Educating Children About Breastfeeding

As my family prepares for our newest addition, we have boughten books about babies and been given baby dolls for our daughter to nurture and love. Currently, she is playing an app on my phone where she gets to dress up and feed a baby. While all of these tools are great in helping a toddler learn and comprehend what life will be like with a little baby around, I couldn’t help but notice a trend running through all of these educational tools: none of them taught about breastfeeding a baby.

On Toddler Terms

My daughter is not unique in her creation of a name or term for breastfeeding and boobs. As she has grown and become more verbal, she can say boobs clearly now, but it is her first word choice for breastfeeding that continues to dominate her vocabulary. She calls breastfeeding ‘nanas’ or if she is feeling particularly impatient then she says ‘nanees’. I imagine this came from the word nursing. Friends of mine who say nursing a lot also have toddlers who request nanas. But some children get quite creative with the naming of their beloved boobs.

Should I Nurse My Child When They Are Sick?

Many mothers wonder if giving their child anything to eat when they are vomiting is a good idea. So what about breastmilk? You will find that when your child is sick, regardless of if they are a baby or toddler, they will particularly want to breastfeed. Although putting anything in your system when you are vomiting every half an hour can seem to aggravate the symptoms, the benefits of breastmilk go beyond any other food or drink you can offer your child. 

La Leche League

Today I was asked by a friend who is a La Leche League leader if I could step in and be an honorary leader at the weekly meeting. I was excited to take on such a role as I have often thought about becoming a leader, or even going one step further and becoming a lactation consultant. It proved to be a great fit for me and I felt I was actively helping out my new community here in Santa Monica. 

Zine Style

A big part of creating a zine is deciding on the style you want to go with. I have made a chapbook of poetry before that has both poems and visuals in it except it was a strange collaboration with another student and I had little control over the visual aesthetic. This time, I’m not leaving these decisions up to chance. My imaginings of this publication are something that is as visually stunning, tangibly engaging as well as informative and useful. Essentially, its all things good wrapped into one small handmade book.

Artists, I’ll be looking at you next and poking and prodding to get some energy and work out of you to make this the damn coolest thing around.

Call for Submissions, Spring Volume

Our ideas generated from the constant discussion of breastfeeding a toddler: the ups, the downs, the in betweens and especially the what the heck moments. There is an obvious void where creativity and breastfeeding need to meet. We are here to fill that void and we are hopeful that the community of mothers abroad will help to build this outlet.

Spring 2013 will be the release of our first ever zine! We are calling for submissions of poetry, fiction, or non fiction articles written about breastfeeding a toddler. We are also looking for short “How to” articles around toddler related topics such as: nursing etiquette, supply issues, healthy eating for toddler and mama, tandem nursing, nursing through pregnancy, and weaning. There are many more that we would happily accept so feel free to get creative.

Articles should be no longer than 1500 words and can be emailed to nursingtoddlerstories@gmail.com by February 15th, 2013.

All submissions will be read and contributors contacted regarding final decisions for inclusion in this volume. We are currently unable to pay for work contributed and you maintain your first copyrights.

Dependent on how the zine develops, we may be putting out a call for visual art submissions in the coming weeks so stay posted. We look forward to reading your submission.

– E & J