Hatchy Milatchi

In breastfeeding terminology, "latch" is the word used to describe baby's proper sucking action as she nurses. Back when Boo Bear was an infant, we got familiar with the phrase, "does she latch well?" and variations thereof. In the days when she would just be screaming at that particular part of me instead of nursing like she should, I would urge her, "Latch, baby!"

Somewhere in those sleep-deprived days, our family vernacular (we have a lot of it) evolved the nonsense phrase "Hatchy Milatchi" to describe the infant who had latched and was now nursing contentedly. If you were to overhear us talking, you might have heard the Captain asking, "How's Hatchy?"

Being back at the beginning for baby number 3 brought Hatchy Milatchi right back into the conversation. A few nights ago, Grammy heard us use it for the first time, and asked (rightly so), "Where did that phrase come from?"

The Captain, being the Google-adept searcher of knowledge that he is, decided to type it into the search engine to see what he could see.

It turns out there is a song about Hatchy Milatchi! It's from a children's variety show produced a few decades back, called "The Land of Hatchy Milatchi." The local TV station that produced it was WNEP out of Scranton, PA. It still has nothing to do with latching, but we have always enjoyed crazy associations. Now all we have to do is figure out how either one of us ever stumbled upon the phrase in the first place.

I present to you here the lyrics from "The Land of Hatchy Milatchi." Enjoy.

There's a wonderful place that you really should see
Called the Land of Hatchy Milatchy
All boys and girls love this place yes siree
Called the Land of Hatchy Milatchy

Peppermint candy and ice cream is free
In the Land of Hatchy Milatchy
Soda pop fountains are under each tree
In the Land of Hatchy Milatchy

Everyone rides on a-merry-go-round
All made of sugar and spice
Lollipops grow right out of the ground
The moon's made of strawberry ice

If you should run and you trip and you fall
In the Land of Hatchy Milatchy
The ground's made of rubber you bounce like a ball
In the Land of Hatchy Milatchy


*****

Oh you play the whole day and you don't go to bed
In the Land of Hatchy Milatchy
Mommies and Daddies are put there instead
In the Land of Hatchy Milatchy

Hundreds of bunnies lay Easter eggs
In the Land of Hatchy Milatchy
Ride on a pony with candy stripe legs
In the Land of Hatchy Milatchy

Each day is always a big holiday
Birthdays and parties galore
Dollies and bicycles given away
Whenever you walk in a store

When I return then I never will leave
The Land of Hatchy Milatchy
If you want to go all you do is believe
In the Land of Hatchy Milatchy