A lot of people wonder why I expressed my milk for Possum for so long, why express for over two years. The answer is very simple, I believe human babies should drink human milk. As I couldn’t feed him direct from the source, I chose to express for him, there seemed no other way. In the early days people could understand it, after all I was simply maintaining my supply until he learnt how to feed properly. By the time he was three months old, most people expected me to feed him alternatives. When I didn’t they were surprised, but I really could see no reason why I should feed him modified cows, sheep or goats milk, and certainly no reason why I should feed him a factory product derived from soy, oats or rice, that has a vague resemblance to milk, but certainly isn’t milk. At least cows, goats and sheep milk is real milk, made by mums to feed their babies, but my baby wasn’t a calf, kid or lamb so why would I feed him milk that is perfectly suited for small ruminants, but certainly not suited for a small omnivore. Of course these milks are modified in factories to change the balance of nutrients to be closer to human milk, but why should I give him a factory-contrived simulation when the real thing was in my breasts just waiting to get out.
Some people got it, but when he was 6 months old, they felt as he should be on solids, it didn’t matter so much. Well the small fact that he didn’t start solids until 8 months, wouldn’t have a bar of it, made sure I continued to offer him my milk. Why would I want foreign proteins in his stomach when he was just learning to digest those specially designed for him?
When my freezer stash grew big enough to last till 12 months, most people expected me to stop expressing, but he wouldn’t drink thawed milk, it just didn’t taste the same. So I kept expressing, and after all he was still such a baby, at 12 months he wasn’t walking yet, and certainly wasn’t talking. He was no longer a newborn, but he was definitely still a baby. So I just kept on going. People thought I was insane, people thought I was doing it for guilt, some people understood, they knew I was doing it because human babies should drink human milk wherever possible.
He thrived on my milk, and gradually started eating more solids, after he turned two I decided enough was enough, time to wean him. When I weaned him his weight plummeted because he was thriving on my milk, not on the solids, it took a lot of effort to increase his solids enough for him to gain the calories he had been getting from me and help him grow. So I realised that he really Had needed my milk until he was two and probably could have done with drinking it for another twelve months, but he was no longer a baby, definitely a little boy, and growing again on solids, just not as quickly as when on my milk.
So for those who wonder why a mum would express for over 2 years for her baby, it is not because she is insane, or filled with guilt it is simply because she like me, believes that human milk is for human babies.
O SON OF BOUNTY! Out of the wastes of nothingness, with the clay of My command I made thee to appear, and have ordained for thy training every atom in existence and the essence of all created things. Thus, ere thou didst issue from thy mother’s womb, I destined for thee two founts of gleaming milk, eyes to watch over thee, and hearts to love thee. Out of My loving-kindness, ’neath the shade of My mercy I nurtured thee, and guarded thee by the essence of My grace and favor. And My purpose in all this was that thou mightest attain My everlasting dominion and become worthy of My invisible bestowals. And yet heedless thou didst remain, and when fully grown, thou didst neglect all My bounties and occupied thyself with thine idle imaginings, in such wise that thou didst become wholly forgetful, and, turning away from the portals of the Friend didst abide within the courts of My enemy.
Baha’u’llah
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