We had quite the interesting afternoon today...
Went to my parents' place for dinner. DD2 is 11 months old now - wow, 11
months, actually, tomorrow - and is still nursing strong. She will take a
sippy cup (the straw-type sippy cup ONLY) and normally I'll give her either
just water or a watered down juice in her sippy cup. She is mainly
breastfed still and has a varied diet and will eat what we eat.
She still nurses quite a bit. Early morning she will nurse. She'll nurse
again just before her morning nap. She'll nurse again right after lunch,
just before her afternoon nap. I also normally nurse her before supper and
on occasion, she will have an early evening nap (this is only on occasion)
and she nurses before bed. She also still wakes up at night more often than
not. Usually each night, maybe 1x a week she will not wake at night to
feed. I know she does this out of habit, but it's not a big deal to me with
her waking at night. She still seems to take a boob quite a bit, and I've
heard that for the first 12 months, the main source of nutrition should be
from breast milk - or am I wrong or mistaken with this?
Well, today at my parents' place, DD2 had missed her afternoon nap and was a
bit cranky. We were playing a board game (I was with N, my mom and grandma)
and I took DD2 and started to nurse her. Both my mom and grandma said she's
far too old to be nursing still and really gave me a hard time. I stuck to
my guns that we'll (and I did make sure I made it "we") wean either when
she's ready or when she's too big for me to hold comfortably in my arms. I
can still nurse her with one hand/arm. She's not even a year, and I had
told my mom the usual of "pediatrician says..." My mom said that by her
age, I was drinking regular homo milk out of a cup. I even went so far as
to hold DD2 up to my ear and when she made a babble sound, pulled her away
and put her in my lap and said something like, "Hm... Just as I thought...
She didn't moo at me like a baby cow - she babbled like a baby human!" DD2
does take some homo milk - she will eat soups made with some milk in it,
she's never had a problem with that, but I've never given her a cup of milk
yet. Only breast milk.
Normally my mom has always been the most supportive of breastfeeding. She
still is the most support in my family, but she's also not really keen on
nursing past 6 months or so - she even pointed out that we were all on cow's
milk by the time we were 6-8 months old at the oldest. This was, also,
18-24 years ago (my youngest brother is now 18) and I've pointed out how
things have all changed over all those years and I am doing what I feel and
know is best for my baby (and babies) and what is recommended by the ped.
It's just so frustrating. They were both on my case, it felt, anyways. N
couldn't even say a word about it, really.
My grandma said something about how I had been looking for a very part time
job in the evenings. I actually found a part time job that I've taken from
about 6pm-10pm and I've figured it out on how I can make it work for mainly
DD2 and I and made my available hours around DD2 and nursing. N piped up
that it was alright, he'd give DD2 some regular milk while I was away if she
wanted some milk. I snapped at him, just about, and told him that I would
seriously hope and trust that he would NOT go against something that I have
made clear from the start that was important to me and that I had hoped he
would stand with me on, not against me behind my back.
I dunno... I kind of just felt like I was trapped in a corner with my mom
and grandma giving me their advice - that I had neither wanted nor
requested - and then N had to offer his 2¢ which I didn't feel helped much.
With N's comment, though, I wasn't sure if he was joking for my
grandma/mom's sake or serious on, but either way, I'm wondering if this
situation could be handled better next time as I do feel there will be a
next, and next, and next time. There's been a couple of these so far, but
not as attacking as this one was today.
Is there any ideas out there on some ways to stand your ground with
something like this? I've already made the decision that, really, breast is
best, and I've already decided that DD2 and I will continue our nursing
until a) she weans herself or b) she's far too big and awkward for me to
still hold in my arms fairly comfortably. My mom said that 'toddlers' don't
*need* to nurse. I, personally, am not one who plans to nurse until DD2 is
like 3 or 4, but she's not even a year old. I nursed DS full time until he
was a year old (although by about 6-7 months he would take a sippy cup of
EBM) and then continued to nurse him at home in the morning and evening
until he self-weaned around 18 months.
I'm tired of feeling attacked, I guess, and that's about it.