Every Christmas morning, after having our own personal family time, we drive over to my in-laws. The whole family gathers there around the Christmas tree and we open presents together. My 13 month olds nurse and nap time will fall around the time we will be all together and opening gifts, and I sure as heck am not going to seclude myself into the other room and miss my 3 year old son opening gifts. The only person I think will probably be uncomfortable are my sister-in-law and maybe brother in law. My Sis-In-Law has been quite vocal about my choice to continue nursing my son so long.
Anyone else going to be nursing your little one around the tree with family this year? How does you family feel about that.....not that it really matters, your little one being nourished and comforted is much more important!!
2007-12-11 06:06:52 · 23 answers · asked by iamhis0 6 in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Newborn & Baby
I have for the past four Christmases, and I'm certain I will this year, too. My family is so used to it that I'm sure they would wonder what was wrong with me if I didn't!
I hope you're planting some seeds with your SIL. I didn't understand my sister's choice to nurse her kids so long when I was younger, and here I am, following in her footsteps. I've thanked her over and over again for her great example. Here's hoping your SIL will be thanking you someday!
2007-12-11 07:57:14 · answer #1 · answered by GranolaMom 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
At the end of December, the days get very dark and you begin to feel particularly miserable. So you have a few days when you stop work, eat and drink a lot, then sleep it off. OK In the modern world it doesn't have a lot of purpose. A few centuries ago, it was a matter of life and death. The preserved food from the autumn harvest wouldn't keep much longer, so you stuffed yourself and then starved until the spring. That's why various religions have latched onto it. The idea of it being Jesus's birthday was simply a way of Christianising the Roman midwinter festival (it was actually the birthday of the Sun God). Nobody knows when Jesus was born. The Jews of the day didn't celebrate birthdays.
2016-05-23 02:06:42 · answer #2 · answered by migdalia 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not this year, I would definitely go ahead and nurse so I could see the other kids open presents. If anyone is uncomfortable they can leave or change the time until after you've finished nursing. Just cover up with a blanket. I've nursed in front of all my family members covered with a blanket, my dad, father-in-law, etc....not to mention strangers. Noone ever said anything about it.
2007-12-11 07:07:02 · answer #3 · answered by Tbone 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If my daughter gets hungry while we are opening our gifts, I most certainly will nurse her. My in-laws aren't vocal about my still nursing my daughter, but they have made indirect comments about how much longer I'm going to nurse my little one, and she's only 8 1/2 months!! Our society has just forgotten the natural order of things. Before the past 40 or 50 years, nursing babies and toddlers was the norm, and WE know that is the best thing for our babies, so I agree with you. Forget what everybody else thinks. Our children will be happy and healthy!! Merry Christmas!
2007-12-11 06:15:20 · answer #4 · answered by march2007mom 3 · 5⤊ 0⤋
If my son wants to nurse then I'll be nursing... although I do try to seclude myself. Not because other people don't agree with it but because he's 14 months old and ON THE GO. I'm not really into him seeing something shiny or noisy or interesting and trying to take my nipple with him. It works best for us these days if we aren't around a whole lot of other things. Besides, I won't miss much. He's a Nascar nurser- faster than those guys in the pit- and when there's a lot going on he doesn't want to miss it- just wants to know that his milk is available if he needs it.
FWIW I have nursed him in public oodles of times and did at Christmas last year- it just isn't feasible this year... I like my body parts to remain intact.
If your baby is OK with NIP at this age then more power to you. Perhaps you'll be doing a little lactivism by example.
As for my family- I am the only one like me LOL
2007-12-11 06:22:33 · answer #5 · answered by Mandy 4 · 2⤊ 2⤋
My daughter is 6 months old and my neice is 19 months old and they probably both will nurse around our christmas trees. Everyone in our family is super supportive. I love that my sister in law still nurses her little one. I know the great benefits it has for her and that my adorable and healthy neice still loves to nurse. I admire her dedication to it as well. Its not easy on my sister in law because she would like her little one to start self weaning but right now her daughter has no desire so they truck on! Congrats and keep up the good work! Merry Christmas!
2007-12-11 06:12:11 · answer #6 · answered by lovelylady 5 · 6⤊ 0⤋
Your sister in law thinks 13 mos. is long? It's only a month past the minimum recommendation by the American Academy of Pediatrics for goodness sake! I wouldn't worry about it too much, since she obviously isn't shy with her ideas,
no need to be shy with yours.
With us, it will depend on what's going on when it's time to
eat. I wouldn't nurse at the dinner table, for example, because even though my parents are completely fine with breastfeeding, I don't think my dad is entirely comfortable with the possibility of accidentally being flashed by his daughter...can't say I blame him. I might have a bottle of expressed on hand, just in case she gets hungry mid-dinner, but otherwise, I'll just drape a blanket, find a corner of the room (I'll stay in the room, of course, so as not to miss present time with my 2 yr. old) and not make a big production out of it.
If I'm at the in-laws, I may try to be a bit more subtle, as they have two teenage boys, and there's no reason to make them uncomfortable if I can help it...that doesn't mean leaving, it just means being respectful and not drawing unnecessary amounts of attention to myself. But if she's hungry, she's hungry, ya know?
2007-12-11 06:26:19 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
I think you should definitely nurse him. BUT, you may not even need to because with all the excitement of Christmas, nursing and naptime will most likely be thrown off. He might not be interested if there's so much action going on around him.
Just go with whatever feels right in the moment.
2007-12-11 07:21:02 · answer #8 · answered by berrel 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You should do what you think it right. You shouldn't have to isolate yourself to feed your child, especially with your family around. Nobody would want to be sent to a totally different room to eat dinner, while everyone else was in the dining room. My sister-in-law is still breastfeeding her 18 month old daughter and my son was breastfed until he self weaned at 17 months.
I agree with Do Your Own Thinking. My family is amazing. My youngest brother is 16, 13 when my son was born, and breastfeeding mothers don't even faze him. There's a 10 year age difference between him and my other little brother, and all three of us older siblings have children who are or were breastfed, so he's used to it.
2007-12-11 06:29:43 · answer #9 · answered by .. 5 · 5⤊ 2⤋
I -- thank heavens, given all the 'my family slags me off for nursing, help' questions here -- was breastfed, and come from a family where pretty much everybody was breastfed.
Having hippie parents rocks, for the most part.
I've already nursed in front of my family dozens of times; nobody bats an eye or comments...
But we did visit in-laws a while back, and I went to nurse my daughter in a room with my husband and his aunt and his uncle, and his aunt got a blanket and draped it over me so as to shield the whole thing. She was just trying to be nice, but it felt _very_ weird. I can't imagine how I'd deal with a less-than-supportive family (and I definitely don't count that as unsupportive; the same aunt also said "They're so much nicer when they're breastfed!" while cuddling my daughter), and I have much sympathy for anybody who does...
Perhaps you could print out some of the studies on how breastfeeding is popular among the more educated for your S-I-L? :)
2007-12-11 06:28:33 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 7⤊ 2⤋