No Mimi for Mama...

Everything I needed to know about breastfeeding I learned from www.llli.org and www.askdrsears.com. I thought I had survived the hardest part, managing to keep my sanity during the first two intense months of what seemed like continuous breastfeeding, but I´m once again spending sleepless nights with my little nursling. Yes, I am a breastfeeder and I say that as though it was a confession, but some days that´s exactly what it feels like. You would think that in Guatemala, a Central American country with a large indigenous population with high breastfeeding rates +UNICEF Guatemala, it would be more commonplace to share a breastfeeding preference... nope! At least not in my networks.

Before I became a mom, I spent a lot of time working in indigenous Mayan communities where it was normal to see mommies shamelessly breastfeeding their babies in public. I have to admit the first time I saw a Q´eqchi´ mom, sitting at her vegetable sales spot in the local market, pull out her breast with no regards to modesty to feed her 2 year old son right there, out in the open in the middle of the market, and saw no one give her a second glance, I was shocked... dumbfounded even. The scene impacted me so much that I remember sharing the story with my sister and yes, I admit I passed judgement.  Keep in mind I was raised in Texas where, and I kid you not, I have absolutely no memory of ever seeing anyone breastfeed in public, NONE, and I lived there for 13 years.

Cut to 4 years later... after 4 hours of intense water labour, I gave birth to my baby girl and what was the very first thing I did after holding her?... that`s right, I put her to my breast and there she has stayed. We are now going on 9 months of exclusive breastfeeding and no, I still don´t plan on weaning her, she is no longer going to exclusively breastfeed, but I will try to remain her main source of caloric intake until she decides to wean. Life Lesson: never say never or pass judgement on others because you never know how you will react in that same situation until you live it. I am now on the receiving end of judgement/criticism/unsolicited advice on the whole subject of breastfeeding, but I just let it all roll off of my shoulders because Hannah is happy and so am I and that is all that matters.

Yes, there is no mimi for mama ("mimi" is Spanish baby talk for "to sleep") again because Hannah has recently decided she has little time for breastfeeding during the day, what with a whole world to explore and new foods to try, so she now does most of her nursing at night. That means mama is sleep deprived, but also that Hannah is ready for new things. I don´t know how long our breastfeeding will last, but I do know I will miss our special time the most, so I will cherish these sleepless nights until they too come to an end.

Tags: breastfeeding Dr. Sears Guatemala Indigenous Life lesson LLLI Mayan sleepless Texas

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