Natural Age of Weaning

Yesterday I was deciding how I was going to spend my couple of hours while Astrid was in preschool....my midwife friend who I long to sneak a lunch visit in with was booked, I couldn't spend any more money at any more thrift stores (not this week), yes, the house needed cleaning...but.....and then I received a phone call from one of the public health nurses asking if I was still doing classes. Yes, I replied but the summer is approaching and I will gear up again in the fall. Then she asked if I had ever attended the Breastfeeding Coalition meetings? No, I replied, I havn't been able to make it to one yet but I would really like to. Well, no pressure, she said but there is a meeting today at 1:00pm.

Well, I was all dressed up ( I had decided to wear my new thrift store score...a beautiful A-line green skirt and my new jewellery from Mother's Day) and had no place to go...so I went.

So, here is a little bit about this group...www.okanaganbreastfeedingcoalition.org is the website and the goal here is to promote and advocate for natural, normal, healthy breastfeeding communities. Here's something that made my jaw drop.....did you know that there are actually people, communities, people who think breastfeeding in a public pool is a health concern?!?

I was shocked...I guess because I have been a breastfeeding mom for 16 years (oh, gasp, I know, hold on) and never considered this a possibility....a health concern? I consider the urine and feces that might be in the pool more of a health concern or of a concern....I never considered breast milk. Admittedly, I do have my own biases about public pools, bathing suites and public pools...and I basically consider the hot tub people soup (ewwww) BUT my kids LOVE the pool and I have been known to "suck it up" and go in from time to time. (Generally I wait till they are old enough to go in lessons alone, ahem)

So, for you breastfeeding moms out there...you may be interested in this document that explains what it means to have a "breastfeeding friendly" community centre. www.okanaganbreastfeedingcoalition.org/pdf/CommunityCentreProposal.pdf if this link doesn't work...it's not you, it's me. Try googling it.

As a woman, this stuns me that it is even an issue anywhere...but, sadly it is. The healing properties of breast milk are astounding ....

Anyways, this whole issue, the fact that it even is and issue led me back to the natural age of weaning...cause, yeah, Astrid is not a quitter. A good friend once brought some info to my attention about the natural age of weaning for our closest mamal relatives...gorillas and chimpanzees...this is an interesting article...www.kathydettwyler.org/detwean.html again, if you can't find it, it's ,me not you...google natural age of weaning and her article will appear.

So, again...more snippets....breastfeeding is still a part of my life....

Oh, we have so far to go....sometimes I wonder about the whole "women's movement" thing...we are so far removed from our true nature it seems....but that is another post.