The topic of the July Carnival of Breastfeeding is “The things they say.” – This refers to the funny, strange, uninformed, and otherwise interesting things that people (including our own kids) have said to us about breastfeeding. :)

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A few months before Ava was born, my mom - who breast-fed all three of her children - asked me if I was going to start rubbing a towel on my nipples to toughen them up in preparation for breastfeeding. Yikes! I hadn’t thought of doing that! Is that the kind of advice they gave out in the ’70s? I’m glad I was taking a breastfeeding class at the time. The instructor clarified for me that there is no reason to toughen up your nipples. You might be sore while first learning to breastfeed, but if baby is latched on properly, it should not hurt.

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My mother-in-law once told me she heard that breastfeeding women shouldn’t eat chocolate. *GASP* Thank God that’s not true (at least it wasn’t for me)! I think that would be harder on me than rubbing a towel on my nipples!

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I believe I’ve written before about some of the things Ava has said about nursing (in her now 3 years of nursing), but here are some more funnies that come to mind. :)

When she was between 2 and 2 1/2 I asked her what my milk tasted like and she replied, “strawberries.”

She recently has differentiated between my two breasts. The right one is “soft” and the left one is “squishy.” I guess it could be worse. ;)

The other day I decided to “interview” her a bit to get a 3-year-old’s perspective on nursing.

Me: Do you like mama milk?
Ava: Yeah.
Me: Why?
Ava: Cuz it’s good for me to grow bigger.

Me: Do you like the way it tastes?
Ava: Yes.
Me: What does it taste like?
Ava: Tart (?) and yummy.

Me: How old will you be when you stop having mama milk?
Ava: I don’t know. Three? What?! I’m already 3!

Me: Do you think all kids should have mama milk?
Ava: Yeah.
Me: Why?
Ava: Because it’s good.

‘Nuf said. ;)

*After realizing I didn’t have any pictures of myself tandem nursing the kids (since it’s very rare that they both nurse at the same time), I asked Jody to take some. This photo was taken on July 15, 2007.

A reminder…If you missed the announcement of the winners of my World Breastfeeding Week photo contest, please take a look here. I’m still waiting to hear back from the 1st and 3rd place winners to claim their prizes.

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Here are more great (and downright hilarious) stories about “the things they say” below. :)

• Tanya at The Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog
• Sinead at Breastfeeding Mums
• Leisa at Down with the kids
• Angela at Breastfeeding123
• Dave at Rattling the Kettle
• Jennifer at The Lactivist
• Renata at Nurturing Notes
• Andi at Mama Knows Breast

Stumble it!

I wrote last week that I had been feeling the need to grow something (other than kids, hee hee), so I picked up a “super sweet” cherry tomato plant, along with a couple of basil plants and put them in pots in our backyard. Ava helped me picked our first tomatoes on Sunday. Mmmm, they look tasty!

Also, I’m having a bit of a photography crisis. I’ve completely filled up my external hard drive with pictures. I need to start deleting all of the duds (and there are many) from the past few years to free up some space, but it’s such a time-consuming project that I am putting it off. Maybe I can just buy a new hard drive. ;)

Please take a moment to click over to Picture This to see everyone else’s choices for Best Shot Monday.

And if you haven’t yet had a chance to check out the Attachment Parenting International online auction, there’s still time! The close of the auction has been extended until 7 p.m. Eastern Time Wednesday, July 25! So head on over and bid, bid, bid! All proceeds go to API - a non-profit organization working to protect the parent-child connection.

Stumble it!