Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival: My Breastfeeding Mantra

Welcome to The Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival!

This post was written as part of the Breastfeeding Cafe’s Carnival. For more info on the Breastfeeding Cafe, go to www.breastfeedingcafe.wordpress.com. For more info on the Carnival or if you want to participate, contact Claire at clindstrom2 {at} gmail {dot} com. Today’s post is about your breastfeeding mantra. Please read the other blogs in today’s carnival listed below and check back for more posts July 18th-31st!

This, too, shall pass.

It seems so simple and I feel like I hear it all the time, but truly, “this, too, shall pass,” has been the phrase that’s gotten me through five years of parenting so far.

I use it in a lot of situations, like when things are really challenging and I want to scream and yell and hurl myself on the floor, just like my kids. I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and recite, “this, too, shall pass. This, too, shall pass.”

Right now, I’m 36 weeks pregnant with a rash and a head cold and my kids wanted eggs, not cereal, for breakfast and I pretty much just want to crawl back in bed and let them raise themselves today. This, too, shall pass. And it will! Even if it feels like it takes forever.

But, there’s also, “This, too, shall pass,” to remind me that I need to cherish these moments my toddler asks me to rock him to sleep. This will pass–in two years, he’ll be a very big boy and will put on his own pajamas, select his own books, and talk incessantly about Beyblades. I remind myself, “this, too, shall pass,” so that I sit and soak up the cuddles and the chubby baby cheeks, because they pass. They fade away into lean preschooler bodies and grownup questions before I can blink.

Any minute now (I hope!) I’ll have a newborn, squishy baby nursing for hours at a time, and I know that sometimes, I’ll feel like the last thing I want to do is sit on the couch for another second nursing a baby. I’ll return to my mantra, both as a way to help me cope with the trying moment and a way to remind myself to cherish this fleeting, precious stage, where my babies need me so desperately.

This, too, shall pass.

Here are more posts by the Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival participants! Check back because more will be added throughout the day.

• Katy Rank Lev @ Mommy News & Views­Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival: My Breastfeeding Mantra
• Ashley @ Adventures with my Monkeys­My Breastfeeding Mantra
• And of course the guest poster on the Breastfeeding Cafe’s blog today is Bridget­Feeding my Child with Love