The Top of the Mountain, One Year Old! (Or NOT)

"My baby is one year old!" This is my new favorite phrase. I will say it to anyone who compliments my baby, specifically asks about my child's age, or just happens to be within five or six feet of where I happen to be standing. Next to the birth of your baby, the 12 month mark is, in my opinion, the next biggie.

At the magic one year mark, each of us have survived months of sleepless nights, dozens of diapers, dirty bibs, hours of well intentioned (and unsolicited) advice, days of crying over nothing and hours of wondering what our babies were crying about. If that's not a reason to celebrate I don't know what is.

My little wonder is still nursing. He appears to be consuming more solid food then an average teenager, but still wants to nurse. I can't even tell you his schedule is predictable. It isn't, except for the night time feedings he refuses to give up. During the night you could set your watch by him. 1am, 430am and 6am. Daytime is an entirely different story. Some days it appears he has forgotten I have boobs, and others, he is obsessed with them. At this point I really can't tell if I am still nursing on demand or practicing the weaning method of "don't offer, don't refuse".

Since my baby is to young to know there should be a label attached to his behavior and is very content and happy with his approach, it is apparent I am the only one that is confused. So, I have decided not to give it much thought. Boob or no boob, he is eating well, happy, adorable and healthy.

There are a few things that I would like to mention here. I take great pride in telling you that I have read just about every pregnancy and nursing book, magazine, pamphlet and online article ever written. (My family thinks I am obsessive, I prefer to view my behavior as a simple desire to be well informed.) Regardless, I have never come across any of the nursing positions my little contortionist has attempted.

I didn't know it was possible and you may be equally surprised to learn that babies can breastfeed standing on their heads! At this point you are either nodding your head in agreement because you too have a breastfeeding chimpanzee, or you are feeling a sense of panic because to your knowledge your nipples don't bend that way. I didn't think mine did either. SURPRISE! I can't say it is the most comfortable position, and I certainly don't encourage it. But for some reason he trys it, gets a kick out of it, and knows that this is a great way to fight going to sleep at the breast when he really wants to stay awake and survey the action... with my breast in his mouth.

I have debated about writing the next few lines in fear I will mistakenly persuade some of you not to breastfeed. I would never do that. The entire point is to encourage you to breastfeed, and to debunk all the myths and excuses not to. But I also feel that hearing the truth is a good way to let us know we are not alone and to reassure us that we have not given birth to an alien. So here goes... My baby bites! Not frequently, but occasionally. It hurts and makes me scream. My scream and dramatic reaction makes my baby laugh. When he was smaller, toothless and completely incapable of premeditated torture, his nick name was Bubba. Now that he has developed the personality of a very clever and witty terrorist, I now lovingly refer to him as Jaws. This little trick of his is my catalyst for only nursing him during the day time when he absolutely will not take no for an answer and maneuvers himself with the speed of light into the nursing position. He has never bitten me during the night.

There are many good articles about how to prevent this behavior, and some horrible ones. I actually had a nurse practitioner tell me to flip my baby on the mouth! Needless to say, we don't see HER anymore. I can't imagine associating pain with nursing. My baby however has no issues with it :) No, I don't like it when he bites, but be aware, it can happen, probably will a time or two and you need to be prepared. I find that if I pay attention to him while he is nursing rather then trying to balance my check book, write ten emails, or talk to everyone that walks by me, he usually doesn't bite. I have developed a theory that older babies may bite while nursing because they have discovered this draws our attention back to them. Nursing is mom and baby time. We tend to get less focused as our babies get older. Perhaps this is natures way of bringing us back to our babies while nursing and a good explanation why my baby has never bitten during the night.

Sounds reasonable to me...