Before I had kids I never really wondered about breastfeeding, pregnancy, and weaning.  I knew I wanted kids.  I knew I would breastfeed.  I had never heard of breastfeeding past 12 months.  I had this picture in my mind of magically birthing a small human, putting them to my breast to nourish them, and then suddenly on their first birthday they would look at me and say, ‘No thanks Ma! I’m good.’

Yeah, naive, I know.  Imagine my shock when I learned that this isn’t how it works.  The first time I saw a toddler breastfeeding I was shocked, to say the least.  Of course, by the time my first baby was a few months old the idea seemed almost normal.  And I had plans to allow her to self-wean, or at least continue breastfeeding as long as it was working for both of us.  I changed my goals from 1 year to 2 years and I never looked back.

Now we had our ups and downs, and moments where I thought if I had to let this child nurse for one.more.second I might explode, but I was confidant in the fact that I was doing what I believed was best for my daughter.  I got pregnant with her younger sister shortly after her 3rd birthday. We continued nursing, though by that point she was nursing only 4 times a day, first thing in the morning, before her nap, after her nap, and right before bed.  I’m sure most of the people who knew us assumed she was weaned by that point, and that’s ok.

At some point during my 1st trimester  breastfeeding became painful.  We worked on her latch over and over again.  Eventually the milk started become less plentiful and her nursing sessions became less frequent and before I knew it we were down to 1 morning session.  If I were to get up and get dressed before she got out of bed, she wouldn’t ask.

Eventually it was a few days between sessions, and then it would be weeks between sessions.  Finally a friend asked me if she was still nursing and I said I couldn’t remember the last time she nursed, so I guess not.  The next day she asked one last time, as she climbed into my lap.  I said ok, and then she looked at my breast and then looked at me, as if she was unsure of how to proceed.  It had been about 2 weeks since her last nursing session and she had forgotten how to latch.  It was a slow process, but at the end, I knew that it was just what both of us needed.

This post was part of the Breasfeeding Blog Hop -

Everyone will tell you, breastfeeding is natural, it’s best, it’s what our bodies were made for.  That’s all wonderful.  However, what you don’t often hear is the realities of how breastfeeding culture has changed.  Sixty years ago we all would have grown up watching our aunts, mothers, and cousins breastfeeding their babies.  We’d be surrounded by a culture of ‘normal’ breastfeeding, so when we became mothers, we’d have a clue as to what we were doing.  Unfortunately the reality is that most moms don’t ever see a woman breastfeeding until they are breastfeeding themselves.  This is why breastfeeding support is SO crucial.

There are many ways to find support today.  Many moms are turning to the internet and message boards, some moms are turning to Twitter, and some moms are choosing in person support meetings, like La Leche League or Breastfeeding USA.

I host the #bfcafe chat on Twitter on Thursday nights (10 PM Eastern), and our topic a few weeks back was support and where most moms find their support.  The answers were as varied as the moms participating, but the key was that everyone who was successful had support from somewhere.

So as a mom where do you find support?  How will you be successful? Who is your cheerleader?  Trust me, you’ll need one.

I joined my local LLL group when my oldest was a few weeks old.  I became a leader after she turned 1.  I also found support through message board with like minded moms.  Moms whose breastfeeding goals were similar to mine, and moms who had been successful at reaching those goals.  It is also very rewarding to be on the other side of that now.  I get to hang out on Twitter and encourage moms who are struggling with breastfeeding.  I can go back to the message boards that gave me support, and now I can offer support.  I also offer support to every mom I know who is breastfeeding.

I have turned my passion for supporting moms into my career.  I’ve spent time learning and educating myself, and I am anxiously awaiting my results from this years IBCLC exam.  My goal is to help as many moms be successful in meeting their breastfeeding goals as I can.  I sometimes have to sit back and remind myself that my goals are different from other moms’ goals, and that’s ok.  Everyone has different goals, and different ideals, and different circumstances.  In a perfect world all moms would find a support system.  A support system that would encourage them to meet their goals, to consider themselves successful, whatever that might look like for them.

Having in real life support is very valuable, and if you can find a group of like minded moms, who will support and encourage you to meet your goals, that is a great place to start.  Turning to the internet for support is also great, but it’s different.  There’s nothing like seeing another mom successfully breastfeed to help build your confidence.  So if you can, find moms and surround yourself with a good support network.

Where did you find support? Was your support what it should have been?  How can we help support you?  How can you help support other moms?

Today’s post is a part of the Breastfeeding Blog Hop.  Click below to see what others have to say on the topic.

I am the queen of multitasking.  Seriously.  Asking me to put down everything else and simply watch a movie with my family is something I am simply not capable of.  I don’t know when I became such a multi-tasker.  It could have been during my years in retail managment, or it could have been when I delivered the placenta while cuddling and holding my brand new baby girl.  Either way, my life has never been the same.

I used to be SO productive.  When my babies were little and I sat on the couch nursing them, with my laptop on my lap and a baby on my belly, I did so much work.  I would put them in my baby carrier du jour and nurse them while I did laundry vacuumed the house.

Then those babies grew into toddlers.  When my oldest was a toddler I went back to school.  I wrote papers and studied for exams while breastfeeding.  She was a study prop for my Anatomy & Physiology class.  It was like having a real life model.  I would hold her and play with her while quizzing myself on her muscles and bones.  Now that my second born is a toddler she sometimes lets me know that she is not interested in me multi-tasking while breastfeeding her.  I try to listen when she needs me and put down whatever else I was trying to do.

Multitasking is a way of life for me, but I have to be aware of my kids’ needs too.  I’m trying to set aside some of my need to be doing 8 things at once and work on focusing on one thing when the girls need me to.  Sometimes they just need me to cuddle them up in my lap and show them that they are far more important than any tasks on my list.  But sometimes they let me cuddle them and my laptop!

How do you handle multi-tasking and breastfeeding?

This post is a part of the Breastfeeding Blog Hop, click below to check out what other people have to say on the topic!