I made it a year!

Okay so I know it is not a year until next Friday, but in the sake of spreading out all I want to post about and lets face it, I will make it to next Friday with it. Oh, what am I referring to? Well, nursing that is. I have exclusively given Braylon breast milk for a year. He did have a little bit of formula while we were in the hospital because my milk had not come in and he had jaundice that required a stay under the lights. We wanted out of the prison of a hospital they were holding us in. However, since those few sips he has never had it!

When you are pregnant many people ask you if you are going to nurse, and while it is an appropriate question for family and even some friends, strangers will straight up ask you. It is just another one of the space invading things that happen when pregnant along with complete strangers feeling it is one hundred percent okay for them to touch your belly. And no they do not ask. Anyway, when people would ask my answer was always yes. Then you get the for how long question. I would always say assuming everything is working correctly at least a year with nighttime and morning time nursing until eighteen months. From strangers and friends I always got a discouraging response. They would tell me that nursing is really hard. And that making it six weeks is a struggle. Family gave me nothing but unconditional support and advice. Since going through the process, yes nursing is hard work. It takes massive amounts of dedication to learn and stick with. It will completely consume your life for the first six weeks to three months. However, for me, right around six weeks it go easier. I was not longer counting the number of weeks I had made it. I was not worried about what people would say to me when I nursed in public. In fact I have nursed a lot of places, airplanes, restaurants, movies, walking through stores or the mall, graduation ceremonies and so much more. I have NEVER got a bad response. Sure a few confused looks. But for part people we encouraging, gave advice and congratulated me on making it that far.

Braylon now loves to nurse. It is really funny when I get out the cover and he giggles uncontrollable at what he knows is coming. If I am holding him and he wants it, he will contort his body and pull down my  shirt in an attempt to latch on. He nurses for everything, it is his security blanket. And while it has been one of the best experiences and I have given my child some of the best nutrition he will ever receive the end is coming. In the nest month we will start to cut out daytime feeds. I know he is attached so I am going to go slow and to ease him in. And while I am a little sad to be ending this bond we have together, I am beyond happy to get to wear cute bras that do not have clasps on the straps. I am also very excited to wear tops that are not nursing friendly! Yay!

I am going to leave you with a link to my favorite breastfeeding resource. This site has it all. How to nurse to how to wean to even how to tandem nurse. It was and is still a life saver. The best part about it is that all the information has references to SCHOLARLY articles where actual research was conducted! KellyMom is a gem of a site! Please check it out. Or if you think I could answer a question feel free to ask!

I am also going to ask that if you know a mom or soon-to-be mom that is breastfeeding please offer her support with that decision. Do not ask when they are going to give formula. Do not try to give their child formula. Just give support with the decision they have already made for their child. (I am not saying in any way that formula is bad and all that crap. It is a very good option for ones family. However, when someone makes the choice to feed their child, whether it be breast milk or formula, the family and friends around them need to offer support and not criticism. If you think it should be done differently then have your own child and do what you want.)