When it comes to motherhood, there’s nothing that can prepare you for it. I mean truly NOTHING! You can have the best intentions and the most perfectly laid out plans, but things don’t always end up going exactly how you plan. Before I had children I knew I wanted to breastfeed. What I didn’t realize was how much it would actually hurt (even when you’re doing it correctly!), how much work it can be in the beginning, and how hard it can be to stop.
I nursed my first daughter until she was two, and it appears my second will be around the same age when we are done nursing.
Nursing a newborn is like heaven on earth! Nursing a two-year-old is quite…different. Not a bad different...just different.
Here are the FOUR downfalls to extended nursing:
1.) Teeth. Need I say more. With my second daughter, this has been a non-issue (knock on wood!) but with my first daughter, I think I saw stars the first time I realized nursing and teeth can be painful. Thankfully it only happened twice.
2.) They can talk, which means they can literally ask for it. ANYWHERE. ANYTIME. AND LOUDLY.
3.) Nursing gymnastics. What is that, you say? Well, basically it means you are nursing a child who will stand up, bend over, lean in for their snack, and kick you all while being attached to you. That’s quite a different experience than the one you had with a milk-drunk newborn who would snuggle and sleep in your arms.
4.) They are strong, which means you have a pretty good chance of exposing yourself to practically everyone. Goes right along with the talking part. Put the two together and it’s a pretty good show!
Even with all of this said, at the end of my life I will look back upon the years I nursed my daughters as some of the most precious, intimate, and enjoyable moments of my life…the gymnastics and yelling included.
