After having 4 kids and getting ready to give birth to #5… there is one thing that I can say that I absolutely love.
Obviously I love babies – and the opportunity to have another one at home is going to be amazing once again. I enjoy to see my kids play with their new sibling… I enjoy every minute of watching them sleep, grow, and everything that goes on in between as they grow from their infancy stage.
But there is ONE thing that I absolutely LOVE .. and that is breastfeeding. From the moment I breastfed our first, I knew that I would fall in love with this special time between mom and baby.
Every child I had breastfed for different lengths of time – one for 2 1/2 years, and some for a year and a half. Others, just over a year . Some weaned themselves, and some had lots of challenges when we tried to wean – so we continued, and let them go until they were ready to stop.
With the first, I was working full time shortly after her birth – but I toted my Medela Pump everywhere. I took it to Military Recruiting Stations and put my milk on ice… I stopped at gas stations on long road trips to pump under the privacy of a blanket in the car, only to put it on ice in a cooler – my milk was prized, and I was proud to say that even when I worked a very demanding job, I was still able to make it work for my child.
All of my kids are extremely healthy – and I know that is the result of not only breastfeeding, but great food and a different approach to personal wellness.
If you have littles and you breastfeed, or if you did in the past, some of these might resonate with you ~ here are some reasons this Mamma Loves Breastfeeding.
1. It’s incredibly EASY.
Obviously it’s not easy for all mammas, because many can really struggle with breastfeeding. But if you are a pumping mama, that is not easy either. As a working mom with baby 1, I pumped all the time.. and it was a challenge. But at least with breastfeeding, it’s relatively easy – after your initial week or two out of the hospital. And for new moms it might be an adjustment period of a few weeks (or, months) but after that it truly gets better.
And when the baby is hungry? Having the ability to feed wherever you are helps too.
2. Seeing them Clamor for the Boob
Little babies love to feed ~ and when they get hungry, it’s cute to see them go crazy and gasp for air as you take out the breast for them to eat. It’s adorable.
3. It Makes the Night Time Easy
Thankfully I have had kids that sleep through the night – no kidding, I don’t know what I did to get that luck. But Breastfeeding makes the nights even easier. When they get hungry, I can basically pull over and let the baby feed, then wait for their belly to get full and let them go back to sleep.
4. Breastfeeding IS the Best
Being a mamma is hard – and with breastfeeding I know that I am giving my child the best option out there as they start their lives as littles. When I had my 4th, I experienced a brief week that my milk dissipated – it was the hardest week I have ever had to go through.
I’m thankful for Essential Oils (Fennel specifically) which helped reestablish my milk supply and allowed me to continue to feed my daughter until she was just over a year old.
5. Gives me Purpose as a Mamma
After having several children, your body gets stretched out – you agonize over your figure, you might wish you were firmer, thinner, perhaps you wish you could bring your breasts back to their original shape & form before kids. But in the end, breastfeeding helps me LOVE my body because I know that it is serving a great purpose to help my little one grow in what is the most important time of their life for nutrition.
6. Milky Breath and Face
When the baby feeds and feeds and comes up to gasp for air, and you can see the milky white dripping off their chin and their milky breath smell as their mouth gapes open for more… that’s priceless. Absolutely priceless.
7. Bonding Time
There is NOTHING like that special quiet time you have when you both sit down for feeding ~ it helps you put things in perspective in your life, as you cradle your baby while he/she eats. It’s almost as if it’s permission to relax, amidst the hustle of the day, or hustle you experience with the other children you have. Sometimes those few minutes of quiet time are some of the most treasured moments of the day.
There is something about breastfeeding that is absolutely amazing – I can’t put my finger on it… I touched on my loves above, but I love having the opportunity to be able to make this work well for my children and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
As we prepare to enter another chapter in our lives with baby #5, I know that this will be my last opportunity to enjoy the breastfeeding experience. It has always been difficult to move on and see them wean themselves after you have formed that bond with them for so long.
What did you (or, do you) love about Breastfeeding?
I breastfed four babies for a total of 10 years. The first, a girl, breastfed until she was two when I was pregnant with the next one, a boy. My daughter did not like the taste of the breast milk because of the pregnancy hormones. It broke my heart when she started to nurse and stopped and leaned her face against the wall and cried. The boy breastfed until he was three. Then there was a 7 year break, and we did the exact same thing with another girl and boy. I’m a grandmother of 6 now, but I still have fond memories of cuddling my babies and breastfeeding them. It just felt so natural and the bonding was amazing. My oldest daughter is following in my footsteps and breastfeeding her baby. It was hard because Norah was born 8 weeks early, but Elizabeth pumped until she was able to begin to give bottles of breast milk to Norah in the hospital, but soon Norah began feeding at the breast, You would never know today that she was a preemie. Sheryl, I just found out about this web site from your post on Centsable Shopping about changes in your blog. This is a wonderful site! In the past seven months, I have adopted many of the same changes you have as far as diet and health is concerned, and it has made a positive difference in my wellness. I also have given up much of my use of coupons and have eliminated toxic chemicals in my life as much as possible and eliminated processed foods and eat only whole, natural foods, Keep up the good work!
Loved reading this Janzelle – so glad you left a comment. I’m so glad to hear that you breastfed too – I loved every minute of it. I hope my girls follow in my footsteps and do the same. I’m glad to have you here as a reader, I don’t post only a few times a day but the things I post are near and dear to me.
I absolutely LOVE it. It has taken a lot of work to get there for us too…my baby (our first) was in the NICU for two months. The first month he was on TPN, so I pumped every three hours and froze my milk. The second month, we had worked to feeds through an NG tube. When he was three months, he was taking it from a bottle. He absolutely refused to nurse, acted like he hated it. It broke my heart, and it was pretty difficult to feed him AND pump (especially at night!) but I knew I wanted to him to have my milk as long as I could provide it. At four months, he got RSVP and was hospitalized…and suddenly refused the bottle and would only nurse. They told me it was a comfort thing, and I was beside myself. Now he is six months and has been nursing ever since. I love the time spent together. I love that my supply picked up when he started nursing. I love that there’s no warming and pouring and pumping and cleaning…I can just gather him up in the dark of the night and hold him close in bed and feed him. I am so grateful to be able to experience it.
wow….RSV. haha
I love this! That is amazing! It’s such a close bond.. it was really difficult for me when my kids were ready to stop.. I had such a hard time accepting that. This is going to be my last baby and I know it’s going to be hard once she stops. I only hope my girls breastfeed their children when they become parents.