Hi, I will briefly re-intro, as I don't post often: I am a LLL leader, CLC, working toward IBCLC, and mom to a 3 year old who has had a host of oral-motor and health problems ...and is still happily nursing :->   My little guy has a sign (as in ASL, American Sign Language) for nursing, but when he chooses to ask verbally we take the direct approach; he simply says "I want to nurse!".  I think I have encouraged this approach because I want him to know what it is actually called, just as I teach him the correct names for his body parts.  Another facet of it is that I am pretty outspoken myself about toddler nursing , and comfortable fielding questions when I nurse in public.  I have no problem with the toddler "code names" (some of these stories have been incredibly cute!),  just  curious as to why it seems to be so rare for a child to use the word nurse / why the"code names" are so prevalent & encouraged; is it mother's choice or child's or both, developmental level of the child, is it based on the cultural pressures against todlder nursing etc..I think it is a combination of these & other factors as well.  NOT trying to judge anyone's choices or call all toddler nursing moms "out of the closet" :->; just as we pay attention to the semantics of "breastfeeding" vs. "breast-feeding" vs. "breastmilk feeding", I think it is worth looking at why breastfeeding changes names after the first year or so!  Interesting socio-cultural topic, if nothing else.... Hope I'm not rambling: it is past my bedtime!
Esther Friedman
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