This week, in honor of Mother’s Day, the breastfeeding blog hop is talking about mini Mamas–kids of nursing moms who wear and nurse their “babies.”
I love talking about my older son’s nurturing. I don’t like calling him a little “mommy,” mostly because he is very careful to assure me that he is going to be a Daddy when he grows up. While he may be an aggressive child and very interested in active, rough play, he is great at nurturing his babies. And not all his babies resemble humans!
I remember when Miles was about two, he started insisting I check out the rubber frogs from the Toy Lending Library. He just loved tandem nursing those frogs, lifting up his little shirt and holding one to each of his nipples. He got a baby doll for his first birthday and still spends a lot of time making believe Patrick Dowd (named for our City Councilman, who once gave Miles a sticker and earned a top spot in my son’s heart) is his own child.
Miles wearing Patrick Dowd in a back carry while eating breakfast.
Sometimes, I’m told I have to whisper in the living room because Patrick Dowd just nursed to sleep. I’ll find him wedged under a few pillows, buried in blankets. I’m just as likely to find the doll face-down in the rice bin “playing trucks.” My favorite moments are when I’m nursing my baby, Felix, and Miles snuggles up close to us on the couch to nurse baby Patrick Dowd.
Felix just turned one, and I asked Miles if he would help me pick out a baby doll for his brother’s birthday present. He took this job very seriously, selecting a soft-bodied doll wearing pink fleece. He tells me Felix’s doll is named Patrick Moonrise and my new problem is trying to shoo Miles out of the way when I’m nursing Felix–Miles keeps trying to wedge Patrick Moonrise against his baby brother’s nipples so he can nurse, too.
He also tries to relate to me when I lament Felix biting my nipples. “Oh I know!” Miles will say in his fake grownup voice. “Patrick Dowd bites my boobies, too. Look!”
For me, what’s most exciting about my sons (I use the plural because I sure hope Felix starts making believe he’s nurturing his babies, too!) nursing and caring for their toys is the chance I get to see them imitating how they see me parenting them. I love spying on the conversations Miles has with his dolls, the way he says, “There, there” while stroking a forehead or singing “My Bonny Lies Over the Ocean” while nursing someone to sleep.
I see Miles taking this same sort of great care with his brother and always giggle if I’m working upstairs and to hear Miles responding to his brother crying. “Give him breastmilk!” he yells to his babysitters. “It makes Felix feel better!!!”
One day not so long ago, my mother was taking care of my boys for me and Felix began to fuss. Miles insisted my mom give Felix some breastmilk and she explained that she couldn’t do that. Miles scowled and asked, “Are you going to give him love??”
I love how much my son appreciates that the two are the same.
Do your children ever nurse their dolls and toys? Leave us a comment to share your favorite “mini mama” moments.
It was really important to my mom to give our son his first “baby.” He recieved a pink bodied baby with stars on the tummy that you can push to hear Twinkle Twinkle. He loves to tuck his baby into HIS bed (gosh knows he doesn’t sleep there) and tell us to hush. Of course, when he throws the baby to ground he says “Oh No!”