I was watching the show Mutant Planet with my girls last night. It was about the animals of Australia. It featured the red kangaroo as one of the marsupials. This animal is amazing. As a way to handle the harsh weather and lack of water, they animal uses several water saving strategies. I was so amazed with the animal but what blew my mind the most…
The animal has the ability to nurture and grow 3 babies in various stages. She will have the joey who is too big for the pouch. Once the baby reaches about 8 months, the it is too big to fit inside. Once that happens, the mother gives birth to another joey, which is the size of a pin head. That joey crawls from the birth canal to the pouch, latches on to a teat and continues to grow. Then the mother mates almost immediately, and that fertilized egg stays in a suspended state until the first joey is weaned and the second joey is big enough to come out of the pouch. Once the joey has grown large enough to come in and out, the egg starts to grow.
Her body is so well tuned, she can provide nutrients to all these little lifes depending on her. Even in the harsh droughts in Australia.
I was so proud to finally be able to nurse one of my children successfully. It was the one things I had truly missed with the older kids. Anthony went on a 7 day hunger strike and with no outside support from our family, I gave in and gave him formula. With Joey, the boys are 12 months apart, and although Joey wanted to nurse, he wanted to nurse nonstop. I figured it was just the way it was and after 2 weeks, just couldn’t keep up with nursing him and chasing a toddler. When Serenity was born, I had hoped to nurse her, but she had jaundice and was also not gaining weight. They told me to give her supplemental formula, but once she got the bottle, she said to heck with the boob. So much for breastfeeding I thought. When Willow was born, I was determined to breastfeed. I knew it was my final shot at it. Willow, too, wasn’t gaining weight, and the doctors told me I just didn’t make enough milk and that I should bottle feed her. But I really wanted to nurse one baby. I took fenugreek, I pumped and pumped. I nursed all the time. Many nights I cried and cried as she nursed all night long. That is until I decided to co sleep and then life was wonderful. But it was such a fight to make it. I had to work so hard to make enough milk for my baby. Now, Willow is 18 months old, and still nurses like a champ. And while she is weaning slowly, it has been such a wonderful experience that is so bittersweet to have end.
But back to the kangaroo. Inside the pouch, there are 4 teats. One for the joey who has outgrown the pouch and one for the one growing in the pouch. The milk the joey outside the pouch gets is rich in fats and low in carbs. The milk made for the joey still growing high in carbs and low in fat. The mama makes 2 different types of milk! How amazing is that.
I was just so impressed with the amazing feats of this animal I wanted to share with everyone.
I hope more people will choose to breastfeed their children. I would never ever judge a mother who couldn’t breastfeed or decided it just wasn’t a right choice for their family, but I truly hope moms will consider it with an open mind. It might be hard in the first few weeks but in the end it is such an amazing experience.
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