As I mentioned yesterday, this week is World Breastfeeding Week, so I'll be blogging on the subject all week. The few comments I received yesterday were enough to convince me that I'd made the right decision in blogging about it this week. I do want to remind you of the ground rules that I listed at the bottom of yesterday's post. In a nutshell: 1. Keep the comments on the blog--let's not discuss it on Facebook, por favor. 2. Contact me personally if you like. 3. Girls only. Guys, don't read it, and don't comment on it. 4. Let's encourage and not tear down each other, especially those who choose differently than we do.
Every Reason to Succeed: Why Nursing Should've Been a Piece of Cake
Information is Everything
Yesterday, I shared with you several barriers to successful nursing. One is a lack of good information. So many times, I have heard things that are simply not true about breastfeeding. Some myths are that your baby won't sleep as well when you nurse, you'll have to supplement with formula until your milk comes in, and that if you're meant to do it, it'll be easy.
Isabelle never had formula, but she slept through the night consistently at 3 weeks of age. As for the second myth I mentioned, it's simply not true. A woman's body creates colostrum until her milk comes in, and it's the perfect substance for baby until mommy's milk arrives. And in life, there are many things that are not easy, but worth the struggle. Specifically, I'm thinking of "fighting" to make marriage work, being consistent with disciplining children, knowing that it'll pay off in the long run, and of course, breastfeeding. During those first several weeks, it can be a struggle, and it's actually much tougher than bottle feeding. But after you work through the tough spots, it's definitely easiest. I'd rather work super hard for 2 or 3 weeks to have it easy for the next year than have to wash bottles and pay for a year's worth of formula. Not to mention the miserable process of finding that perfect formula. It seems every mom has to go through that. No thanks!
Those are just a few myths, but there really is a ton of important information that you should know prior to having your child. If not, you could inadverdently sabatoge your nursing experience. It pays to take a good breastfeeding class and buy a book or two about the subject (more about good books later!). I wanted to know as much about it before hand so that I would be prepared for any struggles, or at the very least, I would understand the process. I took a really basic class through the hospital where I would deliver. It was helpful, especially for seeing videos and learning how to initiate that first feeding. I also learned important things about how the body works. And I knew I wasn't going to dare give my child a bottle at any time during those first few weeks. Anytime you give your child a bottle, you're essentially telling your body not to create milk for that feeding. You're reducing the demand on your body, therefore you're reducing milk supply. Uh oh! That's why it's so critical to nurse at any opportunity.
My goal was to make myself as informed as possible, before my daughter was born. I still had no idea what I was in store for, and I did make several mistakes. There's no way you can know everything, but you can try to at least learn the basics ahead of time.
Supportive Community
Another reason why breastfeeding should've been pretty easy is because I am blessed to have an incredible support system for motherhood and certainly for nursing. I could spend lots of time bragging about my husband, but that would make you gag, and it would make him uncomfortable. But a supportive spouse is important. In fact, What to Expect When You're Expecting says that a supportive husband can make or break the nursing relationship.
But my supportive community is not limited to my husband. Our church is very much like an extension of our family, since we have no family in Texarkana. The church is very family-oriented, and many of the women stay at home with their children. A significant number of women at Fellowship Bible Church also nurse their babies. If my opinion of how many people nurse their babies was based solely on FBC, then I would think about 80-90% of women exclusively nursed the first 6 months or year. But I know lots of moms outside of our church, so I know that simply isn't true, and the data certainly backs that up as well. Ours is a smaller church, but we have a great little nursing room in the nursery. And women aren't surprised to see new moms nursing at Bible study. That's just the norm, and everyone comments on how sweet it is.
A bigger element of my supportive community is my mother and my extended family. While nursing isn't common in my husband's family, my sister-in-law did nurse her children, so I wasn't even 4 months pregnant when I was blessed with a high quality Medela pump, plus all the accessories, courtesy of Celeste.
In my own family, it was pretty much expected that I would breastfeed. Breastfeeding used to be pretty uncommon, but my mother broke that cycle in her family by being the first to nurse her children. She was a young mom who didn't know what she was doing, but she knew that nursing seemed natural, and it seemed as if God intended us to feed our children this way, so why not try it? She went on to nurse all seven of her children, including my twin sister and I. This gave me an incredible advantage.
Many lactation specialists, as well as books and magazines promoting breastfeeding, are quick to point out that a big struggle for most American women is that they have never seen a woman breastfeed her baby until they do it themselves. So positioning, latching, and all the small details are completely new and unfamiliar. I'm not advocating that we all expose ourselves to the world as we breastfeed, but I do think that's an advantage of a large family where mom nurses. Having seen my mother nurse all four of my brothers, I was familiar with how she held them, how to nurse descreetly, and how to latch and unlatch a baby. I also knew that it could be very easy to do, and that it was so much more convenient than washing bottles.
I also knew that it wasn't gross. The word on the street among young twenty year old girls is that it's disgusting to nurse your children! Seriously! I've heard this so many times from different girls. Most girls that I know don't believe it's gross, but they tell me all their college-age friends say it's yuck! That just saddens me.
Since my mother nursed, I was also blessed with a built-in helper for nursing. The problems I eventually dealt with were completely unfamiliar to her, but she was able to help me with every other area (and I was able to get help from a lactation specialist who, of course, goes to my wonderful church). And certainly as Isabelle got older, I was able to call my mom with various nursing questions. I also followed her advice for weaning, and it was a breeze (just hard on my emotions!).
The most important aspect of having seen my mother nurse is that I believed, from a very young age, that this was the best and only way to feed your child. This gave me determination when things got tough. I was so stubborn to fight and make it work, yet my mom says she was also amazed at my patience (because I'm not patient at all!! I assure you, my patience was from the Lord, because there's not a bit of patience in this stubborn body of mine). Because I'd planned, my entire life, to nurse my children, it would've been a huge disappointment had it not worked out. But I've come to see that most nursing difficulties really can be worked through, with enough help, determination, and prayer.
Interested in reading more breastfeeding information or getting great tips? Check out Amy's Finer Things, where she's blogging all about breastfeeding this week. Her posts are incredibly helpful and insightful.
No comments:
Post a Comment