2011 - Talk Birth

[7]
Big girl going for a ride!
Several years ago at an LLL conference, a sleep ”expert” spoke during the lunch session. She was of the
opinion (which is not shared by LLL as a whole), that nursing a baby to sleep is a ”habit” that you don’t
want to get into and advocates detaching them when they get sleepy so that they learn how to fall asleep
without relying on nursing to get them there. She gave examples of babies and sleep associations and then
said, ”but if a baby is used to being nursed to sleep, they could fall asleep in the middle of Times Square
while the ball was dropping on New Year’s Eve as long as mama was there too and nursing them.” And, I
thought, EXACTLY! The problem with that is....?! That is one of the very best things about breastfeeding
to me—home is where the mama is. So, this week as Alaina snoozed peacefully when she was sleepy
while roller coasters sped around and bluegrass played and fiddlers fiddled and cold winds blew and people
swarmed all over, I was thankful that I’ve never tried to get my baby to develop a different sleep association!
Breastfeeding is magic like this to me, not an inconvenience or a habit to be restructured.
[8]
She is nursing in this picture
Of course, integration of parenting with work can also be a pretty significant challenge, as I touch on in
my [9]recent interview in the [10]working/parenting series at Molly Westerman’s [11]blog First the Egg. (I
typed my responses to her interview questions on my phone while lying on my side in bed nursing Alaina to
sleep.)
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