On Tue, 2 Sep 2003 07:36:49 -0400, Teresa Pitman <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>When my youngest was still a nursing toddler - many years ago! - I took my
>children to the Toronto Zoo. We were in the building where there is a group
>of orangutans when my toddler asked to nurse. So I sat down with him near
>the glass around the exhibit. After a few minutes, one of the orangutans
>came over carrying her baby. She watched me nurse, then sat down on the
>other side of the glass and started to nurse her baby! She would look down
>at her baby, then look at me as if to say "see, we are alike." It was the
>strangest feeling - this amazing connection between two different species.
>Some of the other people walking by found it quite entertaining, but I
>didn't find it funny - I felt deeply moved, like I had a new understanding
>of what it means to be a mammal.
>
>Teresa Pitman
>
>
Teresa, Your post gave me chills. I had almost an indentical experience at
the forementioned Brookfield Zoo outside Chicago. Hannah (now almost 4 and
still nursing) was an infant at the time, she was riding in her sling and
on and off the breast for most of our visit to the Zoo. I have always loved
the Gorilla home (Tropic World) at Brookfield and was standing there with
Hannah nursing. One of the mother Gorillas had an infant a bit older than
Hannah, but he was nursing in almost the same position as she. This Gorilla
mama looked me right in the eyes and something passed between us. She KNEW
I was a nursing mother, just as she was, no doubt. She patted her son and I
patted Hannah. We stood nursing our babies for a long time in a comfortable
silence. I didn't stare her in the eyes for long (most primates don't care
for long eye contact) but we stayed linked for quite a while. I left the
zoo that day still in awe.

What a fantastic experience. I'm glad others have also had this type of
contact with these wonderful mothers.

Mary Jozwiak IBCLC, RLC, LLLL, AAPL
Private Practice

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html