I Breastfeed Because…

We haven’t written about it in a long while, because it’s been a long while since Emily and I have had nursing babies, but we are big fans of breastfeeding around here.  I loved nursing my babies, even though Sophie wanted to hang on a lot longer than I did (guess who won? She did!  Because really, it’s all about what baby needs, even if baby is 23 months old!)

So that’s why we are posting today, during World Breastfeeding Week, about the “I Breastfeed Because” campaign from Ameda, a company that makes great breast pumps and provides allll kinds of support for nursing moms.  To spread the word about  how important and wonderful breastfeeding is, Ameda has launched a new website at I Breastfeed Because and is encouraging all moms who did or do breastfeed upload a short, 20-second video about why you breastfeed. Here’s mine:

For every video, comment or tweet shared, Ameda will make a donation to the Human Milk Bank Association of North America (HMBANA), a non-profit association of donor human milk banks established in 1985 to set standards for and to facilitate establishment and operation of milk banks in North America.

And, every mom who uploads a video will be entered to win the grand prize of a $2,500 nursery makeover or one of 25 secondary prizes — $50 American Express gift cards. Woohoo!  So go check out the site, share your story, and enter!

And tell us, if you breastfed – why did you breastfeed?  We’d love to know, too!

And in the interest of FULL disclosure, we are posting about this fully for the love of breastfeeding, and because the campaign was brought to our attention by one of our loyal readers, Cara, who works for Evenflo headquartered here in our area, the parent company of Ameda.  A cause we love & support + a reader we can support, + a local business we can support = perfection!

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It’s Almost Over.

I think Sammy is weaning himself.

He’s nearly 15 months old, and I know I should be prepared for this and ready for it to happen, but quite honestly I’m not. It makes me sad to think that he’s getting so big and that he’s not an infant anymore. I logically know this is true, but still, he is my baby.

We’ve been down to just nursing at night and sometimes in the mornings (when I’m trying to get a few more minutes of shut-eye), but lately Sammy hasn’t been nursing in very long stints – something much more exciting is always going on around him, and he’s soon ready to crawl off to find a ball or play with his sister. And the number one sign he’s just not that into it anymore – he doesn’t point and squeal at my laptop the way he used to when he wanted to nurse. (What? He thinks my laptop is somehow related to the nursing process, since it’s omnipresent when we sit down on the couch. Is that not normal??)

Tonight he was super tired and ready for bed, but I wanted to nurse him to sleep. I don’t normally do that, but tonight I wanted to pay attention, to make sure I remembered this night if in fact it turned out to be the last time he nursed. So we sat in the rocking chair in his room as we’ve done so many times before, and I just stared at him, trying to burn his soft little baby face into my memory. I want to remember everything about him.

He is my baby.

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I’m (not) Pumpin’ Up the Party Now

Today was a big milestone for me.

I pumped for the very last time.

And I am so relieved.

No more packing and unpacking, or washing all of the 9000 parts every night. No more schleping the pump back and forth to work anymore. No more trips to vacant parking lots in the freezing cold because there’s nowhere in my office to take care of business. No more business trips with a van full of colleagues wondering why I have a heavy Trader Joe’s freezer bag on the way home that I didn’t have on the way there.

No more worrying that I’m going to be pulled over on my way to and from work and have to explain why I’m half naked.

So yeah, I’m relieved.

I have been counting down the days, really, but now I’m surprised to find I am kind of sad about it in a weird way. Sammy will be a year old on Thursday. He’s not a baby anymore. And while I’m planning to continue to nurse him when we’re together, he no longer relies on me when we’re apart.

I’m just not sure I am ready for that.

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