The day I found out I was pregnant was the day I began diving into learning all about pregnancy, labour, birth and all that. Toward the third trimester I began to read and learn all about breastfeeding. I was quickly convinced that there was no other option for our family but breastfeeding. It's healthiest, cheapest, and greenest!
In true form I became quickly concerned about all that could go wrong with breastfeeding, improper latch, poor weight gain, etc. So most of my learning and preparing time was spent on the 'how' of breastfeeding, and how to give Sugar the best start possible. And it all proved to be a great help, Sugar, thankfully, had next to no complications!
However, I failed to prepare myself for breastfeeding.
I knew there would be a physical toll breastfeeding - having a lil one needing to be at your chest so often - but no book, no friend, nothing told me about the psychological toll that breastfeeding can have on a person.
For the first 5 weeks of Sugars' life I hated breastfeeding. It wasn't painful, it wasn't difficult physically, I was just drained mentally having this lil one constantly at my chest. He was cute as a button looking up at me, and the snuggles were great, but mentally I felt like he was sucking the joy out of me at the same time.
Then at a 'Welcome Baby' shower my family threw for us, while all the noise and chaos was going on downstairs, I would sneak away to feed him in a quiet, cozy, corner room. In the peace of those moments I found myself truly enjoying this sacred moment with my son. He would look up at me as if to say "Thanks for getting me away fro those crazy people mom!" And I'd look down at him and say "Thanks for giving me a reason to get away from those crazy people son!"
Since then I ceased hating breastfeeding. But wasn't entirely sure why.
In seeking to encourage me in the tough first weeks of breastfeeding, once friend compelled me to think of breastfeeding as an act of self-sacrifice and while that was helpful, I still felt that breastfeeding had the potential to be even more rewarding that that.
It wasn't until I was reading a simple sentence in The Baby Book by The Sears Family that I realized what I missed in preparing for my breastfeeding experience had been missing.
That sentence was: "Breastfeeding is a lifestyle."
How very true! Your world changes when you breastfeed, and if you don't accept that fact, it can make breastfeeding a chore or a task that you have to 'get through' in order to move on with the rest of your life. However, if you choose to look at breastfeeding as a part of your life and a part of the way you live your life - it can be rewarding.
Since adopting these two mindsets - of self-sacrifice and a new lifestyle - breastfeeding has become even more of a joy. Most days its just 'part of my day' - walking through the park, talking with people and breastfeeding all at once - and on other days, when Sugar is being fussy or difficult, it's an easy sacrifice, especially when those big blue eyes look up and mine.
Even as I type this Sugar is being a lil goober and being uncooperative, but his lil hands mindlessly rolling around my chest, reaching up and down, flexing those lil fingers is a sight I wouldn't see if it weren't for this self-sacrificing lifestyle....opps...time for a burping!!
* * *
What has been your breastfeeding experience? What do you wish you knew before breastfeeding? Do you plan to breastfeed?
In true form I became quickly concerned about all that could go wrong with breastfeeding, improper latch, poor weight gain, etc. So most of my learning and preparing time was spent on the 'how' of breastfeeding, and how to give Sugar the best start possible. And it all proved to be a great help, Sugar, thankfully, had next to no complications!
However, I failed to prepare myself for breastfeeding.
I knew there would be a physical toll breastfeeding - having a lil one needing to be at your chest so often - but no book, no friend, nothing told me about the psychological toll that breastfeeding can have on a person.
For the first 5 weeks of Sugars' life I hated breastfeeding. It wasn't painful, it wasn't difficult physically, I was just drained mentally having this lil one constantly at my chest. He was cute as a button looking up at me, and the snuggles were great, but mentally I felt like he was sucking the joy out of me at the same time.
Then at a 'Welcome Baby' shower my family threw for us, while all the noise and chaos was going on downstairs, I would sneak away to feed him in a quiet, cozy, corner room. In the peace of those moments I found myself truly enjoying this sacred moment with my son. He would look up at me as if to say "Thanks for getting me away fro those crazy people mom!" And I'd look down at him and say "Thanks for giving me a reason to get away from those crazy people son!"
Since then I ceased hating breastfeeding. But wasn't entirely sure why.
In seeking to encourage me in the tough first weeks of breastfeeding, once friend compelled me to think of breastfeeding as an act of self-sacrifice and while that was helpful, I still felt that breastfeeding had the potential to be even more rewarding that that.
It wasn't until I was reading a simple sentence in The Baby Book by The Sears Family that I realized what I missed in preparing for my breastfeeding experience had been missing.
That sentence was: "Breastfeeding is a lifestyle."
How very true! Your world changes when you breastfeed, and if you don't accept that fact, it can make breastfeeding a chore or a task that you have to 'get through' in order to move on with the rest of your life. However, if you choose to look at breastfeeding as a part of your life and a part of the way you live your life - it can be rewarding.
Since adopting these two mindsets - of self-sacrifice and a new lifestyle - breastfeeding has become even more of a joy. Most days its just 'part of my day' - walking through the park, talking with people and breastfeeding all at once - and on other days, when Sugar is being fussy or difficult, it's an easy sacrifice, especially when those big blue eyes look up and mine.
Even as I type this Sugar is being a lil goober and being uncooperative, but his lil hands mindlessly rolling around my chest, reaching up and down, flexing those lil fingers is a sight I wouldn't see if it weren't for this self-sacrificing lifestyle....opps...time for a burping!!
* * *
What has been your breastfeeding experience? What do you wish you knew before breastfeeding? Do you plan to breastfeed?
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