Firm views on nursing, as expressed by your 4-year old!
A huge thank you to all the mothers who sent in these wonderful tidbits
You'll Have to Milk Him!
The scene: the diner, early one morning, with my 6-year-old,
4-year-old and 9-month-old sons.
The waitress comes over and asks the older two boys if she can take their little brother
home with her. (Why do so many people ask this???)
Martin, the 4-year-old, looks at her very earnestly and says, "Well if you do, you'll
have to milk him..."
She does a double-take, and asks what he said. "You'll have to milk him!" Martin
replies. The waitress finally realizes what he means, smiles, and retreats.
--Joanne Camas
Honey, what ya doin baby?
My story is about my daughter Carrie who is 3 years old. I had
just delivered my 3rd baby about two weeks before and I had a few nursing problems that
required the use of a breast pump. I went out of the room to pick up the baby from her
bassinet and came back in the living room and there Carrie was in the floor with her
little shirt off and the pump up to her breast pulling the suction handle to the pump. I
calmly asked trying not to laugh "honey, what ya doin baby?". She looked
at me me and said "Mama gotta feed bess the milk".
I thought to myself, ya'know this is what its all about. Teaching our young
daughters that this is the best way to feed our babies is by the breast.
--Sarah Boartfield
Asks Mom for Nursing Tips
After my second baby was born my first, Jeremy, always wanted
to hold his new baby sister Jordyn. Our policy has always been when they ask to hold the
baby, we drop everything to let them do this and hopefully we avoid bad feelings. I
momentarily left the room while Jeremy was holding Jordyn one day, likely to go to the
washroom, and when I came back not only was Jeremy's shirt hiked up to nurse his sister -
she was trying to latch on anywhere she could.
Now, seven years later, Jordyn is watching me breastfeed her newborn sister and is walking
around with her doll and nursing it! She is looking for good positioning while sitting on
the couch and lying in bed and asking for my opinion! Gosh - I hope she still wants my
opinion when she has babies of her own!
--Melissa
LOOK MOM!
As a new mother to a 5-week premie, I was using a breast-pump
to supply Zachary with milk during the night.
I was fortunate enough that I had friends and family living near the hospital that was
keeping Zachary and I would visit their homes during the visit-free times to pump in
relative quiet. My cousin, who was pregnant at the time with her second, and I were trying
to explain to Tony, her first, why we needed a breast pump to get milk. He could not
understand the concept because, as he put it so matter-of-factly, "There's milk in
the ferdgerator!"
Later that week, Mr. Rogers Neighborhood visited a dairy farm. Tony was so proud of
himself for knowing what the machines were doing that he yelled
out, "LOOK MOM! a breast pump!"
I'll never forget that week at my cousin's house!
--April Smith
No Bottles Daddy!
My toddler is very interested in breastfeeding now that we have
a new baby
in the house. After an attempt to go back to the breast himself in the early days after we
brought his baby brother home, he has now decided that "the boobie" is the
perfect thing for all of his little brother's woes.
Recently I was away from the kids and my husband was taking care of the boys. Casey (the
baby) started to fuss and cry and Daddy knew that it was getting time for a feeding. He
prepared a bottle of expressed breast milk and brought it in to the
living room and
proceeded to feed the baby. At seeing a bottle in his baby brother's mouth, Brandon (the
toddler) became quite upset and threw himself down on the floor in a fit. Once my husband
finally got him calmed down he asked what the problem was.
"No bottles, Daddy! Casey wants the boobie - it's best!" replied my concerned
toddler.
Out of the mouths of babes!
--Janeen Heath
Dallas, Texas
Lady's Pretty Nurse
While at the pediatrician's office, I swore my oldest daughter
understood language. The doctor nodded patronizingly and went on with the exam. Before
every feeding I would ask her "Do you want to nurse?" and she would either turn
away (no) or get excited (yes, yes, yes!). Even if she wasn't in the nursing position or
being held by me, that question elicited a "where's mama?" response from her.
As she began to speak I realized I'd been right - partially. She'd understood the basic
concept to the question, but to this day (she's 2 1/2) doesn't understand the exact
symantics. When I was saying "Do you want to nurse?" She was hearing "Do
you want a nurse?" and now believes the name of a breast is "nurse" like
any other body part has a name "arm, eye..." When she sees advertisements for
bathing suits she comments on the "lady's pretty nurse".
I found all this amusing and not harmful, so I just played along. Well, one day while
shopping with my 15 year old sister, we were all in the dressing room together, as sisters
and daughters do, and as Laura was changing, my daughter said "Look, Mama, Laura has
little nurse. I have some, Laura?" My very private sister was mortified and turned 13
shades of purple in embarrassment. All the way out of the store, my daughter told everyone
of "Laura's little nurse" and Laura could have died (even though no one else
knew what she was saying). Now a bra is a "nurse shirt", an electric breast-pump
is a "loud nurse", and every baby's bottle always has "nurse milk" in
it.
--Jenn MacDonald
Fort Wayne, Indiana
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Breastfeeding
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