Mommy makes the breast medicine

I arrived to work today haggard and bleary-eyed, partially due to an exhausting weekend, partially due to pregnancy in general, but mostly due to tending a coughing child in the wee and early hours this morning. Cavan started coughing around 2 a.m. but I was not concerned. This is usually a sign that she has thrown off all her covers and she is cold. Replacing the warmth usually quells the cough in minutes, but not last night. Of course, the humidifier that lives in her room all winter was just put away this weekend and rummaging through the closet to get it out last night wasn't a viable option. Next trick, honey. Cavan loves honey and even in her half-conscious state, I was able to get her to open her mouth for the honey bear before propping her up on a big pillow...around 4 a.m. After Hubby got up at six, and myself lying in bed completely awake listening to her hacking, I decide to bring her to sleep with me. She instantly woke up when I brought her in bed (a HUGE treat that only happens when she is sick), but soon she settled down and fell asleep on my propped up chest. The result: two and a half hours of solid sleep without a single ugh-ugh-ugh. I guess Mommy is sometimes the best medicine.

As I was telling one of my co-workers about my morning, he retorted that his kids are always sick, which got me thinking, thankfully, Cavan is almost never sick! Other than pink eye, she has been on antibiotics only twice in her life, which seems pretty impressive for a 2 1/2 year old who has been in daycare since she was four months old. Even Hubby and myself have been sick as dogs this winter, but she never caught what we had (praise for religious hand-washing)!

Here's my theory—Mommy really does make the "breast" medicine! I breast-fed Cavan for 11 and 1/2 months (I had to quit before my 12-month goal due to tonsilitis and super-strong antibiotics). She was not sick for her entire first year of infancy. She has had only one serious fever, ironically it was only a couple weeks after the abrupt end of the good milk. She got her first ear-infection early this winter. But other than a minor coughs or runny noses here or there, she is, knock on wood, the healthiest child I know.

According to an MSNBC report, along with hearing similar information in numerous parenting magazines, "there are hundreds of deaths and many more costly illnesses each year from health problems that breast-feeding may help prevent, include stomach viruses, ear infections, asthma, juvenile diabetes, obesity, sudden infant death syndrome, and even childhood leukemia." This and my own experience has proven that breast milk is magic.

So many working women stop breast feeding when they return to work because pumping is such a hassle, particularly in many work places that don't provide the privacy required for 20-minutes sessions  of "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh" music. At the school that I taught at after Cavan was born, I was able to commadere a private bathroom with an outlet, but it happened to be within the teacher's lounge. I don't know how many times other bathroom patrons would knock-on the door and I had to say "it's gonna be a while." So embarrassing. It's not so humiliating to say that you are pumping, though one day I did have to explain to one of my 60-year-old male colleagues what that "whoosh" sound was. But, I really did not want my co-workers to imagine me taking a 20-minute dump in the teacher's lounge bathroom! And God-forbid if I didn't push the lock on the door completely and someone walked in and saw my stretched out utters! (EEK, shiver!)

I suffered through that routine for five months before summer break finally gave me pumping respite. And I'm so happy I did because there is nothing more excruciating to a mother than yearning for her sick child to feel better (not to mention all the messy hassles sickness brings). While I won't have to pump as much, since for this upcoming baby I'll be a stay-at-homer, I wouldn't trade breast feeding for the world. My kids are worth it (and I would prefer to avoid all-nighters with sick children for years to come.)