The Big Latch On 2013

Breastfeeding the minion has been an amazing experience for me.  And I guess for her, since she does like it!  We have found a great community of other breastfeeding moms and this past weekend I got together with 14,536 of my closest friends and we all breastfed at the same time all over the world.

We participated in The Big Latch On.  We attended the gathering in Athens, Georgia and at precisely 10:30 AM the minion latched on and nursed for a minute.  It was hard keeping her on, she was too interested in all the other babies.  Potential friends!

There was one mom there who had an older daughter with her also, probably about 5 years old, and she was using the opportunity to teach her about breastfeeding.  That was pretty awesome to see.  We also got a cute little breastfeeding coloring book that will be great for the minion when she’s a little older.

It is very cool to have been a part of this.  We made it change from 14,535 to 14,536!  If the minion is still nursing next year, we will totally go again!

A Quick List of Surprising Things I Can Do While Nusing

• type this post
• shop for groceries
• read comic books
• sleep
• brush my teeth
• go for a walk in the park
• browse books at the library
• eat dinner (well, only select things)
• discuss very in-depth topics like philosophy, evolutionary biology, and what we want to eat for dinner
• pet the pavlovinator (she loves to sit in my lap while I’m nursing)
• shop catalogs for fruit trees
• trim the minion’s nails (I bite the nails off the top hand while she nurses)
• attend the sermon at my Unitarian Universalist church
• garden (ok, I can tell the hero what to do and he can garden)
• play video games (Skyrim!)

What things were you surprised you could do while nursing?

Got Breastmilk?

The minion, the hero, and I were at Earthfare today and the minion got hungry.  Naturally, I put her up to my breast and fed her while still walking around directing the hero what to pick up.  There was a woman with her four-year-old daughter there who stopped me and thanked me for breastfeeding in public and not covering up.  She said she felt it was important for children to see women breastfeeding so that they don’t think of it as weird or something to be done only at the mother’s convenience when they have their own children.  I tend to agree with her.

We do need to educate children about breastfeeding, but don’t sign them up for a lactation class just yet.  I think it should be a more passive education.  They just need to grow up seeing mothers breastfeeding.  They need to read books where moms in the background are breastfeeding.  They need to play with dolls that don’t all come with a little plastic bottle to feed them with.  They need to see the international breastfeeding symbol in public places.  Breastfeeding needs to be normal.  Breastfeeding is normal, it just needs to be seen as normal.

It was surprisingly empowering and encouraging for the woman in Earthfare to speak up and congratulate me.  I have often heard horror stories about people approaching them about nursing in public with negative comments.  I have been lucky that no one has done that to me.

I just wanted to put this out there as a small antidote to all the horror stories and on the off-chance you see someone nursing in public, thank them for being strong and educating the world and most importantly future parents.