In praise of breastfeeding 2 yrs and beyond

[hrsmom]

First, I don't know to get a little one to sleep otherwise
It was nice to lay down and have "nueys" when she stepped on a bee.
It's nice to lay down and nurse when I'm too tired to do anything else!
It's a great way to entice my LO to lay down for a nap or bedtime!

Others?

[pantrygirl]

It's a nice way to decompress at the end of the day.
It helped ward off a virus that was passing around the kids in our neighborhood.

[lifeguard]

I feel so lazy being able to just lie down & have ds snuggle up beside me & nurse to sleep. Dh is jealous I can read while ds falls asleep - when he puts him to sleep it's a full-time job.

[gypsymama2008]

A few weeks ago a cold was passing around our whole family, first my brother got it, then my dad, then me, then DH, then my mom, then my aunt, then my grandma (we don't live with my parents but we spend a lot of time with them, DD spends the most). We all had it and were absolutely miserable for 4 days each. I had to have DH come home from work and help me with DD, and I think everyone had to take a day off work at some point or other. We were all really miserable. My breastfed toddler sneezed a little more for one an afternoon and had a runny nose for an hour and that was it. I would not trade her breastmilk-stregthened immune system for anything.

[Shanny2032]

We recently nightweaned at 21 months and I guess it never occured to me that nursing her BACK to sleep all night helped me to fall back to sleep too. Now she will stir for a moment and I am fully awake for ages. Last night I actually considered waking her and latching her on! sigh...who knew?

ETA - and who else is going to cheer and shout when I take off my top

[cheenya]

Originally Posted by Shanny2032

We recently nightweaned at 21 months and I guess it never occured to me that nursing her BACK to sleep all night helped me to fall back to sleep too.

Yep, I realized that a while ago, I wonder sometimes now how I will ever sleep when my nursing days are through

Nursing a talking child lets you find out that num is better than chocolate or ice cream, it fills you up all inside not just in your belly, and that it smells different when you are pregnant (my dd knew I was pg with ds#2 because my milk smelled the same as it had when I was pg w/ ds#1).

When preschoolers are learning the world can sometimes be cruel, num is a wonderful something mommy can give to press the "reset" button and make it all better (maybe not perfect, but better).