The following was written in response to [1] Sarcastic Mom’s (Breast)feeding Carnival post.

I’m writing about my experience breastfeeding a three-and-a-half year old. If you’re nursing a baby, especially a newborn, it can be mind boggling to think of 3 years of round-the-clock, 3 hour feeds. It doesn’t stay that way, though, Reid nurses only a couple of times a day unless she is sick or upset. If the very idea of a preschooler who nurses bothers you, you may want to read another post - I fond of the ones in the [2] language skills category.

I’ve written before about the [3] early days of nursing Reid and the troubles we had. I’ve written also about nursing her when she started daycare, when the [4] teachers said I should stop nursing in the daytime on the weekend. I don’t think I’ve talked much about the adventures of nursing a toddler who could easily have been a circus acrobat but perhaps I’ll get to that one day.

When I think of our nursing relationship of late, I think of how much Reid loves my breasts, which she calls eee-eees. I know this because she tells them so directly. She has even composed a song in their honour inspired, I believe, by the book [5] Snuggle Puppy by [6] Sandra Boynton. It went something like this:

Eee-eee, eee-eee
Milkies, milkies
I drink them when I’m firsty
Firsty, fir-irsty

Milkies, milkies
Mama milkies
Mama milkies
Eee-eee, eee-eee

Eee-eee, eee-eee
I love who you are
I love everything about you
Eee-eee, eee-eee

Reid will ask for a hug and give my breasts their own special squeeze. It’s not sexual - nothing about breastfeeding is - but it does give us an opportunity to talk about appropriate touching. No one should touch you on the parts that are covered by your bathing suit, that sort of thing. Reid is also fairly proprietary about my breasts, as I’ve mentioned.

Reid is interested in seeing other children nursing. She knows that some other children never nursed, some did but no longer do and that others who do are the same age as her, although the first and last situations are more theoretical than first-hand knowledge. I don’t imagine that she discusses nursing at daycare, though.