So...Lucy is quickly approaching 9 months. She is becoming more daring with her standing abilities and is now walking around furniture, she finds pleasure in our reaction when she "walks" toward us with the help of an extra set of hands or a little push toy. My baby is growing up :( The little turkey rarely sits long enough for us to get a little cuddle in. So, although I complain about the 2-3 night time feedings that she has held on to, at least I get a few moments to just sit and cuddle with the little adventurer. I think I would prefer that she would just co-sleep with us, but she doesn't stop moving even in her sleep!
In our country, it has come to be a social stigma to continue nursing your babies past their non-mobile months. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that a baby is exclusively breastfed for 6 months (nothing else, not even rice) and continue to breastfeed until at least 1 year and then as long as mother and baby are both inclined to nurse. The World Health Organization recommends at least 2 years. Lucy has been a very important piece of my education for the Certificate I received last fall as a Lactation Consultant. I have had quite a few problems getting her to nurse correctly and at times to nurse at all. At this point I just chalk it up to job experience, at the time it was very difficult and took the support of my husband and other nursing mothers (and my extensive knowledge into the long term benefits to both mother and baby) to keep me going. At this point, Lucy has proven to be an avid nurser, I can't imagine she will want to wean anytime soon.
So, the questions have started to creep up "You still nursing that child?", "How long are you going to continue that?" It's an easy answer, as long as Lucy and I both find it a positive experience. I promise she will not go to Kindergarten and still be nursing. When I begin to question whether it is worth the extra work at this point (still having to pump at work, not being able to just leave at the drop of a hat, trying to find an appropriate place to give Lucy a needed snack) I remember all the problems we had with Elena nutritionally after she weaned at 15 months. Definetely worth sticking with it. So, at this point, a full nights sleep will continue to be just a dream for me... Another mother summed up some of the nutritional reasons to continue to nurse a toddler:
"Breastmilk provides TONS of nutritional benefits for as long as it is provided. And those of us with toddlers all know how picky they can get. I'm glad that when all my son (22 months) will eat is hotdogs and ritz crackers that atleast he's getting some good stuff from my milk too!"
Is it really a bad sign if you stray from the master plan on the initial day of implementation? Just because I made a meal plan for the remainder of the week doesn't mean that I need to follow it, does it? The plan called for meatloaf tonight. That would have required a stop at the grocery store, didn't quite make it there today. So I decided to do french toast for dinner instead. Uh oh! Now we are in trouble, french toast was on the schedule for breakfast tomorrow...guess we are going to have to have meatloaf instead. 
I don't know why I bother to cook anyway. The little one scoffs at everything I put in front of her today. I was still trying to finish the french toast and she already wanted out of her chair. French toast was thrown in all directions, every direction except the goal...that cute little mouth. I needed a few more minutes without a baby in arms, so I did the unthinkable, I pulled out the cheerio box...again. If you are what you eat, then Lucy is definetly a cheerio. Not such a bad thing I guess. Cute, round, mostly likable, healthy. But really, can you be turned in to child protection for feeding nothing but cheerios? If I am what I eat, then tonight it was cold french toast and Elena's left over milk (guess I should have just eaten while I cooked, like I generally do at breakfast-time, but this was the dinner hour, and I have this thing about having dinner as a family.)
So I decided to print out a new meal plan. I ran it past the vice president and she thought it looked great, as long as I added a peanut butter and Jelly sandwich from time to time. So here it is: breakfast: Cheerios, Lunch: PB & J, Snack: Cheerios, Dinner: Honey Nut Cheerios. In reality, I'm going to start that new meal plan...tomorrow...but not until after breakfast, because we just had french toast for dinner - guess we will just have to substitute...Cheerios
I'm all out of Cheerios!
