Today I hadn’t chosen what to write about but a young lady I know is about to give birth and it struck me how important my experience with breastfeeding has been to me. Of course, it has been many years but I remember it vividly. I have also provided coaching to young Mothers to help them to be successful a number of times.
I was a very young expectant Mum, having been married at 18 and pregnant for the first time at 20. Interestingly enough, I had no intention of breastfeeding. I had no one to talk to this about having lost my Mother and quite frankly the thought of it did not appeal to me in the slightest. Having heard about what happens to your breasts as a result did not help convince me. I said repeatedly that they were for decoration only to my husband.
Thankfully my ignorance did not end up costing me and my children this experience. I registered for a very exclusive prenatal class for those wishing a non-medicated birth. I faithfully did all the exercises, visualizations and readied myself. Along the way as my baby grew in me, the thought of breastfeeding became less gross. By the end of my pregnancy I was pumped (a little breast feeding humor) to exclusively breast feed my baby.
On July 14, 1976 at 5:20 a.m. my first born son arrived. He was really sleepy after a long birth and basically did not wake up until two days later although the nurses did everything to wake him up. They opened his mouth, they flicked his heels, and they poked him a little. Nothing! They sent me home after 48 hours and then he woke up and so did my boobs. Holy cow Batman, they were huge, hard and sore. This is perfectly normal and passes in a day or two. This plumbing has never worked before. My dear Mother-in-law who bottle fed her babies was concerned the baby wasn’t getting enough but we were told as long as there were 8-10 wet diapers a day, he was.
At his first pediatrician appointment when he was four weeks old, he had gained 3 ½ lbs. There was never a question again if he was getting enough!
It wasn’t easy the first time because it’s an adjustment becoming a parent and took three months to get the kinks out. There is no closer connection you can have to someone than breastfeeding your baby. I will always remember looking down at their face and them looking back at me in adoration. As it turned out, I have bad allergies and asthma in my family which I was not aware of at the time and it was crucial that I nurse. This same baby has those allergies and eventually became asthmatic at six years old. The doctors told me had I not nursed him he would have had it at 18 months. I did nurse each of my children exclusively on breast milk until six months and continued on to a year. Now most people do nurse, at least for a while and this is great. Any amount of time is good. My advice to you is don’t give up if you run into a problem, there are people who can help you get over any obstacle. If women could nurse their babies in bomb shelters with bombs going off over their heads during World War II, you can too if you want to. And btw my boobs are just fine thank you.
This blog is dedicated to Lea Lisa Lurette who I know will be an awesome Mother and Amy Dore for being an awesome Mother to my grandchildren and a fellow breastfeeding Mom.
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Thank you so much,Kay! And you are right, the connection you feel with your child while breastfeeding is so special. When I weaned Rowan after a year, I expected to feel a great sense of freedom, like I finally had my body all to myself again. But I felt a little sad and I really missed the closeness I felt with him.
Now Raina is 7 months and knowing that she will soon be ready to be weaned, I am enjoying every precious moment with her! I think I will have a harder time with the transistion than she will!
(Also, being someone who is ordinarily “lacking” in that area, it’s been nice having a full set of boobs for a while.)
In a tale so mind-boggling, that I cannot in any conceivable way relate to you in comment post (especially with my wife still in hospital recovering from a c-section), my beautiful angel-of-a-Lisa finally gave birth to my incredibly gorgeous and healthy baby-boy, this morning, at 9:58AM, this November 26th, int he Year of Our Lord, 2009.
We look forward to introducing him to you,Kay!
Hi, I am one proud mom who have breastfed 5 children up to more than a year. It was not just economical, practical but healthy for the baby too. They get to have the immunity from diseases for at least 2 years. Your child’s experience in delaying his asthma and allergies until 6 years old is an example of this. My son also had asthma at 4, I had it while still a baby.
Wow. You were young indeed. I have always imagined myself breastfeeding cuz my mom exclusively breastfed me. My boyfriend wanted our daughter to be breastfed as well, so we did everything from me drinking 2 bottles of milk a day, soup in every meal and Natalac (supplements).
And yeah, holy cow! My breasts grew big and hard. I had to pump them and I could’ve used a milk bank cuz my breastmilk were overflowing. My daughter’s pedia and everybody else wonder how I ever fed a huge baby with my breasts size. (My normal size is A cup)
Yes, breastfeeding is an experience of a lifetime. If I wouldn’t be worrying about the future of my kids, then I will be willing to breastfeed for the rest of my life. ^^ It’s tiring but fulfilling. I even pumped milk at work. hehehe
Thanks for sharing. I never heard about Natalac. I’ll look it up.
All the best…