Hi,
It's been a few years since I read the books about Attachment Parenting, The Continuum Concept, Magical Child, Ethnopediatrics, etc. Pema, our dd is now 26 months and still BF. If I remember the gist of most of these books it is that the longer a child BF's generally their physical and emotional health has more opportunity to develop to its fullest, and is more in line with what nature intended - or at least, historical precedent before the modern era of formula feeding, etc.
So I am happy and probably a bit proud that Pema is still BF, perhaps even more so because she was born c-section.
Now to mom: It's been a long two years for her. The first year was the hardest - conception to age three months, then slowly slowly getting easier since then - my subjective impression. DW has never been of robust health, and giving birth at age 40 has obviously taken its toll on her.
Pema is a very energetic child and for that we both feel blessed and somehow DW has hung in there with the BF for this long because how can you not love and cherish this little light which has enetered our lives? How can a mother say no when she cries out "Ne, Ne!" (milk in Mandarin) in the middle of the night, sounding quite distressed?
I have little knowledge of what is normal in BF today, but my sense is that Pema expresses a greater than average need to not be separated from mother. I can see it gradually occuring. She's doesn't always have to know where mother is. Sometimes I will tell her when just DD and I are at the playground, now it's time to go pick up mama, she'll say, "I don't want to go now." Nonetheless, lately I've been getting hints from DW that she is tired and impatient for BF to end and grouses about wanting to make a change.
I'm not sure how to both remain supportive of my wife's needs, while also encouraging her not to stop breastfeeding abruptly, and being an advocate for some semblance of a natural weaning - if such a concept exists in the modern era. It seems if Pema had her way, she might hang on to the nipple for another year or two???
DW has lately been struggling with some kind of respiratory congestion and low energy.
It's been a few years since I read the books about Attachment Parenting, The Continuum Concept, Magical Child, Ethnopediatrics, etc. Pema, our dd is now 26 months and still BF. If I remember the gist of most of these books it is that the longer a child BF's generally their physical and emotional health has more opportunity to develop to its fullest, and is more in line with what nature intended - or at least, historical precedent before the modern era of formula feeding, etc.
So I am happy and probably a bit proud that Pema is still BF, perhaps even more so because she was born c-section.
Now to mom: It's been a long two years for her. The first year was the hardest - conception to age three months, then slowly slowly getting easier since then - my subjective impression. DW has never been of robust health, and giving birth at age 40 has obviously taken its toll on her.
Pema is a very energetic child and for that we both feel blessed and somehow DW has hung in there with the BF for this long because how can you not love and cherish this little light which has enetered our lives? How can a mother say no when she cries out "Ne, Ne!" (milk in Mandarin) in the middle of the night, sounding quite distressed?
I have little knowledge of what is normal in BF today, but my sense is that Pema expresses a greater than average need to not be separated from mother. I can see it gradually occuring. She's doesn't always have to know where mother is. Sometimes I will tell her when just DD and I are at the playground, now it's time to go pick up mama, she'll say, "I don't want to go now." Nonetheless, lately I've been getting hints from DW that she is tired and impatient for BF to end and grouses about wanting to make a change.
I'm not sure how to both remain supportive of my wife's needs, while also encouraging her not to stop breastfeeding abruptly, and being an advocate for some semblance of a natural weaning - if such a concept exists in the modern era. It seems if Pema had her way, she might hang on to the nipple for another year or two???
DW has lately been struggling with some kind of respiratory congestion and low energy.
