How many times as mother have you woken up and struggled to remember the last time that you had a shower?.
That was me this morning, as i awoke to a tweek of the nipple, a fondle of my bottom lip, and a gentle whisper in my ear to the tune of "boooooobie" i cracked the tightly closed slits of my over tired eye lids open to see miss "almost 2" staring at me, a quick check of my phone and see its 5am....

"fuck this!, its meant to be easier not HARDER!, i am meant to have more energy and be more organised now that my little boob monster is older than what i was when she was weeks old"

have you found this?, that the toddler breastfeeding stage is harder and takes more dedication than feeding a new born?
Or is it just my child that needs me 24/7, and wont even de latch for me to pee.
How can she be sticking nappy wipes to the walls one minute and then have a sudden "omg!!...its been MINUTES since i had the boob!!!...where is the boob lady?...." moment and then be climbing up my leg begging for the boob the next?....its exhausting!

I have at times wondered if it was all actually worth it, wondered if feeding this demanding little being every three hours like clock work as if she was a new born was worth the greasy unwashed hair, piles of unfolded washing, abuse of the standard YouTube entertainment time one spends watching...well...shit, while being plonked on the couch with your tit hanging out.
And even though i know better and am more educated on breastfeeding than i sometimes give myself credit for, i suddenly start to want to doubt it all.
I mean seriously, she couldn't possible NEED a feed could she?, she eats like a horse and I baby wear her to the point that whacking on a carrier seems like part of getting dressed now.

So as im sitting on the couch with this little person sucking the life out of me (i sometimes wonder if there is even anything in there), sometime i go blog wandering, and occasionally i find a blog that is a better read than some of the novels i have read.

So, my friends post a link on facebook, right at the time that i was surfing the wall and contemplating the complaining post i was about to post in regards to being hard done by due to a demanding, boob sucking toddler.
I read it.
My heart sinks.
what i read is a blog of a mother weaning her toddler, it was a simple blog and a short read which is what i like, but by the end of it, it had me a blabbering mess.
This mummy explains how she takes her toddler to the beach to "wash away her nums and wash away her toddlers baby' in what will mark the start of the end of their journey together as breastfeeding soul mates.
Then, i look down at the little soul that stares up to me, calm, feeding, and happy with gratitude in her eyes, and i vow to her, "this is your journey, you do away with it when its right for you"
I suddenly realised that the earth wasn't going to end just because of 3 hours solid on the couch together, the washing would still be there, the paper work and invoicing wasn't going to go anywhere, i really had nothing more to worry about other than making it to the school drop off and pick up, and keeping this little last toddler soul of mine happy and loved.
So here is to all of the breastfeeding mummas that have shit days, you are an entire universe to a little person and your comfort can heal hearts, dry tears, sooth sickness, make memories and raise happy children. Even if you do have B.O and greasy hair in the meantime.
You rock Mumma, keep up the great work.

And to answer my own questions of silliness, YES, she does NEED a feed, she needs to feed for her own comfort, for her confidence, her energy levels, health, and most of all, to know that i am there for her needs whenever she needs them at what ever time of the day, not matter what i'm dong, she is the most important thing to me.
She can explore and learn this fun and confusing world knowing that she can return "home" at any needed moment.
One day the "nums" will wash away and so will her "baby", and my heart along with them.

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Most Mothers now a days are a little more in tune with not only them selves, but also their pregnancies.
This new awakening that seems to be sweeping through our culture may seem "new age" and a revolution to some, but in fact, it is centuries old, and yes, of course im talking about placentophagy.
Placentophagy simply means "to eat ones placenta".
I can see some of you now grossing out and threatening to hit that little x button that closes the tabs but WAIT!!, give me a chance, i wish to talk a little about its ancient tradition and shed some light on why, how, and my own reasons behind suggesting it to others.

There are many cultural beliefs surrounding the placenta and how it is seen, some cultures class it as the babies"brother" or "sister", "milk bother" is another name commonly used, and also "babies pillow"
Some see it as part of the child soul and even believe that when the child dies, the placenta meets the child half way to the after life and stays with it for eternity.

Probably the most common option for honoring the placenta now a days is burial, but this itself dates back centuries and is one of the oldest forms of honoring the placenta.

In some areas the placenta was buried under the house or adjoining buildings so as the household could benefit from its fertile powers, some mothers even dug up the placenta later on and threw it away in the hopes of making herself Barron from having anymore children.
The placenta was always buried within close proximity of the family home, there were a few reasons for this, one was they thought that if the placenta was buried too far away from the house then the child's soul would wonder away from home in search for it, and the other was of course the previous mention of fertility, it was seen to bring fertility and health to the family.
Most commonly the placenta was buried on the left hand side of the front door for a girl and on the right hand side of the front door for a boy.

The burial traditions were not just limited to being buried on the property of the family, the people of Trobriand Island bury the placenta in the garden to ensure that the child will be a good gardener one day, in Sumatra, they give it to the river in sealed clay handmade pot, as they believe that this will stop the child from suffering cold hands and feet.

What ever the tradition, the placenta was highly respected, at one time, and sadly, over the years all of this has been lost.
With the increase of hospital births and the placenta being classed as "biological waste" and being disposed of as such, this has brought on a sense of shame, and opinion that the placenta must be nothing more than waste and should be disposed of as such.
But, there are so so so many wonderful benefits of the placenta and treating it as a extension of your baby or using it as a healing medicine, weather you bury it or eat it, it is still giving back to the family either tradition and love, or health and vitality, it truly is the most amazing organ.

Consuming placenta is a very old ancient traditions Chinese medicine, placenta is used in many medications today and if you have ever used wella balm shampoo an conditioner, well, sorry to say, you have rubbed placenta into your scalp!.
only 10 years or so ago was a private hospital exposed for selling thousands of tons of human placenta to french pharmaceutical companies, with out the mothers consent!.

Probably the most amazing things about placenta is its healing powers of being able to help a mother recover from birth, it has been proven to help with the mothers milk supply, balance out hormones, restore the mothers iron levels, shrink the uterus back to size quickly, improve energy and dramatically decrease the risk of postnatal depression.
So really, why wouldn't you keep your placenta for encapsulation?, i honestly couldn't think of one reason not to try it, (unless of course you don't medically qualify).

There are options for mothers that fear the taste of the pills or the smell, like flavored capsules that taste amazing, like bubble gum and berry, but in all honesty, there is no taste, and the smell, well, its not a bad smell, i liken it to a iron tablet.
Some services even offer jewelry made from your placenta, like Ballarat Placentas does, and NO its not the image of a placenta draped around ones neck as a necklace or chunk of meat slammed into a ring, its tastefully done and is a beautiful way of honoring the placenta, your babies keeper.

If you are wanting to book into have your placenta encapsulated, please call Cindy from Ballarat Placentas, she will be more than happy to guide you and prepare for you this amazing postpartum gift that you grew yourself!
www.ballaratplacentas.com