A decade of breastfeeding! :)

A quote from my diary in January 2007, when I had just Arthur, aged 2, and Matthew aged 6 months, before I was pregnant with Nathan:


"My other little secret dream is a goal, sort of. I hope that I get to breastfeed through another pregnancy, and tandem nurse again. I mean, I am STILL tandem nursing, but I mean tandem nurse my NEXT baby with another child. I have this crazy wistful goal that I'm not sure is realistic at ALL, but it's there anyway. I am longing to achieve my ultimate breastfeeding goal of continually breastfeeding for a decade without a break! But I don't know. Matthew might well be the type to wean before he's two. Or wean if I get pregnant and my milk changes or goes. He doesn't suck for comfort, so it's almost definite that he'd stop during my next pregnancy :( Who knows when Arthur will wean though. Maybe it will be ARTHUR who I'm tandem nursing the next baby with, hehe! That would be fine and dandy by me :) He will wean when he's ready, and not before. Also, a ten-year goal means at least a couple more kids, and that might not happen. But again, a girl can dream, hey?"
Arthur turned 10 at the weekend. He actually did! Ten years old, a whole decade. Double figures. *sigh* Time is passing far too fast!

I searched and searched my pregnancy diary for the above quote, because I'm so ecstatic that my "crazy wistful goal" of early motherhood has been realised! I have been continually breastfeeding for ten years without a break, and more than I even thought I would, too!

Arthur breastfed until he was 4 years and 2 or 3 months old. By that time I was also still breastfeeding Matthew (then 2 1/2) and Nathan (then almost 12 months), and was pregnant with Benjamin.

Matthew breastfed to 4 1/2, having continued long beyond Nathan, who self-weaned during my pregnancy with Benjamin, starting around 14 months old, and finally having nothing more to do with it at 16 months. My youngest by far! :)

Benjamin breastfed until he was 4 1/2 as well. Something about that age has me gently nudging them to forgo the last bedtime "milky" they still have, until it's a past habit, sort of.

I was breastfeeding Matthew and Benjamin when pregnant with Samuel, though just Benjamin remained by the time Samuel was born. I tandem nursed Benjamin and Samuel through my pregnancy with Elijah, and nursed all three until my pregnancy with Lydia.

During that pregnancy, Samuel self-weaned at age 2 1/2. He didn't like the taste of the milk once it turned to colostrum about halfway through the pregnancy. Benjamin continued but by the time Lydia was born, he was 4 and only occasionally breastfeeding at bedtime. Samuel has had the odd burst of breastfeeding again for a week or even a few weeks, since Lydia was born. He is nearly 4 now, and asked for milky a few months ago, in the summer. He didn't take much, but he hadn't forgotten how to latch on, surprisingly! But I still tend to think that he weaned at 2 1/2. I probably shouldn't, then...!

Anyway, I am currently breastfeeding Elijah (2 1/2) and Lydia (12 months)! I MADE IT!!!! Breastfeeding, almost exclusively tandem- or triandum-nursing for 10 years without a break! :) I feel so proud of what I've achieved for my children, and for myself! I sort of didn't really expect to achieve it - it really did feel like a crazy idea at the time, lol! I didn't even know if I would still be having babies 10 years down the line - it was wishful thinking. And here I am! So blessed, and so thankful, and so thrilled to be here! :)

I would hope that I might have another couple of years of breastfeeding at least, even if I don't have any more babies. But you know I would love to have more babies! My childbearing years are dwindling now, but I will ALWAYS love just one more. Always. Such a precious and wonderful privilege.