>
>
>The article was great except for this statement.  As the mother of a still
>nursing 6 year old boy, I am not doing this for myself!  I am wistful at the
>thought that he is weaning now [...]
>I would never even try to force nursing on them, talk about
>taking something that is beautiful and making it ugly.
>

I agree totally with you, and also wanted to add that feeling wistful at
the thought of a child weaning and wanting it to continue "forever" are
different, I think.  The one admits with a bit of bitter-sweetness that
our baby is growing up, and the other wants to keep that baby a baby
forever, and NOT let them grow up.

My almost-27 mos old daughter is nursing a bit less now...sometimes I
wish she'd nurse more, and sometimes I don't, it's hard to decide.
 LOL...  The thing is, being pg, I find that nursing is quite painful
for the first minute or so.  After that, it is just like if I were
nursing and not pregnant (i.e. the pain dissipates), and if she
re-latches on shortly after nursing for a while before, it doesn't
bother me either, but if it's been several hours since she last nursed,
it really hurts a *lot* for the first minute or 2.  I find myself
holding my breath, or deep breathing or whatever.

If I heard anyone tell me that I'm still nursing her because *I* want
her to nurse, out of some need of mine, I would tell them they don't
know the first thing about what they're talking about.  I've said before
that I like the idea of a child of mine remembering his or her nursing
times when they're an adult as a pleasurable memory (i.e. they could say
"I nurse my children because I remember liking it myself") but I figure
it was my job to get her to about 2 yrs, and that is done.  I won't be
unhappy if she weans at 3 and doesn't remember nursing for long because
I think that will be what she will have decided herself that she needed.
 I also think that for me, anyhow, allowing her to continue nursing goes
more into the realm of catering to *her* needs (it is obvious to me that
if she still asks for it, she still needs it, even if just emotionally),
and in my humble opinion, having a child involves making sacrifices.
 Sometimes sacrifices that aren't physically comfortable.  No one ever
said childbirth was painless either, but we still do it because of all
the good we reap from having children.  Raising children itself is
wonderful, and yet has its bad moments, and it's not something I would
forego.  Same with continuing nursing Sandrine:  sure it has a
disadvantage right now (pain) but there are still good parts to it
(closeness, and the funny things she does like wanting me to nurse her
toys), and to me, they outweigh the bad parts.

Fio
ressource person with Allaitement Québec
Mama to Sandrine, 27 mos old almost, and still nursin' away, and #2, 11/2002

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