Breastfeeding Linkiness
Published by Allison June 14th, 2006 in Culture, Motherhood, PoliticsI’ll update this as new material shows up.
Funny, for a gal who did manage to exclusively breastfeed my child for six months, non-exclusively (solid food added) until 15 months, this topic really pushes my buttons. It’s not because I’m an activist one way or another where breastfeeding is concerned (though I’d encourage any mother to do so and provide any support I can). It’s because the psychologist-in-training in my head finds the vitriol that surrounds this topic to be purely offensive.
On with the show:
- Rivka’s story deserves to come up from the comments. See a one-woman example of why the practice of shaming isn’t a good idea.
- My friend Alison had a horrible experience with trying to breastfeed her son. Even though her son is now 21 months old, this topic still puts a knot in her stomach as she remembers handing her bottle-fed (even breastmilk in a bottle!) baby to his daddy, because *daddy* didn’t get called names.
- Via Rivka’s post, I found a wonderfully supportive site by a gal who’d fully expected to do the “right” hippy-dippy thing, only to have it just not happen that way. Her description: This is especially aimed at what I like to call, “recovering earth mothers”; women, like me, who value natural birth, breastfeeding, and attachment parenting practices, but found themselves in operating rooms and holding baby bottles.
Do you have a story to share? Know someone who does? Please post it. If you’re posting to bash on mothers (on either side of the spectrum), don’t bother. It’s my forum, and I reserve the right to delete nastiness.
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My cousin didn’t BF because after going through over a year of trying to get pregnant she just couldn’t stand anything else going on with her body. She’d just been poked and prodded to much. Another old friend of mine didn’t produce milk and had to send her son back to the hospital because the poor thing was dehydrated. Why they sent her home without checking to see if she was lactating is beyond me. I managed to bf until Coral was 4 months old, but couldn’t pump enough for her to make it through til I got home from work. So, we supplemented.
thanks for sharing this site!
Seem like this topic is hot that last couple of days. Really anti-mother if you ask me…..see my blog!!!
Thanks…just, thanks.
When biggest was born I had trouble nursing him. He just didn’t give a rip. By 10 weeks I was using herbs to stimulate milk production and by 6 months he was dehydrated (probably sooner if I had to admit it). I probably should have started with formula by 4 months but I was not emotionally “ready”. By 6 months I was so relieved to not have a constipated baby who was happy and being nourished I embraced the bottle and realized that holding a baby while giving it a bottle is exactly as “bonding” and fulfilling as feeding with the breast. You still get to snuggle, smell him, look into his sweet face and love the few moments with your baby.
Littlest nursed like a champ though I had recurrent problems with Mastitis had to pump and use herbs but after 4 months that subsided and he nursed for 13 months. I don’t feel any less connected to Biggest and Littlest has probably had more colds than his brother. Mothering should alwasy be the focus not the breast.
I nursed my first child for what seemed like forever (she ended up weaning at age 4). I was trying to wean when I got pregnant with second child and decided not to bother. Second child was so premature she was tube fed at first because she couldn’t suckle, so I pumped and they gave her milk that way. She never took to nursing, though I drove myself crazy and made myself quite ill trying.
My inability to breastfeed Peanut is still a sore spot. He was a preemie and was given bottles in the NICU. I tried breastfeeding from the beginning, but at first he was too sleepy and had a weak suck, then got used to the fast flow of the bottle. I tried for 2 months, met with various LCs, went to LLL meetings, tried a nipple shield and a supplemental nursing system. Nothing worked. The nurses and LCs kept telling me I was doing everything right, keep trying, Peanut will catch on. He never did.
It got to the point where he would scream and arch his back as soon as he got near the boob. One LC recommended taking a couple day break from nursing, then try again. We were both so much happier during that break, that I decided to stick with the bottle and pumped until he was a year old.
Luckily I never got any judgmental comments, but anyone who did would’ve gotten an earful.