Copyright 1997Used by permission of author, Kim
Starting Solid FoodsNursing a ToddlerHome
Daniel is 32 months old and has been diagnosed twice with ear infections--once at about 10 months, and the second time 6 weeks ago. My solution is one that makes my friends and family upset.
I had introduced a few finger foods two weeks before the first infection. Danny wanted to join us at meal time, and I thought it could only be harmless. He smelled the food and wanted some, too. When the infection set in, I stopped giving him food or drink and returned to exclusive nursing. Danny's ears had returned to normal before the recheck at the doctor's. At that time, our doctor said Danny would probably follow my family pattern of countless ear infections. My nephew has his second set of tubes, and he is eight years old (to insert the tubes he had to be put under each time). I saw how much better Danny got after the food and drink was removed, so he remained exclusively breast-fed until 20 months.
Then we introduced one food at a time, and we would stay on one small serving of a food once per every two days for a month before we added a new one. This second ear infection confirms for me my belief that food was involved through a food intolerance or allergy of some kind, since it set in two weeks after Danny began to wean. When I say wean I do not mean that Danny stopped nursing, but I instead mean that Danny began eating more than 80 percent of his meals at the table rather than at the breast. Danny felt sick, so we nursed continually for a week and my milk supply is up again. His ear infection resolved before we returned to the doctor for the recheck.
Electing to nurse Danny on demand for almost three years has been the hardest thing that I have ever done. It is difficult enough to go to a LLL meeting and hear all the mothers talk about solids and juices with their babies under one year, and nurse instead. Daniel still prefers to nurse over eating and he is 32 months old. It is inconvenient, as nursing in public places is humiliating to me. The public is very disrespectful of women nursing their children. People in a restaurant or even in a park would prefer to see a mother withold a baby's milk and shove dry breakfast cereal or even junk food at a Toddler, and try dealing with this hostility when your son is 40 inches tall weighs 54 pounds and speaks in sentences in between mouthfuls.
After three years, I can see the incredible benefits of human milk. A stomach flu with vomitting and diarrhea is so manageable with the exclusive nursing, since dehydration does not occur. Daniel recovers in a matter of days and does not lose weight or as much energy in the process. I would like to hear from others who have exclusively nursed for years. My family is appalled that this boy nurses 20 times per day including several times at night. My friends and sister-in-law went the food route and have spent thousands of dollars at the doctor's office and have gone the tube and tonsils-out path.
I will nurse our future children the same way, despite the hostility. Attention to a huge amount of water intake is necessary, and I feel like I have filtered much of Lake Huron. I drink at least 100ml of water each day and sleep with a squeeze bottle of water by the bed. More in the hot summer months or on car trips. It is all worth the effort to have a healthy son.
Copyright 1997
Used by permission of author,
Kim
Starting Solid Foods
Nursing a Toddler
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