08/02/2022
✨STORY TIME✨
I have to be honest, I kinda cringe during this week with all the “World Breastfeeding Week” posts.
Here’s why:
So many of them are images and posts of exclusively body feeding parents, with flawless hair, makeup done, and a smile plastered on their face that reads “ look, it's so easy” and this couldn’t be further from the truth. Body Feeding is a learned art that comes with sweat and tears (it does get easier ;)) it also comes in many forms. Regardless of the method or how long your baby received human milk you should also be celebrated and represented this week! GO YOU!
Having struggled with severe postpartum anxiety and insomnia, I also struggled getting Nora to latch. It wasn’t until 6 weeks postpartum that we discovered her tongue tie at her pediatrician appt. By then, I was a closet pumper. The shame I felt was guttural. I felt like I had already failed at being a parent.
I pumped exclusively for 3 months. GO ME!!! At the time though, this felt like just another defeat in my parenting journey. Pumping is tiring, boring, nothing about it brought me joy. In fact it only made me feel like I was drowning deeper into the wooden floors of my house. The constant pressure I felt from society, IG posts, and myself was endless.
After being buried so long in intrusive thoughts, sleepless nights, feeling so utterly alone I decided that I had to let go of pumping and switch to… dare I say it?! FORMULA.
Although this came with its own demons of feeling shame, this was the best decision for me and my family.
Nothing about parenting is black and white and that includes your feeding journey with your baby. We have to be ok to thrive in the gray areas without feeling the shame and hopelessness. We need to be able to pivot with grace when things don’t go as planned. We need to be supported in our decisions as parents without feeling embarrassed or weak.
If you fed your baby human milk for 2 weeks or 2 years, you bodyfed or bottle fed-you are incredible!
