How I Explained Breastfeeding to My 3 Year Old

Well he finally asked. Whether it was prompted by the snack we were eating at the time (granola bars) or by my friend's new baby she was nursing at a playdate yesterday, or simply me talking about it for the last few weeks, his interest peaked. He asked, "How is baby Miles going to eat?"

I had pondered this response for months without any revelation. How do I explain something so intimate and private, yet natural and necessary, to a young child? Yet in the moment the words came to me almost unbidden:

"Mommy makes a special milk only for the baby to drink. I make it right here next to my heart. I hold the baby, and when he sucks right here the milk comes out. That's how baby Miles will eat."

For almost a minute there was silence in the backseat.

"You used to eat like that when you were a baby too." I tell him.

"Oh yeah." He says, as though suddenly recalling this.

I'm still not sure if he "gets it," but I believe that this was a teachable moment which I tried to make the most of. I have to admit I was happy to come up with a response that did not use medical terms. Not only would this have been thoroughly embarrassing, it would have gone completely over his head and no learning would have occurred.

Next step: Actually carrying out the process in front of him without either of us getting wierded out.