Extended nursing

Inspired by reading Magpie's CSA posts all summer, and by Mel's recent prose about her magical farm experiences, we headed over to Willow Creek Orchards on Saturday to try this whole pick-your-own thing that farms do. 

We picked tomatoes and flowers and one beet. Then we headed to the store part of the farm. It was surrounded by a virtual moat of its colorful fall harvest -- endless rows of orange pumpkins and mums and other flowers in pots and green and deep purple ornamental greens in pots.

Jack felt tremendous affinity for the pumpkins.  He climbed on top of them, rolled around there and tried to push them down from their pallets.

At one point he bent over, his face inches from the side of a pumpkin and said, "Helloooo Pumpkin!"

Then he looked up at us, palms turned up in confusion and said "no eyes!" Long pause "No mouth."

Later, when we'd made our way through the store, adding some freshly baked cookies, fresh cider made from organic apples and for me a cup of decaf coffee to the cart. By the time we got to the counter to pay for our things, Jack was getting tired and cranky. He reached an arm up into my shirt and this 27 month old who had refused to nurse, leading me to exclusively pump for him for 10 months, looked up at me and and requested "milk from mommy's belly?"

When I told David this a few hours later, he had no idea what Jack meant by that. I had to explain it to him. Jack has been watching me nurse James for the last two months.  I've told him that James is getting milk that way.  Sometimes when James is crying, Jack will say that James needs a Baba (bottle),never milk from mommy. And sometimes when we are all sitting on the couch watching Blues Clues and I am nursing James, Jack will say: "Baby in bed!" urging me to ditch his younger brother. I've told him that when he was a little baby he used to drink milk from mommy.

Anyway, it was so unexpected to hear Jack make such a request, and it made me think of the extended nursers out there, including the aforementioned Magpie.  But I doubt it is something we would do with Jack now.  He developed an aversion to the breast after we tried so hard to make it work.  So he never learned how.  And now he has so very many teeth.  This seems like a bad combination. 

Comments

[Eva]

My 13-month-old who also never wanted to nurse is now interested in breasts. Kids are weird!

So you thought about nursing him now? I've sort of wondered about if I have another baby and this baby is interested in nursing, would I let her? She actually would be really great at learning to nurse NOW if I had any milk left, since she likes to try new foods...

[maggie]

Wow. That's so interesting that he asked.

I know that there are people who can nurse through a pregnancy and then in tandem afterwards. Not that I'm suggesting it!

When I was pumping all the time, my sister's kids saw me do it, lots of times. One day when they were at home, the girl child, who was 2 ish, stuck a toy baby bottle up under her shirt and announced "I pumping!"

[Aurelia]

Oh funny

Well, if he ever asks again, just let him know he can try, but it really doesn't taste as good as big boy food like chocolate pudding or strawberry yogurt.

Not sure it will work, but anytime I've ever said no, my kids think I'm holding out on something awesome. Maybe Jack is the same?