Two Very Different Nursing Styles

How can two brothers be so different? Carter never slept. He might have slept 4 or 5 hours MAX on several occasions for the first, oh, two years of his life. Wyatt, on the other hand, slept 4 or 5 hours a night by week two of his life. He now sleeps a good 6 to 7 hours a night. Carter, fortunately, decided to sleep in his own "tiny tiny bed" for most of the night right about the same time Wyatt moved into our home. He's still in our room and in our bed a lot of the nights.

And nursing. I joke that Wyatt will have weaned himself and Carter will still be nursing. Carter was, and still is, a comfort nurser. Wyatt is all business. He only wants to see a boob when hungry. If he's not hungry, there better not be a boob nearby. I learned that early on when, if offered a boob and not hungry, he would wail like someone was really trying to do him wrong.

Carter? He will take a boob any time, anywhere! He asks every few minutes to nurse...guess he figures, what can it hurt? He asks when I get out of the shower. Why not? They are right there. Stubs his toe, scratches his knee, bumps his head? "Wanna nurse on mama." Can't listen to another music video? "Wanna nurse on mama." Can't play outside because it's raining? "Wanna nurse on mama."

He's evolved too, in his asking to nurse. He used to just sort of smack my chest. Then he signed "nurse" (and sometimes still smacked my chest). Then he moved to "wanna eat the boob". And while we thought that rather funny, we moved him on to "wanna nurse on mama". He also recites mama's rules for nursing a toddler. "Carter wanna nurse. Don't bite! Nurse properly, just five minutes! No hands pinching, hold mama's belly!". Poor guy, he must think he's attending some sort of paramilitary nursing camp.

We took the boys to work to see Santa. A nice lady asked Carter if he liked his brother. Carter said, "he eats the boob." I'm kinda surprised he didn't repeat his other favorite saying, "Mama nurse the both of you. Carter on this side and Wyatt on this side".

Ahh, I did it! I raised a boob man. At least one.