Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Fabulous, Frank Post About Breastfeeding

This is so right-on. I'd go 90% on my level of agreement with it. Especially the call to be more honest with expectant mothers about the common, but temporary, nursing challenges. Like, it's going to hurt and not because of something YOU'RE DOING WRONG. It's going to hurt because kids' have a mighty powerful suck! And your boobies aren't used to that kind of abuse. (I'm reminded how powerful it is on the odd occasion when, in her fury to get some milk, my kid latches onto the side or anywhere but the nipple. Holy cow! That smarts! And leaves an immediate hickey.)

She also references, but doesn't directly discuss, the crazy amount of time required to nurse a baby in the early days of life. I recall the class instructor breaking down the 12x/day thing, but no one really explained that it could be normal to my kid to want to eat for THREE HOURS at a time each afternoon. Napping, eating, and non-nutritive sucking away for three hours. Made me want to punch something (not the baby). That was the first of many - no, second of many - problems I wanted to solve that turned out not to be a problem, just an inconvenience and a temporary one at that.

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