Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding

For this week’s topic I chose to discuss breastfeeding. In my family, nursing was very important, and it is what we all grew up seeing, so it only seemed natural that I do the same. I am the youngest of many so I did not see my mother do this often. In fact with the one younger sister, I hardly remember my mother doing this, but I have vague memories of her sitting with my baby sister in the rocking chair “feeding” her. It was really all my older sisters that I remember nursing their babies. But with so many nieces and nephews and with all of them being breastfed, it was very normal for me and I did not really think that there was another way to feed babies. When I became pregnant with my first child, I did not think about what formula or types of bottles I would use. I knew I would nurse my baby, I just did not know how hard it was going to be. I knew that breastfeeding was very healthy for both mother and baby. I knew that babies would receive anti-bodies that would help their immune system. I also knew that breastfeeding helped mother’s get back into shape faster, it burned calories, and I read on a poster somewhere that for every year a mother nurses her baby, she is less likely to get breast cancer. Plus I did not have to fumble with bottles in the middle of the night. I did not know that if a baby does not latch on correctly, that a mother can receive horrible cuts on the breast that would hurt a million times more the next time she had to feed. I also did not know that it takes time for the baby and mother to become “pros” at something that has been around as long as mankind. It can be very stressful for both mother and baby especially right after birth and the baby is not latching on correctly. It takes time, and that is what new mothers need to know before giving up. If it weren’t for my mother I would have never followed through with it, and my daughter said the same to me.

Breastfeeding can be the most wonderful experience and it is truly the best thing for mother and baby. However, here in the United States, it is sometimes looked at as something that should be hidden, or not talked about. It is really a shame that it is not embraced like it is in other cultures. In some countries, mothers do not ware anything except the cloth that wraps their baby around themselves so that their baby can feed at will.  Now I am not saying that I would like this to be the “norm” for US culture, however, I would like to see more mothers welcomed to feed their babies when and where needed without feeling like they are doing something wrong.