Repost: Breastfeeding Acrobatics

I’m still on vacation in New York. While I explore the Big Apple, I’m taking a walk down memory lane, with this post from January 2010.

Jacob is currently 17 1/2 months old. His main interests seem to be climbing things he shouldn’t, pressing buttons and playing outside. Oh, and breastfeeding. While my toddler eats a wide variety of food now, he still relies on nursing to soothe him when he’s hurt, to lull himself to sleep or just for a quick snack on the go. Having breastfed his sister until she was almost three years old, I am in no rush to end Jacob’s time at the breast.

While our nursing relationship is still working well for the most part, it’s not all sunshine and roses. Toddlers, as it turns out, are not that considerate of others. They are hooligans, if you will. It’s not malevolent, really, they just don’t understand that you have feelings and can be hurt, and so it doesn’t occur to them that pulling your hair just to see what you’ll do is unkind. And so, it also doesn’t occur to them that performing daring feats of acrobatic skill while breastfeeding is kind of, well, rude.

The little monkey, dressed the part

If you have ever breastfed a toddler, some of Jacob’s latest tricks while nursing might sound familiar to you.

• Kicking me in the face.
• Playing with my moles or my bellybutton.
• Craning his head to look around without letting go.
• Pulling off and squirting himself in the face and laughing.
• Asking to switch sides every 3 seconds.
• Undressing me in public so that he can nurse.

We are slowly working on some nursing etiquette. My current boundaries are that I won’t nurse him at the table or in the bathroom. He seems to be getting the message on those fronts, so we will gradually expand from there. I expect that he will also naturally develop more consideration as he gets older, children always do. But for right now, I will admit that occasionally when he makes the sign for nurse I offer him a cracker instead. Because as committed as I am to breastfeeding, sometimes I need a 5 minute reprieve.

So, tell me? Have you breastfed a toddler who could put Cirque du Soleil to shame with their handstand-back flip-double pike while nursing move? I would love to hear that I’m not alone.

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