The discussion of nursing behavior in animals reminds me of an experience I
had at the Frankfurt Zoo in Germany, in 1989.  Thomas, who was the first of
my adopted babies with whom I had managed to establish a full-time nursing
relationship, and significant milk supply, was six weeks old, and we had
been nursing for four weeks.  I was learning just by trial and error.
During this outing to the zoo, I had been walking around, holding him, while
he nursed.  When we came to the monkey house, I saw a bench and told my
husband to take the older boys on ahead.  I sat down and looked into the
monkey display to see a cute little mother monkey, nursing her tiny baby.
For about 20 minutes, the mother monkey and I nursed our babies together.
She would occasionally close her eyes and rest for a moment, then look down
and check on her baby, and hug it a little closer.  I was doing the same
things.  It may sound corny, but this experience meant alot to me.  Seeing
this animal mother gave me a feeling of security, that I was doing it
correctly, and that all was right with the world!

Darillyn Starr






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