As some of you know, my youngest is 16-months old. Eli is definitely a toddler but naturally displays baby-like behavior. And Eli is still nursing. I’ve wondered, as being born and raised here in North America, if Eli is getting too old to be breastfeeding. Some of you are rapidly nodding your heads like, “Ahh-Huh!” and others dismiss such nonsense. I haven’t given it too much thought up until NOW.
Our family has had the undesirable experience of catching the stomach flu. Pretty much all of us has suffered one way or another. Whether it’s Keith biting into his dinner as I’m hurling violently into the toilet-we’re all suffering. But frankly, Eli has suffered the most. He has had explosive diarrhea and severe vomiting since Saturday night. And it’s pickin’ Thursday night and still going on. Like any dutiful mother, I took him to his pediatrician on Tuesday. The young doctor says he’s got the bug real bad and that the vomiting should subside on Thursday & the diarrhea maybe for another ten days (!). The good news is that Eli is super hydrated. And this fresh-out-of-med-school-doc commended me for breastfeeding Eli and to keep it up. He was encouraged to see that Elijah was getting those important nutrients and hydration through breastmilk. YEAH! I knew I liked this guy.
I couldn’t be happier breastfeeding my little toddler. It’s nothing like knowing you are providing life-sustaining milk and cultivating an emotional bond that gifts the both of us for a lifetime. Thank God for Breastfeeding, especially during this season.
The Cedar Reader 