Tag Archives: quote me

Quote Me: The correlation between infant feeding behaviours and maternal mental capacity

Mother and Child

Breastfeeding. The most beautiful thing the world. Absolutely (once you and babe figure it out… but I digress). But it the things it does to your grey matter… To wit:

“Why can I not complete a coherent sentence?”

Jane, writing when Cinder was two months old

“I was working towards a salient, cohesive point here, but it’s just been sucked out through my nipples.”

Jane, writing when Flora was five months old

“I had a superbly well-articulated argument for what the real cause of this was and had to take a break to nurse tha’ baby and I think he sucked the idea out of my head.”

Jane, writing when Ender was six months old

Bernardino Luini - Nursing Madonna - WGA13767

And finally, she sums it all up:

“My brain is leaking out through my nipples.”

Jane, writing when Ender was nine months old

N.B. Ender is now officially a weanie. I need to start searching for new excuses…

Photos: Mother and Child by naturemandala; Bernardino Luini – Nursing Madonna.

More like this–I don’t write an awful lot about breastfeeding anymore, and I cringe a bit when I read what I used to write about breastfeeding, but Why Isn’t It Natural is still a pretty powerful post…

For funny nurslings-and-boobiesuckers stories, check out From the mouths of nurslings, The most important word and Nipple malaria.

For evidence-based information about “what’s normal” while breastfeeding and weaning and support, get thee to KellyMom or The Leaky Boob.

Quote Me: Just say nothing…

Gator34

I’ve been in a series of conversations lately that orbit round the question “What do you say when [your relatives–co-workers–step-uncle’s common-law wife’s brother’s drinking buddy–strangers at the bus stop] asks you a personally invasive question about your children / parenting / life choices?”

I have an answer.

Say nothing.

And just look. With a  “Did you honestly say that incredibly stupid–invasive–offensive thing or did I slip into some kind of alternative universe” look.

That’s all. If you have difficulty maintaining eye contact during the look, look at the forehead, or just to the right of the questioner’s right ear. And watch the conversation–and its power dynamic–shift.

This has been a huge epiphany for me in the last few years:

that I don’t have to answer people’s questions just because they ask.

You can ask anything you like. Sure. But I don’t have to answer. I don’t have to share. I don’t have to defend or justify.

What do you do or say when people ask you questions they really, really have no right to ask?