Breastfeeding.
I wanted to have the experience. The challenges were painful and messy. Ignorance is not bliss. With my second child, knowing how to cope in advance helped.
Breastfeeding is another word for nourishing. The commitment to nourish a child via quality parenting is just as natural, painful and messy as breastfeeding. The commitment, not the method is ultimately what matters.
Time is our vehicle. Because breastfeeding is a direct human to human infusion, there are no questions asked about the time commitment. Conscious caring is being clear about values. Quality time with a baby whether breast or bottle-feeding is a direct infusion of love.
Bonding.
Breastfeeding is more than a nipple in the mouth of a new-born of a babe. It’s tender nourishing with warmth, scent, eye contact and comfort. Peaceful time for a mom to bond with her Infant with a bottle or breast is important. To a newborn, love feels like love. It soothes. Parenting is bonding by nourishing heart mind, body and soul. It’s tenderness in the arms of love.
Breastfeeding is great if you can do it. The choice to or not, is personal. Because nursing is a physical commitment, it’s not compatible with multi-tasking or stress. Babies are 24/7. You can hold them in your ams at 11PM or 11AM, it’ all love to them. Appreciating a life, cherishing quiet moments to focus on each other or just breathe together is priceless parenting. Healthy bonding is a sacred. An attitude of caring and tenderness is healthy for all personal relationships.
The Commitment.
Like pregnancy, breastfeeding is a commitment of body, mind and soul. It’s engorged breasts and chapped nipples with a profound heart connection. The fact that my body produced a nourishing drink that protected my baby’s immune system was hard to believe but the experience was real. It was humbling and grounding to be a source of nourishment.
Nursing felt about as natural as pregnancy which is an intimately mind-blowing nine months. #LOL With nursing, once I got in the rhythm it was easy. The surprise for me was developing a huge capacity for eating. While I nursed, I ate more than my much larger husband. Amazingly the day I stopped nursing, I lost the outrageous appetite. I was lucky. It’s not always easy. Breastfeeding is not for everyone. That’s why they had ‘wet-nurses’*.
Conscious caring.
The beauty of breastfeeding is the guaranteed time of peacefully sharing comfort and love with a new person who enters your heart. Anytime you consciously hold your baby with your eyes and arms, and feed it, without letting the rest of the world intrude, something wonderful is happening. Tenderness is important in all relationships. For a baby or a child, tenderness in the arms of love is a blueprint for the future.
*A “wet-nurse” is hired to breastfeed another woman’s child.
#janebernard
sensualthinking.com