Do I warn Alexandra beforehand, what breast feeding is?
One friend of mine was adamant.
With her eyes opened as wide as someone just scared by a ghost during a funeral, Kim warned me -- "YES!! You NEED to tell Alex what breastfeeding is all about!!!"
Apparently, when her 2nd child was born, her older (but still very young) son FREAKED out when mom suddenly whipped out a breast and let baby #2 start suckling away.
Scarred him for a few months, actually.
Not sure how old her son was at the time ... but my best friend Karen just had her 2nd baby -- and gave me the opposite advice.
Karen has a 2-year-old daughter who saw, for the first time, her mother breastfeed over the weekend.
"What's that?" little Madison asked.
Karen said, referring to her own breasts, "There's milk in there for the baby."
Madison was satisfied with that answer, and went about her day ... until a little later, when Madison wanted some milk.
Karen caught Madison squeezing her own chest.
"What are you doing, Madison?"
"I want some milk."
"You don't have milk in there," Karen said while trying soo hard not to laugh out loud.
"Yes I do!" Madison insisted.
"Well, you only have milk in there if you have a baby in your tummy. Do you have a baby in your tummy?"
.........................pause............................
"No."
"Well then you don't have milk in there, Maddie."
And that was that. LOL... too freakin' funny.
So. Which piece of advice do I go with? Explain to Alexandra beforehand what breastfeeding is, or just wait for the questions to roll in?
So, I say find a dog or cat that is nursing and take Alex to witness it and explain what it's all about. The only downside - and there are actually two - she'll wonder why you don't have 8 of them and why you only came home with one baby instead of a litter!
ReplyDeletehahahah! oh my goodness. i can only imagine the questions that would come from that! Great idea though. hmm... where to find a nursing cat or dog .. maybe the local shelter...
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