Valentina's
Booba
Valentina's Booba
By Ana Baeza My story comes from Madrid and the star is my precious daughter Valentina who must have been very close to the Guinness World Record of "time spent breastfeeding in a day". Valentina turned 14 months on the 30th of August 2005 and has had nothing but "booba" (that's what she calls breastfeeding) until she was 12-13 months. From the very first day we tried to introduce baby food she refused to have it. When she was about 10 months old 2-3 spoonfuls of mush in a day were her record, and of course plenty of "booba" all day and night long. She was crawling at 7 1/2 months and walking at 11. She has always been a skinny baby but perfectly healthy and active. Now at 14 months she weighs 7.9 kilos (17lb.4oz.) and is still out of the weight charts for averages children, but only by a little bit. Actually her record is in the 10% range! But lets get into what really interests us breastfeeding community...breastfeeding our babies day and night. During the day Valentina could breastfeed 10-12...times and during the nights its easier to count the times she "unhooks" (which are few) and, of course, Valentina is co-sleeping in our bed from midnight until morning. Constantly, I was receiving comments, remarks about how erroneously I was raising my child and advices about what I should do: mainly stop breastfeeding, so then she would start eating other foods. But I stayed firm because my common sense told me I was doing the best for her. Practically the only person who believed in me and what I was doing was my dear sister Kika (she is a Dr. specializing in breastfeeding, mother of 3 and pregnant, and of course, still breastfeeding!!) and myself. All I can say is that I would repeat this experience a hundred times and that it feels incredibly unique to feel this type of bonding with one's baby. I am a proud mommy that feels great to have raised her baby in her first year of age exclusively by breastfeeding. HURRAY FOR BOOBAS!!! |
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