Benjamin was still nursing once, sometimes twice a day when I had Annalise. Mostly I kept him on because I wanted Annalise to have real milk already when she was born – I had hoped that would help to prevent jaundice – but alas it didn’t. However, maybe it made it less severe? Who knows.
At any rate, Benjamin did not ever try to nurse unless I offered it to him – he was perfectly content with a bottle or sippy cup. But once Annalise and I came home, the first few times he was hungry and saw her nursing, he would come over and first look to see what she was doing, then gently put his head down and sort of nudge her out of the way. If I moved him off of me altogether he got upset, so I would just open up my nursing bra on the other side and nurse them both. It’s really not that big of a deal; it’s not inconvenient or uncomfortable or anything, and though some people (including my 13 year old daughter Corinne) think he is too old to be nursing, my thought is that he’s only 12 months old… he’s still a baby! He can’t walk yet, he doesn’t say any words yet, and he doesn’t have any teeth yet! Now granted, lots of babies walk at a year, almost all have teeth by now, and so I’m not using those things as a benchmark… but the fact is, he IS still a baby, and I don’t see why it’s a problem if he’s still nursing part time. In many countries people nurse up to age 2 or 3 routinely.
The other day this happened, and me, the babies, and Corinne were up on my bed. Benjamin had been kneeling on the bed when he tried to nudge Annalise, and when I opened up the other side, he literally lunged at it, like a lion going after prey. I thought it was hysterical. He also stayed in his kneeling position. Corinne was just horrified, but I think it’s funny. I’m hoping I can get him on video doing something like that, just to laugh at when they are all older.
Aside from the nursing, he has not shown any jealousy at all – not that I really think that he’s jealous there either, just that he wants the milk too! I had been working with him for several months prior to her birth on how to ‘be nice’ by gently stroking as opposed to a typical baby excited “hitting.” So he watches her sometimes, and at first I would take his hand and “pet” her for lack of a better word and say “Nice baby” to get him used to the idea of being gentle with her. Sometimes he does that spontaneously. He will also come up to her and lay his head on her affectionately like he does with me A few times I’ve kissed her and said “Mommy kisses Baby” then kissed him and said “Mommy kisses Benjamin” then said “Benjamin kiss Baby” and he’s done it, and once or twice he’s kissed her on his own.
He’s also big on touching her face, her eyes, her nose, and shoving a finger in her mouth. LOL When he does that I watch carefully to make sure he’s not being too rough (he’s still far too young to know any better) and when he’s touching her nose etc. I label it – “Baby’s nose” or “Baby’s mouth” and then touch his and say “Benjamin’s nose” or “Benjamin’s mouth” and then do the same with mine.
In the hospital I tried to take pictures of them together but it didn’t work out until they were both asleep. Walter was holding Benjamin on his lap and when I put Annalise next to him Benjamin pushed her away. LOL I don’t think it was a jealousy thing; I think he’s just a year old and opinionated and at that time he just didn’t want her there!
This first week I’ve been home with both of them I have not tried to take any more pictures just because I’ve been so busy. The house is such a horrible mess that I can’t stand it, and when I was pregnant I couldn’t do it, so I’ve been spending time trying to get the housework caught up; spending time getting the nursery organized; trying to get my job work caught up; and going to Corinne’s track meets. I really, really want to get pictures of them together soon, but I definitely need a second person to help in case he gets rough while I’m snapping away, and Walter’s been in the fields. They’re calling for rain tomorrow so if it does rain, I will be sure to take advantage of him being home to try to get these pictures!
