Breast is best...Saving $$ on Baby - Tip #2

There is nothing better than doing what's best for your baby...but the deal is a little sweeter when it also saves you $$

I have proudly provided natures best for my children for more than a decade, yep...I have been a breastfeeding mother non-stop for the past 14 years!  Ever since the day I first became a mother!  I never had any intention of nursing my children as long as I have, but my first child easily roped me into child led weaning and well..the rest is history!

I have a wide range of experience with breastfeeding.  I have nursed through 7 pregnancies...I have had single nurslings, I have tandem nursed and I have triandem nursed.  I have had a minimal amount of problems and we have successfully worked through them all.  All of my children have been blessed with the gift of natural child led weaning.  My youngest to wean did so just after his first birthday...my oldest to wean was around 4 1/2.  I am currently weeks away from delivering baby number 7 and I wonder everyday if his 4 1/2 year old sister will be fully weaned before he is born!  We've put up with a lot of disapproval with our philosophy of natural weaning and we catch the most grief from Falcon.  Most people are not even aware that Duckling is still quite fond of her "Tatas" and most people who catch word of it imagine a half grown child oddly attached to my breast all day.  I've given up on trying to explain myself and my child to others as our society just doesn't understand the concept.  Truth is, Duckling doesn't nurse every day, but yet maybe a few times a week or even less and when she does nurse, she only nurses for a minute or so...most often she comes in my bed for her morning snuggles and drifts back to sleep at the breast and later isn't even aware she already had her morning tata.  She very rarely asks for it outside of the start to her day.  

I didn't even know anything about child led weaning.  I had hoped that my first child, Cardinal, would nurse for a year, that was our goal.  When she was 5 months old, I got pregnant with Hawk.  My OB assured me that it was fine to continue nursing her during my pregnancy and he assumed she would wean on her own before I delivered my second baby.  Nope...she kept right on going and was still nursing when I delivered Hawk.  I tandem nursed both of them until Hawk, age 3 weaned right after I delivered Eagle.  So, I then tandem nursed Cardinal and Eagle until Cardinal weaned at around age 4 1/2.  Eagle continued to nurse through my next pregnancy and after Macaw was born they tandem nursed until Eagle weaned at age 3.  I very quickly got pregnant and Macaw nursed through that pregnancy and then tandem nursed with Emu.  They both were still nursing when I delivered Duckling...and so the world of triandem nursing begun for us.  It was very short lived, as Emu weaned within a few months of Duckling being born and then Macaw and Duckling tandem nursed until Macaw weaned at aroung age 4-4 1/2.  Duckling is so very close to being completely weaned and her new baby brother is due to arrive anytime now.