Eight Months
March 19, 2009 by Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor
Filed under advantages of breastfeeding, mothering
Nicole, also known as Baby on the Go, turned eight months old this week. To celebrate, she learned to climb up the bottom step of the stairs. She was not quite sure what to do once she got there, but she was thoroughly proud of herself nonetheless. Today she moved on to pulling herself up to standing by holding on to the toilet seat (lovely — we practiced hand-washing after that) and pulling toilet paper off the roll. I had finally cured my now 4-year-old of enjoying the thrill of unraveling all the toilet paper, apparently just in time for Nicole to take over the responsibility!
As far as nursing goes, we are still going strong, day and night. Nursing has helped us get through a recent ear infection, and what seems like weeks of teething. I will be SO happy to see those top two teeth come in!
Nicole enjoys many solid foods now, but she definitely gets the vast majority of her nutrition through nursing. She also nurses for comfort. Baby on the Go gets her fair share of bumps, but she is easily soothed by nursing. Some women I talk to are surprised that breastfeeding becomes an invaluable part of the parenting arsenal, but there are many times I am so grateful to be able to comfort my child in that way. What about you? Are you nursing for the nutritional benefits only, or have you become a convert to the non-nutritional benefits of nursing as well?
My current nursling, at 7 months old, is still nursing primarily for nutrition. But I well remember the days of nursing a toddler, when nursing for comfort saved the day countless times. These little people are so filled with anguish, and so prone to accidents, that having an easy way to calm everyone was so invaluable.
There are soooo many things I value about breastfeeding besides nutrition that I can’t even begin to list them. Great post!
My baby is 12 weeks old and nurses for comfort a lot. I can’t imagine not having nursing in my mommy bag of tricks.
Great post.
My son is 13 months and there are so many non-nutritional benefits! It calms him down, gives him a break when there is alot of activity around and I’m sure more reasons that I forgot to list. It’s great to have in my bag of tricks.
The other day our Sunday School Teacher was talking about how they could never get their children to stop crying. I know some breastfed babies experience “colic”, but mine always calmed down if I nursed them. I don’t remember ever being stressed by a crying newborn! I’d just pop em in bed with me, lie down, and we’d nurse ourselves to sleep for a bit.
Michelle, I was just thinking about writing a post about crying and how breastfed babies cry less and are more easily soothed. My experience has been like yours, and I get so many comments from people about how “quiet” my baby is.