I do believe that God created us as women to breastfeed our babies. It is an amazing, dynamic process that can be BEAUTIFUL! Breast milk is the absolute best milk for babies. The nutrients are all in the correct proportions and breast milk can protect babies against illness and disease, as antibodies are present to help boost the baby’s immune system.
There are hormones that flood through a mum’s body, which help with bonding and even getting your uterus back into shape after the baby is born. These same hormones go through to your baby and help him/her to feel contented and loved. In a nutshell Breast Is Best – when it works well. And for the lucky mums it does go well and lives up to all the great expectations that were promised.
What happens when your nipples are so sore that just the thought of your baby waking up for another feed makes you dissolve into floods of tears? What happens when your milk doesn’t fully come in and your baby is constantly crying and wanting to feed for hours on end – on those sore, bleeding nipples? What do you do when your baby is jaundiced and sleepy and just won’t wake to breastfeed? What happens when you are told that our baby has barely gained any weight?
Your dreams of quiet times spent lovingly looking at your beautiful baby, with feelings of overwhelming love flooding through you, lay in ruins as you dread the next feed. The books you read hadn’t prepared you for this. You feel like you are failing at the very thing your body was created to do – nurture and feed your baby.
The feelings of guilt rise up as you hear the voices shouting their condemnation in your head! You read the book again and trawl the internet trying to find the magic answer that is going to make it all come right. You look in your baby’s mouth as you have read that tongue and lip ties seem to be the cause of every breastfeeding problem there is.
