Okay, look. Breastfeeding is not all daffodils and lollipops. I like to think of breastfeeding as feeding + comforting a child, neither of which is ever easy no matter how you do it. Sometimes you will get to the point when enough is enough, and then you’ll revisit this point again later on and say, I really just can’t even. And somehow, you’ll find yourself at this same exact point, lo and behold, again to the againth degree — and you’ll say, I’m done. I’m really, really done.
You know the other internal conversation that happens alongside this one. The one that goes “But the way his little body feels in my arms…” and “How could I take this from him” — the one that blocks out the stress and aversion and irritation to focus on the foundation of what makes breastfeeding work: unconditional love.
Not that a mother’s unconditional love is all that’s needed to make breastfeeding a joyous success. Her willingness to try again for one more day, and another and another — that counts for something. Her comfort in this expression of multi-level nourishment as simply part of routine life with a child — that’s important, too. Read More
