Breastfeeding

My sister-in-law asked me to answer these questions for her friend that is doing a project for her class about breastfeeding.

1. Who do you think is responsible for the breastfeeding information provided to new mothers?

Speaking for myself, most of the information I received about breastfeeding was through my prenatal class at the hospital. The class I took was once a week for 4 weeks, with one of those days devoted entirely to breastfeeding. The nurse and lactation specialist teaching the class obviously covered the hundreds of reasons to breastfeed, and listed benefit after benefit to the baby.

Before I took the class I knew I wanted to nurse my baby. After the class there were absolutely no if's, and's, or but's about it! Not only did I want my daughter to have the health benefits of nursing, but more than anything I wanted the special bond that no one else could have with my child.

I also got a lot of info from my sister and and my other "mother friends". More than anything, their nursing habits influenced me to want to do the same. My sister nursed my nephew for 3 years (a long time, I know) and is a huge advocate of nursing. I also have several close friends that nurse(d) their babies and I think they were the biggest influence on me because I saw how they cherished it. One friend told me that her little girl didn't get sick until she stopped nursing. Gotta love those antibodies!

The day Leila was born, a lactation specialist came to see me and assisted me in breastfeeding. I really didn't anticipate it being the struggle it turned out to be. She helped in my positioning (difficult), made sure Leila was latched on correctly (more difficult), gave me tips and answered my thousands of questions. She encouraged that I make an appointment with the lactation clinic shortly after I got home from the hospital, which was awesome. For $30 I got to spend an hour with a specialist in the clinic, and $15/time after that for as long as I felt I needed to go. The support of the hospital and lactation clinic gave me the confidence I needed to continue nursing, they were such a big help and you better believe I visited the clinic 3 times! But it is hard, and I can definitely see why some women give up.

2. What do you think prevents mothers from breastfeeding their infants for a longer period of time (6, 12, or even 18 months?).

I'm not gonna lie, learning to breastfeed SUCKED! I can honestly say it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do; and without Eric's support it would have been that much harder.  I think there are 2 main reasons women stop breastfeeding: culture and convenience. Society has moved in a direction that makes life as a mother that much more difficult. We are always on the run somewhere; always packing up the kids for this event and that playgroup, always in a hurry. Formula / bottle feeding is easy. Shoot! Dad can even do it! Cracked / bleeding nipples, blood in the milk, Mastitis, milk supply (my milk supply continues to go up and down) you name it and I've gone through it. But as hard as it was for me (and Leila) to get the hang of the breastfeeding thing, it has been worth every frustrating minute of it.

In our culture, some people are uncomfortable when women nurse, they may think its weird or don't support it. In other countries, many women breastfeed and for longer amounts of time, and they whip it out everywhere (wish that was acceptable here!) Of course, they may not have access to formula or it might be too expensive, so breastfeeding is their only option. If our society was more supportive, perhaps even more encouraging of breastfeeding, then maybe more mothers would breastfeed.

I think a lot of women simply don't know enough information about breastfeeding. Before I took my class I didn't really know much about the process either. Getting sore nipples, rashes, infections, etc. is never any fun, but knowing what to expect and how to push through it kept me going when I was tempted to give up. Breastfeeding is without a doubt time consuming and sometimes inconvenient at first. Formula is so readily available that it can be easier to make the switch. Now that Leila and I have got it down to a system, it's super convenient! No extra bottles to pack, no searching for warm water in public places, etc. I have her food with me 24/7, it's freakin' awesome!

Women may also feel uncomfortable nursing in public. I don't think we really need to be at the point where whipping it out in public IS the norm, but the looks people give you even with a nursing cover on can make you feel uncomfortable. If there were more public places designated for nursing mothers it would make things so much easier. I tell Eric all the time how I wish the places we went had "nursing stations". Nordstrom has a mothers lounge in their restrooms, whenever I go to the mall I always know I have a place to nurse. But when we go out to eat I have no choice but to go to the car and nurse, or nurse at the table. I always wear my nursing cover but sometimes its uncomfortable for the both of us to nurse in public. The booth at the restaurant is usually too tight, or there are too many distractions around for Leila to focus on nursing. Someday we'll have nursing stations... until then, I'll rock the cover :)

Might I add that there is nothing wrong with formula...I rely on it when my juices are low. I always have some stocked in my pantry.

I had fun answering these questions, thanks Natalie!