Breastfeeding achievement awards

Fun idea. Thanks for posting that. Will have to download the Amethyst for the next few months, but we're on our way to a Ruby ribbon in the near future (he'll be 4 in February)...

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My Daughter is 15 months and still nursing, so we're on our way to an Emerald ribbon! With as difficult as breastfeeding was in those first few weeks, I really am proud of myself and my little one for keeping with it. It was hard work! I remember telling a friend that it was the hardest thing I had ever done (thankfully it got much easier). But it was totally worth it because I love the special time I share with my little nursling.

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Thanks for the great post! While I am now nursing a 15 month old, while I was pregnant with her my second son weaned at 4 yrs old. I do think a ribbon is in order LOL - breastfeeding can be hard work but the benefits so greatly outweigh any negatives. It is one of the most incredible things I personally have ever accomplished.

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Longest I nursed was 5 years for my son. I'm currently nursing my 3 year old and my 14 month old. My daughter nursed 4 years.

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My daughter nursed til 2 years and 22 months. My son for 2 years and 2 months. There was no non-nursing time in between. I'd qualify for the jade ribbon albeit just barely and only because of nursing mulitple children. Still...I'm extremely proud to have be able to nurse for so long.

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Thirteen months and counting for my TWINS!

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You may throw stones at me if you want to but nursing a 4 or 5 year old....Give me a break. Will you go nurse them at the bus stop? I personally think that is NUTS.

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Alas, I'll remain one month shy of the Jade Award. I wonder if they'll have ribbons for "man-hours" of breastfeeding. Only in years or months. I do believe that I'm up to 169 months of breastfeeding. Yeah, that's what they need...a total award, too.

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I breastfed my first son for 23 months. I knew his latch was not quite right from the first feeding but I didn't know why, I had blisters by the time he was a day old and I could see a lactation consultant. Then the area got infected with yeast. After my skin healed I was doing pretty good. I think I pumped and bottlefed for about 12 hours when he was a few days old. I had a massive oversupply and he would gasp and sputter when my milk let down. That lasted into the second half of the first year. I didn't find out that he was tongue tied until he was a year.

My second son latched fine, but he had bloody stools on breastmilk only starting at 4 months. He also had reflux. The prescription meds for reflux made the bloody stools worse, but it was blamed on breastmilk. I tried him on neocate formula at 9 1/2 months, and he wasn't much better until we stopped the reflux medicine. And he was constantly sick with fevers when he was on the formula. Then I saw a naturopath and started him on probiotics and nutritional supplements. This following is what I think deserves the award: I pumped and froze my milk for the next 3 months, trying to switch back to nursing. He finally started nursing again and he weaned himself at around 2 1/2 years old. I ended up having excess milk in the freezer from all the months of pumping, so I donated it to a couple adopting a newborn boy. I think it fed him for about 2 or 3 months.

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Aahh, Joy, it *is* nuts...until you have a kid who needs it. Then it's the most wonderful thing going.

If my oldest nursling had been taking the bus, she probably would have nursed at home, before leaving on the bus and then at home, after returning from school.

Some kids have woobies, some have stuffed animals, some have their mothers.

When you consider that the worldwide age for weaning averages 4pointsomething years and that most babies in first world countries don't get past 6 months, there must be an awful lot of 5, 6, and 7 year olds bringing that average up.

It's odd in our society, but you'd be surprised at how many of them there really are. Most of us keep it private.

Jen, I bow down to you. Nursing has always come easily to me and I never had to work very hard at it (except during those early days when it feels like someone took a cheese grater to my nipples). And your lucky adopted friend!!!

Roger, these ribbons are very pretty. They appeal to my inner soldier.

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