It's nice to have the World Health Organization make supportive statements such as, "Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended up to 6 months of age, with continued breastfeeding along with appropriate complementary foods up to two years of age or beyond."
It helps to validate what I already feel instinctively. I know nursing a toddler is good for me and the babe. I've read many times that as babies get older, the composition of the milk changes to meet their growing needs. A nursing toddler still receives all the antibodies and disease-fighting immunities, along with whatever vitamins his growing body needs. Human milk is so amazing!
And for me, burning lots of calories, and delaying my menses, is nothing to complain about.
Nutritional benefits aside, when I look down at my nursing 17 mos old, I see this look of pure contentment in his eyes. It's a look I can't really describe, but I feel in my heart that he is so at peace with life when he is nursing.
This past week Odin has been sick, plus teething on top of that. His one, single source of comfort has been nursing. I love it when he comes running to me, worried and sad, arms open wide, knowing exactly what will make him feel all better.
Nursing a toddler is humorous. I should think you need a sense of humour to handle the startling changes of nursing a walking, talking, thinking child. No more are they the small, still, iconic baby, staring lovingly into your eyes. Odin twists, twirls, kicks, squeezes, stands up on my lap, and makes the silliest of noises, while he....eats.
I can't walk around the house shirtless, without his eyes getting real big, and immediately wanting to nurse. I feel like the giant, walking steak, in those old cartoons. It makes me laugh.
be still child!
Nursing a toddler isn't just a lifestyle choice, it's an emotional and physical need. We need each other, and we're not ready to wean. I'd say, we're pretty attached.
