just had to post this. i am 19 weeks pregnant for the first time, and am very committed to breastfeeding for the first 2 years. to me, breastfeeding was always a given. my mom breastfed me, and her mother breastfed her. it was through reading on mothering.com that i realized that's not so normal, and became an advocate for breastfeeding until a later age. i am prepared that it might not be easy, especially given that i couldn't think of a single friend who has breastfed past 2 or 3 months. i never thought of my mom as a resource for encouragement in breastfeeding because i didn't think of her as an advocate, but more as a convenience breastfeeder.
boy was i wrong. yesterday, my mom shared something with me that i had never known. when i was 7 years old, my mom gave birth to my only sister, at 26 weeks. my mom was in the hospital for 2 weeks, and my sister stayed in the nicu for 6 weeks. i had vague memories of her using a breastpump, and assumed that was just for a few weeks. she told me for the first few days in the hospital after the birth, she was barely conscious, and my dad would hook up the breastpump and basically pump for her. when she went home, she was always pumping, she had plenty of milk at the hospital, and made sure to be there for every single feeding. they didn't make it an option for her to feed from the breast, and my mother never questioned it, since my sis was in an incubator. she told me how they would go in the middle of the night just so they could feed her the bottle themselves. sometimes my mom found that she had already been fed by the nurses. sometimes they would feed her from the milk supply my mom had left. other times, they would feed her formula. she felt so frustrated that nurses didn't see the value in giving this baby breastmlk, even though there was a ready supply. the doctor was very supportive though. once my sister was home, she continued to breastfeed until around a year and had no problem getting her to go from a bottle to the breast.
anyway, i can't believe i never knew this about my mother. i guess some things just don't come out until you have a real reason to talk about them. she even told me how she hates it when people say they can't or couldn't breastfeed, because she knows that in so many cases it just isn't true. she says if she could manage to breastfeed through all that, that almost anyone should be able to.
i didn't know my mother was a breastfeeding hero, and i am so thankful that i will have that sort of support when the hard moments of breastfeeding come.
boy was i wrong. yesterday, my mom shared something with me that i had never known. when i was 7 years old, my mom gave birth to my only sister, at 26 weeks. my mom was in the hospital for 2 weeks, and my sister stayed in the nicu for 6 weeks. i had vague memories of her using a breastpump, and assumed that was just for a few weeks. she told me for the first few days in the hospital after the birth, she was barely conscious, and my dad would hook up the breastpump and basically pump for her. when she went home, she was always pumping, she had plenty of milk at the hospital, and made sure to be there for every single feeding. they didn't make it an option for her to feed from the breast, and my mother never questioned it, since my sis was in an incubator. she told me how they would go in the middle of the night just so they could feed her the bottle themselves. sometimes my mom found that she had already been fed by the nurses. sometimes they would feed her from the milk supply my mom had left. other times, they would feed her formula. she felt so frustrated that nurses didn't see the value in giving this baby breastmlk, even though there was a ready supply. the doctor was very supportive though. once my sister was home, she continued to breastfeed until around a year and had no problem getting her to go from a bottle to the breast.
anyway, i can't believe i never knew this about my mother. i guess some things just don't come out until you have a real reason to talk about them. she even told me how she hates it when people say they can't or couldn't breastfeed, because she knows that in so many cases it just isn't true. she says if she could manage to breastfeed through all that, that almost anyone should be able to.
i didn't know my mother was a breastfeeding hero, and i am so thankful that i will have that sort of support when the hard moments of breastfeeding come.
