Ban on Public Breastfeeding

So, in just the short amount of time since I wrote my last post, N and I have fallen prey to whatever virus has been ailing K for the past week. Naturally. So now it's three of us with snotty noses, soar throats, and slight fevers...FUN!

I don't think we've ever had so many bouts of illness since K has been BORN as we've had in the past two months. I guess I should be thankful it's not my tiny infant that's sick...but rather my big, strong toddler who isn't about to let a little taste of the flue slow him down. (Too much that is. I've been relishing all this extra sleeping he's been doing...a NAP during the day AND 12+ hours of night sleeping...can this REALLY be my kid?!)

In the meantime, I'd like to pass along this rather alarming article. Forest Park, a suburb outside of Atlanta has recently passed a ban on public breastfeeding for anyone over the age of 2. Apparently this is viewed as a proactive approach to enforcing public nudity laws...

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Because, clearly, once a woman is nursing a child over the age of two, it becomes a seductive sexual display of nudity rather than the provision of nourishment to her child. Right.

Latest UPDATE.

Nursing at 28 months

I've been nursing for over 28 months now, and I must confess that I'm no longer very accommodating during the middle of the night. K is a rather exuberant sleeper, he likes to move all night long...he does a bit of kicking, a bit of twisting and turning, quite a LOT of sideways sleeping (pushing N and I to the very edges!), and, when nursing, more fondling of my breasts than I can handle. That's not really true, because, clearly, I still AM nursing, it's just that I reach a "We're all DONE with milk NOW!" point pretty early on. Because, as I mentioned, K can't seem to nurse at night without constantly moving his fingers in exploration all over my chest, my belly, ect... It becomes a bit nerve-wracking. In fact, for the past two nights, I've been sleeping with a protective hand over my 'free' breast. That's probably pretty weird, but I bet a lot of nursing mothers have done it before me ;-)

I'm sort of proud of myself though. Ever since I passed the 12 month mark, I've wondered when I would begin to feel 'done'. Not that I AM done, just that I'm clearly beginning to nurse only for K's sake rather than for the benefits both he AND I received. (think emotionally wonderful bonding moments with fuzzy borders.) Nowadays, I'm more prone to pull away from K and turn over before he's quite done nursing OR getting to sleep. Which, interestingly enough, K doesn't seem to mind TOO much. 

So, I'm pleased to see that there really IS a natural flow to this sort of thing when left to the exclusive world of mother and child. Child grows to an age where the the benefits of breastmilk are minor (compared to the infant stages), and mother and child together reach a point at which a weaning process begins. Because, really, that's what's going on here...ever since the introduction of solids, K has been weaning. And, now, the ride is about to get a lot quicker because Mum is nearing an end. 

I'm proud that I've never been swayed on this issue. (weaning early I mean) I mean, it's pretty annoyingly, odd-feeling to nurse a kid k's age in public. But, I still do. And, maybe it's weird that K still relies (a good part) upon nursing to get himself to sleep, but I trust that, given time, he'll figure it out.  

Not that I actually believe we'll be done nursing before he turns 3. He's still pretty attached, and, truthfully, I still rely HEAVILY on nursing as a cure-all. Which, really, is totally fine.