2 Years of Breastfeeding and Beyond

Nursing never has and never will look just one way for every mother and child.

Listen to your child, listen to yourself.

Accept what is.

Don’t read into things too much.

Go with your instincts.

Feel the love.

- Excerpt from To the Mom of a Nursing Toddler by Nurse Me Mama

I came across this article about a week after Ava turned two. It summed up all of my thoughts about our breastfeeding journey which I have been feeling highly emotional about lately. In our trip two weeks ago, I was scheduled to go ahead for two days and two nights, that meant being away from Ava (at night) for the very first time after her birth. Since we are still breastfeeding, I was initially worried about how Mr. T would manage to make her sleep through the night, or if two consecutive days and nights will make her wean. Am I ready? Is she ready? That would be a relief right? No, I'm not ready, what will I do if she doesn't like to dede (breastfeed) anymore?

Guess both of us weren't ready because the first activity she did in Hong Kong was breastfeed. Happy Mama and a happy tot together again.

So cheers to two years of breastfeeding, and cheers to who-knows-how-much-longer. Pats on our backs are in order. One for me and one for Mr. T. Achievement unlocked! :)

How Breastfeeding Helped Us Jumpstart Our Family

"Welcome to the Milk Mama Diaries Carnival (August). For this month, we write about the World Breastfeeding Week 2014 - Breastfeeding: A Winning Goal for Life and share how breastfeeding can help the Philippines achieve the 8 Millennium Development Goals developed by the government and the United Nations. Participants will share their thoughts, experiences, hopes and suggestions on the topic.

Please scroll down to the end of the post to see the list of carnival entries."

I am always excited every time I get to blog or post about breastfeeding. What's even more exciting is that I get to participate in this year's Milk Mama Diaries blog carnival to share my personal thoughts and our experiences in breastfeeding with high hopes of inspiring others to pursue their very own journey as well.

Breastfeeding Aids Poverty 

Like all newlyweds, we were on our way to building up our own family, and that also meant building up our finances. While we've already planned to have a baby on our first year of marriage, we were still caught in a bit of surprise at how costly it was to have a baby. The monthly check-ups, vitamins, medicines, laboratory tests and in my case some special tests to make sure that Ava was perfectly fine inside my womb. And then there were those cravings, the clothes that did not fit and the days/months when I had to take a leave from work. Then it was time for Ava's birth. While it was one of the best days of our lives, we still had hospital bills, doctor's fees, more medicines and other stuff. It was a bit overwhelming but we are grateful for our families for giving us the emotional and financial help that we needed that time.

Things You Don't Say/Ask to a Breastfeeding Mama

Yes, in case you have missed it, my darling daughter is now 19 months and still breastfeeding. :) It's one of the best choices we have made as first-time parents. We know we are providing the best for our daughter.

I remember when I first watched the movie Grownups, we weren't married yet. It was the scene when the group reunited for the first time at the coach's funeral. They were seating in a gazebo chatting when Kevin James' son walked up to the mom and asked to breastfeed. The group was taken aback, someone asked how old the boy was and Kevin James responded, 48 months, trying to downplay the age. Then the couple went defensive and explained that they're trying to wean him already.

That was a funny scene, or back then I thought it was.

Fast-forward to today, I am now a Mama to my beautiful daughter, and we are breastfeeding. I have learned a lot about the importance of breastfeeding not only during the first 6 months of a baby's life but also extended breastfeeding for a toddler. Anyway you look at it, breast milk is still superior to any other kind of milk being offered in the market.

See, here in our country, it is just recently that breastfeeding is really breaking through. Years before, milk formula companies together with their marketing ploys and ads did a great job at making people think that formula milk is as good as breast milk. Packed with vitamins and nutrients that they have studied that are supposed to be similar to what a child gets from breast milk. Before I got pregnant, I didn't know formula milk was all that bad, we even tried giving Ava formula milk before when I was about to go back to work just in case I don't get to meet her daily milk requirements by pumping. She was around 3 months then, and that was the only thing I regret doing as a parent. I was so misinformed.