Archive for December, 2007
Protected: Christmas Eve day
Published December 31, 2007 Eric , Jordan , photos , Sarah , together , travel Enter your password to view comments.Protected: Days before Christmas
Published December 30, 2007 friends and family , Jordan , photos , Sarah , together , travel Enter your password to view comments.Protected: Christmas 2007: The departure
Published December 30, 2007 Jordan , photos , Sarah , sleep , travel Enter your password to view comments.Protected: Tooth watch 2007, Part 23
Published December 30, 2007 firsts , Jordan , photos , play , Sarah Enter your password to view comments.Protected: We’re back!
Published December 29, 2007 firsts , friends and family , Jordan , language , photos , Sarah , together , travel Enter your password to view comments.How clique! For Christmas, Jordan got two new not-so-front teeth. His third molar came in on Christmas Eve, and his fourth on Christmas Day. It explained a couple of slightly more fussy than usual days/moments, and we felt relieved that it probably wasn’t another ear infection.
Sarah hasn’t let me in her mouth in days so I’m not sure if she is catching up or not.
Yesterday, I used the last of the pumped milk. What a crazy feeling, after more than 15 months of pumped breast milk (though I haven’t pumped since September). Actually, the third to last set of 2 bags, about 6 ounces, we had to throw out because in the chaos of an understaffed day at daycare, they forgot to give it to the kiddos at snack time (at this point they had it once a week or less so it was not part of their regular routine). I don’t know who felt worse, me or the caregivers. Even still, I couldn’t say “it’s okay,” because really, though logically I know that it didn’t really make a huge difference, after everything I went through pumping early on, and the times I cried over less than an ounce spilled, it didn’t feel okay. I’m over it now though.
Considering that early on I had no idea if it would work and if we could sustain breastfeeding, getting past a year felt impressive. Up until 12 months, I was extremely proud to tell anyone and everyone that I was exclusively nursing. After 12 months though, I started to feel a bit of embarrassment when the topic came up, and I still sometimes feel that way. It seems that our society puts pressure on women to breastfeed during early infancy, and women who do not breastfeed often feel self-conscious about their situation. However, my sense is the tide shifts around 12 months of age, and people often judge women who continue breastfeeding. Despite feeling embarrassed when the topic comes up with colleagues or others I do not know well, I generally am happy and even proud of our continued breastfeeding. Research suggests that breastfeeding in the second year relates to fewer, and shorter duration, illnesses, as well as decreased allergies.
Nursing has changed for us in several ways, of course. Clearly it is no longer Jordan and Sarah’s primary form of nutrition (you should see how these children eat). They actually tend to linger a bit longer than they did around 6 to 12 months, in that they do not pop off to go back to playing, but want to hang out and snuggle and interact with me a bit more. Things that make them laugh while nursing are only funny in that context, and I believe they enjoy those quiet moments when they have me to themselves; it’s hard to get Mama alone when you’re a twin. I am conscious not to use nursing for soothing in the ways I used to. If someone hurts themselves, for instance, I calm them without offering them to nurse. Although I still nurse Sarah about twice in the night, I also make sure that they both know how to go back to sleep without nursing. It is important that Sarah and Jordan have coping mechanisms other that nursing.
When Jordan was sick I thought he was starting to wean. He no longer wanted to nurse at bedtime, so I would offer each night, he would say no, and we would move onto stories. Then one night I decided not to offer and go straight to stories, at which point he became upset and wanted to nurse immediately. Since then he has mostly nursed at bedtime though perhaps once a week he skips it. I take his lead. The other times of the day (morning, lunch, pre-dinner) he still wants to nurse. First thing in the morning (after sleeping 11 to 12 hours generally) he usually wants to nurse immediately; as soon as I pick him up out of the crib he points to the nurse chair and does not settle until we start. There was also a morning where he had nursed maybe 2 hours before, but he was very fussy and would not settle down. I asked “do you want to nurse?” and he immediately calmed down, just with the question (of course I then had to follow through). I think he’s beginning a slow and long process of weaning, though at times we seem to be where we were a few months ago. We will see how it develops.
Sarah shows absolutely no interest in weaning at this point. She wants to nurse when I visit her at lunch; as soon as we get home from daycare; at bedtime; and two times per night (though last night, only once, wohoo!). And first thing in the morning, she is quite insistent about nursing. The other morning when she woke up, we snuggled a bit before she nursed. She was comfortably resting her head on my shoulder in bed. But then she heard Jordan wake up in the next room, and she immediately started crying and trying to nurse. I’m pretty sure she realized that the queue was starting, and she wanted to be first in line. More than Jordan, she will ask to nurse extra times on the weekend, and can be quite insistent, lifting my shirt or nuzzling in. I try to distract her or offer other things, like water or a snack. But if she is very persistent I will nurse an extra time on the weekend. If Jordan sees Sarah doing it, he usually wants it, too.
I cannot judge how much milk they take from me these days. I do know that I no longer eat with impunity, so that’s one sign that intake has decreased. I do get engorged when Jordan goes 12 hours, though less than it would have been a few months ago. And there are times in the middle of the night that I hear Sarah gulping quite fast, though it may happen other times and ambient noise prevents me from noticing.
In general, I have so much more freedom than I used to. Because they only nurse once between 8:00 and 5:00 I have most of the day. If I have a meeting that goes over lunch time I just visit them early or later. Because they sleep better I do not have to be here after bedtime (even though I’ve left only a handful of times, it’s nice to know I can). I am not anxious to give up the lunchtime nursing. It would obviously free up my day in many ways (and give me 2 ½ hours of extra work per week). I like that I still visit them every day, and never go 8 hours without seeing them. Of course, I could plan to still visit them without nursing, but I like that I have to go see them. I know that if I did not have a physical reason, I would start to get distracted by work and would not make it there every day. Even though my work gets less attention than it should, I remind myself that they are little for such a short time, and work is always there.
I will continue to follow their lead and listen to their needs, and see how long we continue breastfeeding. For now, it still works for all three of us.
The LL Family 
Recent Comments