I received this email yesterday from Stephanie Alford, a local mom whom I have interacted with as a client, a friend and a colleague. Receiving her note made me feel so great, that I just had to share it with you.
Judy, I’ve no time to write but I just quickly wanted to THANK YOU for all the tweets and articles you’ve been putting out there lately. Edie turned five in January and is still nursing — at least once or even twice a day! And even though I fully and completely support full-term breastfeeding, and have the complete support of my husband and my mother, I was starting to feel a bit weird about it. I mean, I expected her to stop at 4… certainly by 5… and she’s still going strong?!? Is this right?!?
Then Time came out with that cover, and there was a firestorm in the media, and I felt like a complete FREAK and maybe even a bad mother… arghhhhh… And I thought about forcing her to wean, which I never wanted to do (did it with Ellie at 16 months and regretted it ever since).
And through it all, every day, you were putting out links to sensible, science-based articles that countered all the media-hype and craziness. Articles that reminded me that what I’m doing is the norm for my species, that it is historically and biologically correct. That it’s fine — we’re fine. I’ve read those articles and gone back to them time and again.
And here’s the thing: instead of that Time article making me feel like a freak, I’m actually feeling so much more empowered than I did before it came out. So much more educated, and more sure of myself and of the decisions Edie and I are making together. We will keep nursing until she is ready to stop, and I don’t really care when that is. It’s not about anybody else.
So, I just wanted to thank you. You just keep tweeting and blogging and putting out info, and I don’t know if you know what an impact it has — but it does. Thank you.
Take care,
StephaniePS — I don’t know if I came across this article through you or somewhere else, but if it wasn’t you, you ought to see it. It was another big source of info and support to me.
And a long time ago, I came across this collection of breastfeeding images. The first thing that struck me was how almost all the images from non-Western societies and the pre-Industrial Revolution West showed mothers nursing toddlers (and beyond). And how the images from the West start to change entirely to infants once they move into IndRev and post-IndRev times.
Are you breastfeeding an older child? Have you found resources that helped you? How were you affected by the TIME magazine article and all of the hype around it? Please leave a comment below and share your stories.
I would also like to extend an extra large thank you to Amy West, who manages my facebook page – most of those great links that Stephanie refers to in her email were found by Amy – thanks for being so great Amy!!
