My sweet Jodie will be sixteen months old on the fourteenth of this month. I have to first say that I can not believe that she and I are still going strong in our breastfeeding relationship. Not because I did not want to continue, but because her three sisters before her never nursed this long. I have to confess that I thoroughly enjoy it as I know that this will be the last time that I breastfeed a child.

Jodie continues to nurse approximately six times a day. Her early morning and late night sessions are the longest.

During the day I let her take the lead as to when she wants mommy milk. She and I have a few signals that let me know that she wants some milk. First she will click her tongue, then as I allow her to climb up in my lap, she pats my chest and grins. Sometimes I don't respond right away. It's not that I am ignoring her, it is often that I am helping one of her older sisters. If I do not drop whatever it is I am doing to nurse her she will begin to pat my chest harder and lift up my blouse!

I must confess that I look forward to the times that we sit down in the big rocker to nurse. I could easily continue many tasks while I am feeding her but she has become quite insistent that I focus my attention on her. Her sessions during the day are often very quick lasting no more than three to five minutes. I look at it as her gift to me...giving mommy a chance to sit down and relax.

She drinks other liquids from a cup and eats three meals a day of table food. For breakfast it is usually half a banana and some dry cereal and a cup of whole milk. Lunch is often cheese or a sandwich or quesadilla, some fruit and veggie sticks and pretzels. plus another cup of whole milk. Dinner is a wide variety of whatever the family is eating that night. Her favorite table food...PIZZA! She's a girl after her daddy's own heart.

I am still using the breast pump at work and surprisingly, I pump out about six ounces. Daddy uses this milk for a bedtime snack while I am at work. When I come home at midnight, she wakes up for one more feeding. It is like radar, I swear. It is a nice welcome home to a sleeping house after a tough evening at work.

Well, until next month, Happy Nursing!!!

Jodie and Laura †

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