Um, excuse me?

Mason turns one this month. Twenty-one days and my baby is one. That’s three weeks.

THAT IS FREAKING INSANE.
I mean how has it been 344 days since he entered the world?

(If you’re wondering what this has to do with the picture, just hold your horses, I’m getting there.)

I am so proud of Mason and me for making it almost a year so far with breastfeeding. If you’ve been following the blog since I started it last year you might remember how I struggled with the idea of breastfeeding Mason. Then Mason came out and there was no question, I knew I had to try or I would have even more messed up thoughts about myself and breastfeeding.

My previous trials with breastfeeding has made me really celebrate breastfeeding Mason. They’ve also made me slightly defensive and quick to anger when anyone has something negative to say about it or me sharing so much about it. I am of the opinion that after all I’ve gone through I can darn well share and enjoy this all I want, and no one can tell me not to.

Recently I have been getting odd looks and people questioning what is up with Mason and I in regards to the whole breastfeeding thing. Apparently him being almost one, still mainly breastfed, and nursing every 3-4 hours is odd. Apparently I should be forcing him to take more table food and less breastmilk. Apparently I shouldn’t still be letting him nurse several times (if at all) during the night.

Yeah, I have had several people tell me this. After they gave me looks like I was crazy for not already knowing this. Or they go “And how old is he again? And he still nurses THAT much?! Give that baby some real food.”

But wait, doesn’t the World Health Organization say this:

“Breastfeeding should not be decreased when starting complementary feeding”

and wait again, don’t they also say this:

“Continue frequent, on-demand breastfeeding until 2 years of age or beyond… Breastfeeding continues to make an important nutritional contribution well beyond the first year of life. Breastfed children at 12-23 months of age whose intake is similar to the “average” amount of breast milk consumed at that age (about 550 g/d in developing countries; WHO/UNICEF, 1998) receive 35-40% of total energy needs from breast milk.”

Don’t get me wrong, Mason gets table food. He has breakfast and dinner at home, plus a snack or two, and on days I work he also has lunch at my mom’s. He just doesn’t eat a lot of it, maybe 6 – 8 ounces of food per meal. Sometimes less. Sometimes more. The thing is, Mason doesn’t have much of a desire for table food and gets very vocal and upset when you try to make him eat more of it than he wants.

As long as Mason is healthy and happy – so his doctor says – we should continue following Mason’s cues. And that’s what we’re going to do.