One Thousand Ninety Five Days and Counting....

September 5th, Labor Day, we celebrated Chicken Little's third birthday... and on a higher or lesser note depending on who you are... we celebrated my 1,095th day of breastfeeding (329 of those tandem nursing - does that make my total 1,424? I like to think so.....) I've only been away from him twice overnight - once when I broke my knee and the other when I went to have his baby sister. But I don't believe he's ever gone 24-hours without breastmilk straight from the tap even with that. I worked part time his first year of life, only being away twice a week for 2-3 hours at a time. He would get a bottle of freshly pumped breastmilk from that day, and on rare occasion get frozen stash if I was unable to pump enough.

Tandem Nursing 9/6/2011
Chicken Little age 3 years 1 day and Chicklett 10.5 Months

On average he probably still nurses 4-6 times a day. We pretty much operate on a "don't offer, don't refuse" basis - though I always just do it right before nap time out of habit. I'm sure if I laid him done and didn't offer it up he'd be asking for it before I could even inhale to utter the words "nigh nigh, see you later."

I have mixed feelings about this age. We are now within the normal natural range of weaning for a human. I often wonder how it is going to go... Will he just stop one day? Will it be gradual? When will he be ready? Will *I* be ready?

Then on the same token.... I could only be halfway done with his nursing journey. Will he be breastfed until he's 6? Will he go even longer than that? Will his younger sister wean first? Although we're not planning on having any more children, what if we did have a third? Will I have the stamina to keep up with that?

I know in some circles I am already treading on thin water by nursing such an "old" child. Not that I care what they think, but you wonder if your child will pick up on their mean vibe and start to think something is wrong with them.  The older they get the more defense I feel like I need to be... when really... why do I feel that way? Who cares what anyone else says. I know this is normal. I know this is good for everyone directly (and indirectly actually) involved.

I know the older they get the more shy I am about doing it in public. I've had a fairly innocent 'nursing in public' life having never been harassed. I'm almost afraid at what might happen should someone approach me. I might just run away crying... or I might set off a nuke. It'll probably depend on what kind of a day I'm having already... but there is no way to know in advance... In the past year my son has asked me for boobies twice while in public... and I denied him both times. :( Oddly enough both times I was with all the women here at the Good Letdown, so I couldn't have asked to be in a more supporting environment. But I just couldn't do it. The first time we were all out for breastfast with our spouses. I think Chicken Little was overwhelmed and wanted me... but I denied him several times and felt horrible about it. WHY??? I still don't really know. Was it the table full of seniors that were already eyeing our table up for having loud "naughty" children? Was it because I was hungry and just wanted to eat my food and be selfish? The second time he asked we were at an indoor play area and when I started to nurse Chicklett he came over and wanted a snack too. I don't know what planet he was on to think I was going to tandem nurse in public. I'm not that brave.

But this year, I'm going to suck it up. So rarely the occasion happens, but when/if it does... I'm not going to deny him. Mark my words! Okay, maybe in the event of tandem I will make him wait his turn.... but other than that I will be nursing a toddler in public. THE END.

Wanna calculate how long you've been breastfeeding? This should make it easier - check out the time calculator. You're lucky... I had to do it manually... Ha ha ha