“Why do you still let your 7 month old nurse?”
“She’s too old.”
“She’s just using you as a pacifier.”
“You need to put her in her own bed.”
*Sigh*
Why is this still happening? Why are people still under the impression that they have any right to tell you what to do with your own child? And why do outsiders care so much? You’re not the one who is breastfeeding her! You’re not the one getting kicked at night during co-sleeping! So why do you even care what a mom decides to do for her child? And if you know what my 7 month old is thinking (you must, since you say she’s only using me as a pacifier), how about you put your magic to work for something more useful? Read her mind again and tell me where she’s hurting or what she wants, so I can stop having to guess every time she cries.
And the “too old” argument can suck it. People who say this must not be well versed in the stages of development for a baby, or they just can’t figure things out using their eyes and common sense. At seven months, most babies are just learning to sit up on their own, unassisted. Some are only just becoming mobile (though at a snail’s pace). They might have the first budding white of a tooth, but many are still all gums. Most have only been eating solids for a short while (if at all). That age is still very much “baby.” And last I checked, babies drank breast milk/formula. So no, she’s not too old.
Ashlee Chase recently posted a picture of her pumped breast milk that puts all those stupid questions and statements from outsiders to shame.
“100% why,” she says in her caption. “This.”
“Top milk is from 3 days ago when a healthy Elliot was nursing. Bottom is from today, after sick Elliot with a fever comfort nursed all night.”
From her picture, we see the top breast milk is white, indicating when her daughter was nursing while perfectly healthy. The bottom picture shows how Chase’s breast milk adapted when baby Elliot got sick, turning a noticeable yellow color.
In case you didn’t know, breast milk is an amazing thing! It can fluctuate to meet a baby’s supply and demand, producing more when needed or tapering off when weaning. But even more impressive is how it changes to meet the health needs of the baby. Not only does the milk itself change during each nursing (starts off watery to quench baby’s thirst, then becomes thicker/creamier to fill baby up), but also the mother’s body can be triggered for breast milk to change in nutrients for the next nursing session, based on what the baby needs. Chase’s picture demonstrates this perfectly when her baby became sick. Aren’t our bodies so freaking cool?!
So to anyone questioning why a mother is “still” breastfeeding her child, hopefully this shines a little light on the subject for you.
Now, butt out of her decisions!