Welcome to The Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival!
This post was written as part of The Breastfeeding Cafe’s Carnival. For more info on the Breastfeeding Cafe, go to www.breastfeedingcafe.wordpress.com. For more info on the Carnival or if you want to participate, contact Claire at clindstrom2 {at} gmail {dot} com. Today’s post is things we’d like to share with our nurslings about what it means for us to breastfeed. Please read the other blogs in today’s carnival listed below and check back for more posts July 18th through the 31st!
Breastfeeding you is just the beginning, but it’s the best start I can give you.
As you grow older, breastfeeding will become just one of the many parts of your life. More important things will happen in your life. Breastfeeding will fall into the background. Breastfeeding will not be something you think about every day as you do now. Breastfeeding will be part of what made you, but no longer immediately important.
You may not care whether or not you breastfed when you are 10 or 20 or 30, but one day you will. One day you will come to me when you are pregnant and want to know. You will want the full details of problems we faced, how long you nursed, why I we nursed to begin with.
I will tell you that even though it was such a short period of time in the grand scheme of things, it was a very important part of your life. It helped you to reach your full potential and be as happy and healthy as I wanted you to be. It was only the first few years of your life, but it was important to me. It made you happy. It made me happy. It made the world around as just work. I will tell you that you were a very happy baby and toddler and that even the times you weren’t very happy, breast milk made you happy again. I will tell you that there were difficult times too, but we worked hard and fixed our problems because I knew it would be worth it.
One day, I will help you to have this same special relationship we have with my future grandson or granddaughter. You will understand why I fought so hard to keep our relationship going and give other women the opportunity to have this relationship too. You’ll understand that while it’s only the first 1/20th of your life or less, it’s still incredibly important. It is giving you the best start possible.
Here are more posts by the Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival participants! Check back because more will be added throughout the day.
- Amy @ Anktangle—just ONE thing
- Sylko @ Chaotic Mama—Breastfeeding Carnival: The World
- Timbra @ Bosoms & Babes—Ho Hum EXTRAordinary
- Shelly @ Lousy Mom—What does breastfeeding mean?
- Renee @ Just the 5 of us!—Amazing
- Claire @ The Adventures of Lactating Girl—The Best Start Possible
- Lisa R.D @ Harper Hoorahs—It’s More Than Just the Milk
- Sarah @ Most Revealing—One thing
- Natasha @ naturalurbanmama—Breastfeeding Thoughts: A Letter to my Kids
- Kimberly @ Monkey Tales Mama Thoughts—Do You Remember?
- Mamapoekie @ Authentic Parenting—Breastfeeding: What It Means To Me
- And of course the guest poster on the Breastfeeding Cafe’s Blog today is Marilee Poulson—The Normal Course of Breastfeeding
Adventures of Lactating Girl 
you are so right that it is a small part, but the beginning shapes everything! 🙂
Amen sista! Thanks so much Claire!
It’s so true that it’s such a short time, and so important.
I love that right now breastfeeding is everything for my baby… but as you stated, in the long run it will only be a short part of her life yet have significance that will be hard to measure. Thanks for your beautiful thoughts!
It is just the beginning and it’s a great beginning at that. Honestly I get a little sad that one day it will be over…you can always hug and kiss your little one (except when they’re teenagers!) but you can’t breastfeed them when they are big and grown. Lovely post.
Wow Claire – very touching. It brought tears to my eyes.