Extended Breastfeeding

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There are so many good reasons to breastfeed beyond a year. I was reflecting on some of those and thinking about why I choose to breastfeed longer than one year. Here are a few:

• It gives me a chance to rest. I am usually running around doing something or other all day. Breastfeeding gives me a chance to sit. I usually put my head back on this great chair I found at a yard sale last year and sleep.
  
• Sometimes it's the only thing to get him to relax enough to rest.
  
• The extra calories I get to eat! I don't know if it's the exercise or the breastfeeding but something helped me to shed those post baby pounds! There is a reason I'm fitting in 8's now.
  
• I feel better knowing that he is nursing and getting a good well rounded food several times a day. I don't have to worry as much when I know he is nursing if he's getting everything he needs.
• I like that in the days of MRSA, H1N1, super bugs and such that he is getting my immunities.
  
• It gives me a chance to just hold and love my boy. I can gaze at him, rub his back. It's just him and me. I know he's my last and I am making the most of it.
  
• It's the easiest thing to feed him at 3am.
  
• It's the easiest thing to feed him on a plane, a hotel or just about anywhere.
  
• I like that it reduces my chances of breast cancer.
  

I'm sure there is more, but I think that's a good list. I like breastfeeding. I thank God for thinking of it. He's so smart.