EBFing

Breastfeeding has become a hot topic for me lately. Mostly because Sabrina is now a year old, and babies don't need breast milk longer than one year, right?

Um, I'm not so sure about that.

The benefits from breastfeeding range to bonding time with your little one, nutritional value, and it can actually decrease the risk of uterine, ovarian, and breast cancer in nursing Momma's. You have probably heard the slogan "breast is best" and I tend to agree with that. Sabrina certainty would!But please don't take that to mean that I do not support Momma's who formula feed. I FF'd DJ from about four months on. With him, breastfeeding was not a good fit. That's the case with some Momma's, and that is perfectly acceptable.

Anyway, extended breastfeeding (EBFing) means nursing past the one year mark. Which is where Sabrina and I are at right now. She gets milk in the morning, at night, and any time during the day when she asks for it. Why is extended breastfeeding a good fit for Sabrina and I?

- Sabrina hates any type of milk that comes from a carton. According to most pediatricians, milk is an essential  part of a toddler's diet! Until Sabrina will willingly drink milk from a cup, she will receive it straight from the tap.

- After every nursing session, Sabrina will unlatch, look up at me, and flash the most radiant, toothy grin possible. It fills my heart with joy, especially knowing that something I did put it there.

- She asks for it! It is here that I am reminded of the popular saying "If they can ask for it, it is time to stop!" She crawls up to me, tugs on my shirts and searches her hardest for a nipple. Do I think that is weird? No! My little girl has been drinking milk from my boobs for over a year. She knows where it comes from, similar to how a child knows that milk comes from a specific looking carton. I will not refuse my child something natural and healthy because she asks for it.

People may think it is weird, gross, or wrong to nurse a child past 12 months. I, and other Mothers out there, do not! We will stop sometime soon, I am sure. I just don't want to put a definite end date on my nursing experience.


And, just in case anyone was interested, DJ and I found some time to build his paper race track. He enjoyed choosing what to add to the track and where to place the items tremendously!