Banging the drum, softly
It’s hard to believe that we’re coming up on the end of yet another summer that seemed to go by too fast. But whether we believe it or not, it’s true. August is upon us and for me, that always means two major events. The month begins with World Breastfeeding Week and ends with my youngest child, Jeffrey’s, birthday. This year, the two things seem very connected in my mind and in my heart.
Jeffrey is turning seven this year and will be a second grader. He is definitely Big now, there is no denying it. He has spent his summer playing Pokemon cards, learning to ride his two wheeler and trying to perfect the spikes of his mohawk. He is still the cuddliest of all the cousins, offering hugs and kisses to everyone and making sure to yell “I love you,” before going outside to play. Even with all that, he’s no baby.
As I get ready to celebrate World Breastfeeding Week with my usual circulation of petitions and rounds of emails about the rights of breastfeeding mothers and babies, I can’t help but look back fondly and a little over-sentimentally on my years as a nursing mama. It’s been a long, long time since I took a baby to the breast, but I remember it vividly. There are times when, as corny as it sounds, my arms actually ache to hold a baby close to my heart in that way.
Normally, when I write my column for August, I bang the drum of breastfeeding politics long and loud. I have covered the Nestle boycott, breastfeeding rights, the language of breastfeeding and several other hard-hitting issues. This year, however, I am feeling softer and more nostalgic. I am also a little bored with shouting the facts about the whys and wherefores of breastfeeding that we’ve all heard so often that even people without children can likely say them by rote. Instead, in tribute to Jeffrey’s seventh birthday and because I’m a big sap, I want to talk about my own personal motivations for breastfeeding. These are not to negate the solid science of health reasons; those go without saying and so don’t even make the top five. No, what follows is, as I said, personal. Not everything good is all about the data. In fact, with some of the best stuff, it’s so much more. VS
The Slightly Crunchy Parent’s Top Five Reasons to Breastfeed Your Baby
5. “I’d love to help, but I need to nurse the baby.” This is the perfect excuse for getting out of doing anything unpleasant, while also giving you something very pleasant to do. By the way, this one sentence is an almost guaranteed way to clear any room of unwanted company in about 30 seconds. Convenient, yes?
4. The perfect beauty of a baby at the breast. Pale skin, violet tinged eyelids, rosy cheeks, sweet pink lips. Go ahead, steal a few moments to pour over these details and etch them into your memory.
3. Being “The Source” for your baby. Knowing that even if the baby wants to follow big sister all around or hug the neighbor or play with Daddy, when it really counts, you are the only one who can nurse the baby and share that connection. In the end, is there really anything more fulfilling and gratifying than being loved and needed?
2. Milky, sweet nursing smiles. The first time your baby looks up at you from the breast and cracks that smile so big that milk dribbles from the corner of his mouth, your heart will melt. It will continue to do so every single time.
1. Private, secret snuggle time. Those middle of the night nursing sessions, while exhausting, will provide you with some of the best moments you will ever share with your child. It feels almost like the two of you are the only people on the planet and you are in on the world’s best secret together.
