“I have a feeling that my daughter is going to be a little unusual among her peers and that makes me pretty sad.”

This comment made me smile. I will want my children to ‘pass for’ normal, or at least have a peer group in which they can relax and be ordinary. Being remarkable is just not going to be an issue for them.

On breastfeeding and hormones, like everything else, it’s totally variable. I missed out on the pregnancy ‘happy hormones’ that my friends talked about, but breastfeeding makes me very relaxed.

All three of them followed a similar pattern;

To begin, they enjoyed their nude bodies and took off their clothes as often as possible.
At about 5 they worked out that everyone else wore clothes and decided for themselves who they were willing to be naked in front of – generally only me and their dad, although the presence of water would reduce some of that concern. I’d had my mum in my ear about kids running in the street with no clothes on, so this really vindicated my relaxed attitude.
They got really private around puberty, with arguments if you walked into the bathroom while they were undressed, but ok if they were behind the shower screen.
Finally, they got more relaxed and have adopted my attitude to nudity – don’t worry about it at home, skinny dip if that’s the mood of the people you’re with. My 17yr old daughter is even comfortable walking in the house topless in front of her step dad.

And I totally get the sexual parts of breastfeeding. I particularly remember a strong let down when I hadn’t had one for a while. I realised then the relationship between a let down and an orgasm. And of course, you won’t get either if you don’t just relax and allow it to happen.