Sad conversation with a little girl - Page 2

[FrederickMama]

You have already helped those girls by breastfeeding around them.
I,too, was told a million times as a kid that breastfeeding was gross.
But at 18, with no support system i still nursed...the first for 18 months, the second for 2 years and now #3 at 31 months is still nursing.

[firstkid4me]

Originally Posted by Joannarachel

I went to visit a good friend yesterday. She is much more mainstream than I, but she is fun and kind and easy to be with, kwim?

I brought my 1.5 year old and my nursing 2 month old.

When the baby nursed, her five and three year old were all over me, "What is that? What are you doing?" And then from the five year old "EW, GROSS! "

Their mother bottle fed both of them, so I couldn't exactly say, 'no, this is MUCH better than formula!", but I was trying to explain nicely. The little girl said, "How does the milk get IN there?"

So I said, "When the babies are born, God puts their milk in their mommies."

I then added, "When you have babies, God will give you milk for them too."

The little girl made a disgusted face and said, "EW! No! I will give my babies bottles...that is what they are for." :

I couldn't really say anything more...I didn't want to hurt my friend's feelings or upset the little girl. What would you have done?

I have a friend that tried breastfeeding her two children, but was unable to, and her dd would often watch Emily nurse. She asked once, "Why do you do that? Why don't you just use a bottle?" and I said, "Well, some mommies have their bottles built in," and winked at her. She laughed and then ran off to play. Maybe this is what you can tell her, your breasts are your bottles

[ABand3]

A girl who is about 7 or 8 was playing in the park with my kids the other day - I was bf'ing my 9 mo and the girl started playing with her toes. I said, 'she's nursing right now, and will be ready to play in a few minutes'. Girl says, 'she's doing what?' (sincere unknowing, not disgust). So I say, 'she's breastfeeding, drinking milk from my breast. Girl "really?" "but, how does she do that?"

The mom wasn't around, so I said when a woman has a baby, her breasts automatically make milk for the baby to drink, and the baby just knows how to drink it, because that is what babies are supposed to drink.

Yeah, if the mom was there, I might have not said as much. I think that just what you said is enough to put the idea in her head. The next time she sees someone else bf'ing, or sees you, she'll remember, and gradually it may seem more normal. By the time she has her own babies, maybe she'll have seen hundreds of positive nursing images (we can hope) and she'll have a more balanced view.

[Sarah]

I don't think you even need to get involved with the breast vs bottle thing... simple mammal biology is good enough- make a statement about the way animals are made to feed their babies leave it at that... then for the rest of her life she will get a little reinforcement every time she encounters another mammal.

Love Sarah

[ollineeba]

I agree that you've done a great thing by breastfeeding around them..

My 6 yr old niece was bottlefed as a baby and had never seen bf'ing before SIL and I both bf'd our babies.. now she thinks it perfectly normal and told me she is going to nurse her baby when she is a mom That made me feel GREAT!