Beyond Infant Breastfeeding...
Celebrating Tandem Nursing and Making Extended Breastfeeding The Norm Again
- Shyami Sathiaseelan
- Shyami Sathiaseelan
My earliest memories of
breastfeeding was that of my aunts feeding my cousins. Yet, I had never seen
toddlers being breastfed. The first time I ever heard of it was when a pediatrician uncle of mine mentioned how school going kids used to be
breastfed in the villages when he was a kid.
When I got pregnant with my
son, I attended the mandatory ante-natal classes my doctor asked me to and
breastfeeding class was a part of it. I didn’t think too much about it
then. We are supposed to be natural breastfeeders, right? Later on, a couple of
friends spoke to me about breastfeeding and told me how life is easy with
breastfeeding, especially for someone as lazy as me. Even then the topic of
“extended” breastfeeding didn’t arise.
My son latched on fine and
breastfed like a pro from the word go without any major problems. I was
planning to go back to work after six months of maternity leave and I hadn’t
even thought about pumping. However, when my son was exactly six months old, I
found out that he had allergies. That changed a lot of things. I decided to
work from home and continue to feed him as I knew that breastmilk would help
him in the long run to get rid of his allergies.
I got pregnant again when
my son was just over a year old. I started reading up a bit and decided to
breastfeed my son through my second pregnancy and tandem feed the two babies
after the second one arrived. At this point I was losing weight already, and
continuing to breastfeed while pregnant and not gaining any weight wasn’t
helping. My family was totally against me breastfeeding my older one. It was
difficult to find supportive doctors as well. I spoke to my GP and his words
struck a chord with me, “Shyami, I am not worried about the babies. The baby
inside is going to get all the nutrients it needs and the baby outside is going
to get enough nourishment from the breastmilk. I am worried about you. If you
promise to eat healthy and nutritious food so that you are not getting any
deficiencies I wouldn’t stop you from doing what you want to do.”
I fought against all odds
and breastfed my son through my pregnancy until the 8th month. He was 19
months then and self-weaned.* I was sad to let go but was mentally prepared to
feed him if he asked for it after my second one was born.
After the second baby was
born I was too busy to even think about tandem feeding for a while. When I did
bring up the topic, I was laughed at and I did not have the courage to fight
back then but slowly I started feeding him again when he asked. At one stage, I
was feeding two toddlers. My son was going to school so his feeding would be
restricted to bedtime whereas my daughter had the luxury of feeding whenever
she wanted as she stayed at home with me - sometimes it would be every half an
hour and sometimes she wouldn’t think about it for a few hours. She, most
often, fed more than normal just before she fell ill and she used to recover
real quick too. She was always the last one to catch the infection and the
first one to get out of it among her group of friends.** She continued to feed
even after she joined school. The feeding helped in easing her into school
emotionally and also helped her in building her immunity.
My neighbours, friends, and
family found it funny and strange that she ran to me when she was thirsty,
hungry or needed comfort looking for milk. I was told that there was no milk and she was just sucking out of habit.*** Everyone had to say something about my
breastfeeding journey and mostly it was all negative. I handled all their
comments and questions with just a smile.
Between all this, my son
was admitted to hospital for pneumonia and was intubated. What helped him get
out of his illness real quick was breastfeeding right through it all. The
nurses at the hospital would tell me not to feed him but I kept at it and the
doctors were amazed at how quick his recovery was.
My daughter self-weaned
when she was 4.5 years old when my supply hit a low. But we had an amazing
breastfeeding journey that my son and daughter still talk about breastfeeding
and the special bond that we had.
I realise now somewhere
along the line, what was the norm decades ago has now become “extended”.
Extended breastfeeding helped me and my children in many ways unimaginable and
I can’t emphasis enough on the benefits it has on the mother and child. We lost
the goodness of breastfeeding somewhere on our path to becoming progressive but
it’s time we bring it back. As a person who has first-handedly experienced the
benefits of nursing two toddlers, I really hope extended breastfeeding becomes
the norm again.
Editor's Note
* The taste of breastmilk tend to change
during pregnancy and this could be a reason for children to self wean at a
younger age. Under normal circumstances, the natural term for self weaning is 2-4 years.
** Evidence suggests that
breastmilk supplements the body’s natural immunity better than formula.
*** One of the popular myths of breastfeeding is that children nurse only for hunger or out of habit. However, children nurse for a number of other reasons too. You can refer to this article for more insights on this - http://kellymom.com/bf/normal/comfortnursing/
Comments
Post a Comment