Nursing Mothers

Nursing mothers – This is a category I have fallen into actively ten times so far. But now, I am feeling a bit nostalgic because I am weaning our baby this week. When our next youngest child (a son now 4 yrs. old) was weaned, I had similar feelings, also thinking he was probably the last child. Then, grandchildren started coming. I thought the Lord was gently moving me out of the childbearing years – not only the child bearing years but also the nursing mothers category. But thankfully, God has a sense of humor and blessed us with #10, our third girl. After four boys, a baby girl was definitely a surprise!

So now, she is 13 months old, crawling around, jabbering and yes, weaned, or to put it another way, I am no longer a nursing mother. She is handling her growing up better than I am though. In fact, she does not even seem to notice that something is different, that something is missing, that something is just not right!

Not wanting my nostalgic mood to become depressing, I decided to compile a list of my accomplishments as a  nursing mother.

I have:

• nursed 10 babies
• produced over 1,000 gallons of milk – Buttercup still has me beat but I thought that was pretty impressive!
• lost over 300lbs of “baby weight”
• saved from $7,000 – $11,000 (current dollars) in formula depending upon whether you purchased a store brand or name brand formula. (This assumes 4 – 8oz. bottles per day for 1 yr.) – I think I will give myself a year-end bonus!
• given my babies what I believe to be the healthiest start in life