The July Carnival of Breastfeeding: The things they say.

Welcome to the eighth Carnival of Breastfeeding!  This month's theme is "the things they say."  Check out the great posts from the participating bloggers at the end of this post (updated throughout the day).

Ever wonder what your baby thinks about while nursing?  Well, if you nurse long enough you'll find out. 

For us  this started a little early, since our son was a big baby-signer.  A little known benefit of baby sign is that your child can talk with his or her mouth full, which my son did frequently.  He'd often say things like, "The telephone is ringing!"  or "I hear a train!"

Once he started speaking, I sometimes felt as if the "mi-mi's," as he called them, were a separate member of our family. 

So, here are some of my son's spoken comments about nursing:

While nursing:  [pulls off, with a smile] "Shark attack!"

Looking at my husband's chest:  [looking disappointed] "Two mi-mi's, no milk."

While nursing: [pulls off, with big smile] "Happy boy!"

Breastmilk tastes like:  "A treat." "A chocolate chip cookie." "A tortilla."

While nursing an engorged breast:  "Too spicy!  Put it away!"

Me:  "Could you nurse for a minute?  I have a little too much milk." 
Son:  "No. Just pump it."

Post-weaning:  "When I was nursing, how did you get the milk into the mi-mi's?"

Sitting down next to me:  "So, how're your mi-mi's doing?

Now, check out these posts for more great stories:

• Leisa at Down with the Kids writes about how siblings react to a new nursing baby.
• Sinead at Breastfeeding Mums shares some hilarious (really) comments from her children.
• Dave at Rattling the Kettle shares a late night comment that cracked me up.
• Angela at Breastfeeding 1-2-3 shares an interview and her daughter's picture about nursing.
• Amy at Musings of a Crunchy Domestic Goddess shares some strange things adults say, as well as her daughter's thoughts on nursing.
• Renata at Nurturing Notes shares a three-year-old's perspective on settling a crying baby.
• Jennifer at The Lactivist writes about her daughter's maternal instincts.
• Andi at Mama Knows Breast offers some famous and personal breastfeeding quotes.
• Stephanie at Adventures in Babywearing tells how her son tries to share his "boo."

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Comments

[Sinead]

Oh wow, what a fascinating post... I wish my children had learnt how to sign! I'd love to have known what they were thinking about as they breastfed.

[Angela]

Nursing and talking at the same time -- now that's talent LOL! It truly is interesting to hear what kids have to say about breastfeeding.

[Rattling The Kettle]

Too spicy! Love it!

[amygeekgrl]

i love the signing while nursing. so sweet. and LOL at some of the things he said about "the mimis." i enjoy the insight into a nursing toddler's mind. :)

[Stephanie (Adventures in Babywearing)]

This is a great carnival! I played along, too!!

http://adventuresinbabywearing.blogspot.com/2007/07/got-boo.html

Steph

[ElizabethF. from The Whole Family]

I love these stories! My baby also signs while he nurses. LOL!

Also, I'm having a Give-Away of Breastfeeding Advocacy Note Cards this week on my blog. Come on by and enter before Friday! Spread the word!

[Renata]

Love it, especially the shark attack! One night, I went in to feed my daughter and she opened her mouth and said, "aaah!"

[ElizabethF. from The Whole Family]

Oh, I wrote about my daughter wanting to Breastfeed again because she was jealous of her baby brother here: http://thewholefamily1.blogspot.com/2007/07/breastfeeding-story.html

[jteamsmom]

Tanya, those were great comments, what a funny little man you are raising. When Jenna was a newborn, James (age 2.5 at the time) was very fascinated by the whole nursing process and asked me many questions. The funniest conversation went like this: him: "what kind of milk is she drinking?" me: "the kind that mommies make" him: "but what KIND of milk?" me: "the kind that only comes out of a mommy" him: "MOM! Is it regular or chocolate milk?"

[Annie Juliano]

My 2yr old daughter calls my breasts nannies - with a little help from me getting her to call them that. When she wants to nurse she says "Momma, I want nannie's juice".

[Katie]

Out of curiousity...how long did you nurse your son?

[FirstTimeMommy29]

I am 5 months pregnant with my second baby and nursing my 17 month old. I used to be able to fall asleep while he nursed at night, but it's become a little more difficult since I became pregnant. After he's nursed a bit, I try to coax him to finish so I can get a little sleep. Our conversation goes a little like this:

Mommy: "Do you want to go on the bed?"
Baby: "Mmm mmm." (As in "no"--with his mouth still full, of course!)
Mommy: "Do you want to go on the pillow?"
Baby: "Mmm mmm."
Mommy: "Do you want to go on Daddy?"
Baby: "Mmm mmm."

I didn't know that he knew that "mmm mmm" meant "no" until we started this routine!

By the way, sometimes he does "go on Daddy" but not for long unless he is really ready. (And he is able to safely sleep on a pillow now.)

P.S. I fully anticipate tandem nursing, so I should have more stories coming up soon!

[FirstTimeMommy29]

Tanya--another "P.S."--I read your blog about "shark attack" a while back and shared it with my husband. Now we use that phrase ALL the time! ("The baby shark attacked me!")