I took my first course in Immunology when I was a junior in college. I remember learning about the immunities in breast milk, and I knew then that I would breastfeed my kids. I guess I had always known that my mom breastfed me, and I thought that I would do it too, but the knowledge from that immunology class really solidified it for me. It was important.

When I was pregnant with Munchkin, I knew I wanted to breastfeed for at least 6 months. I arranged with my boss that I would take my 12 weeks of FMLA unpaid and then come back to work part-time for the next 3 months by using my vacation leave for 4 hours each day. I didn’t want to come back to work full-time until Munchkin was 6 months old, specifically because I wanted to make sure that I could breastfeed that long. I knew that my mother had weaned me at 7 months when she went back to school, and I had the idea that it was nearly impossible to keep up breastfeeding while being separated from your baby during the day.

By the time my maternity leave was over, I decided that I would continue breastfeeding even after 6 months, and that if I needed to supplement with formula while Munchkin was at daycare, I could still breastfeed at home and pump as much as I could at work. My goal soon became to breastfeed until 12 months, with formula supplementation after 6 months if necessary. Within a few more months, my goal was to nurse until at least 12 months without using formula. And by the time 12 months came, my goal had changed again to nursing until at least 2 years old! Two years came and went, and now my goal with Munchkin is child-led weaning.

When Sweets was born, things were so much simpler. My goal with her is simply child-led weaning after a minimum of 2 years. Actually, I have upgraded my terminology – I now say that it is my priority (as opposed to my goal) to nurse Sweet for a minimum of 2 years.