Even though R is now 19 months, she still breastfeeds.
Continuing to breastfeed now is partly inertia (since we're both used to it now), partly laziness (don't have to worry as much about her nutrition, she gets sick less, soothing her at night is super easy). She is down to twice a day (when she wakes up, when she goes to bed), so it doesn't really impact daily life whatsoever. I never nurse her in public, because I don't like it (so public judgment is not an issue). By now it's totally routine. I imagine it will continue to taper off (already R skips feedings occasionally, like if we are busy or I'm out) and the end will be a total non-event without any particular significance attached
The strange thing: doing "extended breastfeeding", even though to me it seems completely mundane and uninteresting, makes me kind of a freak. This is especially the case in Singapore. Most people here do initiate breastfeeding, but by one month only 22% are exclusively breastfed (in the US, it's around 50%): in other words, supplementing with formula is done almost from the beginning. Breastfeeding is usually completely over by three months: by six months almost no one does it.
Not surprisingly, everyone assumes that babies eat from bottles, and doctor's offices, hospitals and other sources regularly give out formula or pro-formula information. Officially, breastfeeding is encouraged (most new malls include a breastfeeding room, for example). But while occasionally expats will nurse in public, I have never seen a Singaporean doing so. Even the breastfeeding rooms are almost always empty.
I sympathize with the ardently pro-breastfeeding people, and a few of my friends are that way (attending "nursing flash mobs" and whatever). But I am not that way, even if I am a freaky extended breastfeeder. People should do what is easiest/best for them (that's what I do, after all!), and if that means bottle feeding, so be it. Really my main issue is that people frequently incorrectly gauge what's easiest for them in favor of formula due to societal bias (and thus have to put up with a lot more sickness, ear infections and potential speech delays, for example).
Haha I can relate :), I breastfeed because I am lazy! I bottle fed my 1st after a failed attempt at breastfeeding and man was it complicated! It is so much easier to breastfeed, everything is always ready, all the time!
ReplyDeleteThanks for enlightening me! I was set on breastfeeding because of the lack of cost. Now I am thankful I did because I had a really hard time bonding with ginny, and I think breastfeeding helped the process. Now we do it twice a day, in the morning when G wakes before I'm ready to get up we will nurse in my bed, and then right before her dad puts her to bed. I will probably do it as long as she wants to. She too has slowly started weaning herself. The other night she wasn't interested at all! It did break my heart a little, but mostly because she's growing too quickly. Nursing is our last baby thing!
ReplyDeleteI know, it's so bittersweet how quickly the baby stage passes!
DeleteYou know, I can't even imagine bf P right now - but when i was doing it it just seemed to normal. Isn't it funny that the norm is only what we do? lol.
ReplyDeletebtw- that's crazy about how different the stats are. But I think I'm starting to waiver on the whole OMG I HAVE TO EXCLUSIVELY bf. By the time we're ready for #2 I think I'll supplement (only if it's another teeny tiny skinny mini like P) with formula so I don't have to worry about the weight issues like I was CONSTANTLY with P.
The normal thing is funny, it's like when I was a kid and thought that everyone else's house/parents were exactly like mine. So shocking to see different standards of discipline or whatever!
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