……. Here`s my real life scenario, possibly faced by many first time mothers .
Breastfeeding is thought to be the most natural thing that comes to moms easily or so is the common refrain of many elderly people surrounding and advising a new mother
When you are in your final weeks of pregnancy and are waiting patiently for the D day to meet this little bundle of joy who has been lovingly kicking around in your womb for the past few weeks. The D day finally arrives, the painful long & hard labor with the severe contractions or the trauma from an emergency c-section vanishes, the minute your baby is given to you. You are literally brought to tears to hold your little bundle of joy and by the sight and feel of that little hand curled tightly around your finger. You stroke your hand over his/her silky soft skin and you count his/her fingers and toes. After a while your baby starts to move his/her way down to your breast where he/she finally latches and feeds from your breasts …….…known as Breast Crawl ……… like it is the easiest and the most natural thing in the world for the new born babies
…………… Or maybe it is not………….. When my son was born, he didn’t latch properly. Breastfeeding problems messed up everything that is wonderful about the first few weeks with my son. I was unable to bond with my baby because trying to breastfeed consumed the major part of the early days of my motherhood. I was trapped in what felt like a never ending, eternal breastfeeding sessions during which I think I must have produced more tears than the precious milk. It felt like a huge failure………. The thoughts in my mind raced and I began to feel that the weighing scale at the pediatrician's Clinic was not to track my baby's growth, but to grade my maternal competence.………… My baby’s hunger cries shattered me and the pediatrician’s and elder family members moral lecture offered no comfort. Sobbing, I remember feeding him a bottle of formula immediately after i returned home. I was sleep-deprived and worried all the time. After a few days, I was told by another practitioner to go back to breastfeeding and that everything would be fine. My mother too would pester to breastfeed him saying bear the pain of cracked nipples ….. use nipple shields ……. it would be all fine eventually. It wasn’t ……. I would dread breastfeeding.
The conflicting information given to me about breastfeeding and infant nutrition left me confused and angry. At that time there were no professional Lactation Consultants in Mumbai whom I could turn to for help
This harrowing experience later turned out to be a defining moment in my life………. to prevent other new mothers from being confused by varying guidance about breastfeeding, to be not afraid of the scale at the pediatrician's clinic and to help them feed their babies with comfort, joy and confidence
The hard truth is that breastfeeding can be really tough in the first few weeks…………. don't struggle all by yourself. Call for help, seek professional guidance from a registered International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC)……………………. Always there is light at the end of a tunnel.