am?" “Ah, this is my baby”. And together, we pushed the door leading to another room inside.

My ‘baby’ is walking, pushing doors and talking… a lot. He was 2 years old then.
After that long walk, he was tired and cranky. Wanting to appease him, I immediately pulled up my top to give my peace offering. He latched on, but there proved to be distractions in the same room. The inquisitive boy got down, left my boobies exposed, and walked to check on the other babies.

Inside, I still get stares from other moms because while their baby feeds peacefully, mine keeps getting down and playing peek-a-boo with theirs. He keeps on inspecting. Yes, inspecting every baby, making other new moms uncomfortable in the process.

The first 6 months were the hardest in this breastfeeding journey. That was when I was stressed the most on my son’s weight gain, my output, and when I got back to work, on my pumping schedule. Breastfeeding him after his first birthday was relatively easy. He didn’t feed that often, I’m more comfortable in little baring episodes (my son sometimes will just push my shirt up, or put his hand inside my to), I can leave him for longer periods without worrying on what he's going to drink. It is actually quite convenient, too. Imagine I'm al groggy from sleep and he askes for milk at 4 am. When I'm too sleepy to do what is needed, he'll usually be the one to pull up my shirt, drink until he's satisfied, then go back to sleep on his own.

With that story, what can I share to all moms who chose to breastfeed longer than what most people know and think is possible? Breastfeed as long as you can. You can never go wrong.

Jared breastfed until he was almost 3 years old. His favorite expression is "Oh, there it is!" He stopped on his own, without fuss and drama, after the author was away on a week-long business trip. This mama considers those times the most precious and to this day, does not forgive herself for not having a nice enough breastfeeding picture for all the world to see.