The End of The Breast

By Laura Yates on Jan 26, 09 10:16 PM

I can now finally say that at 16 months of age, The Kid has completely finished breastfeeding. Hoorah! I never thought this day would come! I had visions of having to feed him at 6am well into his 30s.

My fears that he would be hooked on a morning bottle have also not materialised. He might have the odd one every now and then but, by in large, he wakes up at around 6, then dozes back off for half an hour or so.

Then when he wakes up at about half six, he's up for the day. Either I or the other half take him downstairs for his breakfast. It's all very sociable I have to say.

Now, there appears to be a downside to this (isn't there always?). I've not fed The Kid for a few days and he has developed a bit of eczema on his face. He's also got dry skin on his armies and leggies. (That's arms and legs to normal adults).

I wonder if this is just a coincidence, or if cutting out breast-milk has let his skin problems creep in. We all know that breast-milk helps protect against things like eczema and asthma but could it have such an instant and noticeable effect?

Past experience has taught me that breast-milk has almost miraculous healing properties. The Boy developed eczema at the ripe old age of about two months. I was exclusively breast-feeding at the time but I thought I'd try a little experiment. I used breast-milk topically on one side of his face. I'd just rub a bit on a couple of times a day.

After two weeks there was an incredible difference. The control cheek was still dry and red. The 'treated' cheek was beautifully smooth and calm. Eventually all of the remaining eczema faded away but months and even years later you could see a difference. One cheek was always a bit drier than the other, and go much redder whenever The Boy got angry or upset.

It's hardly concrete scientific evidence, but I really believe that breast-milk makes a definite difference. II'm not about to start feeding him again though. He's had about as much goodness as he's going to get.

Yes, The Kid's going to have to make do with E45. He's enjoying (or not enjoying) being smothered in it just before he gets his pyjamas on. He sits in his nappy, helping me smear it on. He looks like he's been covered in fat ready to pop in the oven.

The cream isn't doing the miracle job that breast-milk did for The Boy. I wonder if adding breast-milk would improve it. I wonder what the people at E45 would make of it, if I turned up and offered to squeeze a few drops into a big vat of their cream. Not much I should imagine.

I suppose the truth is I'll never know. Maybe the cold weather has contributed to his dry skin or maybe it's something he's been eating over the last couple of days. One thing I am sure of is that I'm just glad I breast-fed him for as long as I did.